Post by Deleted on Apr 23, 2009 7:59:11 GMT -5
Some weeks ago, I tried to repaint the DC-7C, production no. 45187. I searched the internet and the more I dug, the more other pictures I found about that specific DC7-C. Her adventurous story really reads itself like a detective-book!
In the first quarter of her 49 year long life she was repainted several times, sometimes due to somewhat dramatic changing circumstances.
So, after finishing the above mentionned repaint, I collected all the informations and photographs I could get about the former DC-7C from KLM and started to repaint her former liveries.
Together with my repaints (posted in my thread "The story of C/n 45187, her six liveries"), based on old photographs and the gatherded informations, here is my small, but amazing story of an other brave lady:
The story of C/n 45187
No. 45187, one of the 122 Douglas DC-7C series, left the factory early 1957, and was delivered to KLM on 7th march the same year. Registered under PH-DSH, she flew six years as the ‘Caraibische Zee’ (Caribbean Sea) for the famous Dutch airline.
Shortly after, KLM entered the jet age and our Lady was sold to the German charter airline SÜDFLUG in March 1963, who used her for five years under the registration D-ABAC. This airline took mainly part in the newly emerging touristy ‘exploration’ of the Canary Islands and destinations in southern Spain.
When in 1968 the German LUFTHANSA bought out the company and merged it into their affiliated company ‘CONDOR’, no. 45187 received an almost ‘CONDOR like’ livery.
After the takeover, Lufthansa, as the holding company, donated the aircraft to the “Diakonisches Werk”, the charity of the German protestant church , who in turn started to fly humanitarian aid to Biafra.
The existence of no. 45187 became riskier in the way the biafran civil war increased in violence. Used “officially” to transport humanitarian aid, rumours were spread that many of the planes based at Cotonou / Libreville and on Sâo Tomé, a portuguese island off the west coast of Africa, were in fact also used for the arms trade benefiting the biafran forces.
Probably no. 45187 took part in this gun running business as well, because in july 1968 she was sold to North American A/C Trading Co, a somewhat ominous company and flew under the name of “Biafra Airways” with false Mauritanian registrations as 5T-TAB. Biafra Airways, alias North American Aircraft Trading Corp, was based at Uli, Biafra from 1967 till 1968.
Our lady was later registered under VR-BCW for a company named ‘ARCO Bermuda’, owned by nobody else than to North American Aircraft Trading Corp.
ARCO Bermuda was registered in the UK (Bermudas) and based at Basel, Switzerland from 1969 till 1971.
If not already destroyed due to crashes, gun fires or bombs, some DC-7’s, Connies and other piston aircrafts, which had been participating in the biafran airlift, were repatriated to Europe after the conflict in 1970.
Our no. 45187 ended her service life in Basel, Switzerland, still as VR-BCW, where she was impounded by the authorities in early 1971 due to unpaid airport taxes. Here, she got her last official registration as N9498 for –again- Biafra Airways, but she never flew again.
In 1974, the Geneva International Airport purchased the airplane. She was dismantled and transferred to Geneva by road. For a long time, she has carried the 'ARCO Bermuda' colours with the artificial HB-SSA registration of the SSA fire brigade.
Finally, she was repainted with the SSA logo and the inscription “Fire Training SSA”.
At least at the beginning of the 21st century, she couldn't correspond to the majority of airplanes using the airport anymore and a modern replacement became necessary. But as she had been doused with so many tons of water during her 31 years of service for the SSA fire brigade, any hope of restoration was futile.
So her time came to an end and the final dismantling started on 23rd October 2006. The engines and some parts of the fuselage were handed over to help with the restoration efforts of other DC-7s, the rest ended up at a scrapyard.
>>>enjoy the photos<<<
Greetings from BE,
Andreas
In the first quarter of her 49 year long life she was repainted several times, sometimes due to somewhat dramatic changing circumstances.
So, after finishing the above mentionned repaint, I collected all the informations and photographs I could get about the former DC-7C from KLM and started to repaint her former liveries.
Together with my repaints (posted in my thread "The story of C/n 45187, her six liveries"), based on old photographs and the gatherded informations, here is my small, but amazing story of an other brave lady:
The story of C/n 45187
No. 45187, one of the 122 Douglas DC-7C series, left the factory early 1957, and was delivered to KLM on 7th march the same year. Registered under PH-DSH, she flew six years as the ‘Caraibische Zee’ (Caribbean Sea) for the famous Dutch airline.
Shortly after, KLM entered the jet age and our Lady was sold to the German charter airline SÜDFLUG in March 1963, who used her for five years under the registration D-ABAC. This airline took mainly part in the newly emerging touristy ‘exploration’ of the Canary Islands and destinations in southern Spain.
When in 1968 the German LUFTHANSA bought out the company and merged it into their affiliated company ‘CONDOR’, no. 45187 received an almost ‘CONDOR like’ livery.
After the takeover, Lufthansa, as the holding company, donated the aircraft to the “Diakonisches Werk”, the charity of the German protestant church , who in turn started to fly humanitarian aid to Biafra.
The existence of no. 45187 became riskier in the way the biafran civil war increased in violence. Used “officially” to transport humanitarian aid, rumours were spread that many of the planes based at Cotonou / Libreville and on Sâo Tomé, a portuguese island off the west coast of Africa, were in fact also used for the arms trade benefiting the biafran forces.
Probably no. 45187 took part in this gun running business as well, because in july 1968 she was sold to North American A/C Trading Co, a somewhat ominous company and flew under the name of “Biafra Airways” with false Mauritanian registrations as 5T-TAB. Biafra Airways, alias North American Aircraft Trading Corp, was based at Uli, Biafra from 1967 till 1968.
Our lady was later registered under VR-BCW for a company named ‘ARCO Bermuda’, owned by nobody else than to North American Aircraft Trading Corp.
ARCO Bermuda was registered in the UK (Bermudas) and based at Basel, Switzerland from 1969 till 1971.
If not already destroyed due to crashes, gun fires or bombs, some DC-7’s, Connies and other piston aircrafts, which had been participating in the biafran airlift, were repatriated to Europe after the conflict in 1970.
Our no. 45187 ended her service life in Basel, Switzerland, still as VR-BCW, where she was impounded by the authorities in early 1971 due to unpaid airport taxes. Here, she got her last official registration as N9498 for –again- Biafra Airways, but she never flew again.
In 1974, the Geneva International Airport purchased the airplane. She was dismantled and transferred to Geneva by road. For a long time, she has carried the 'ARCO Bermuda' colours with the artificial HB-SSA registration of the SSA fire brigade.
Finally, she was repainted with the SSA logo and the inscription “Fire Training SSA”.
At least at the beginning of the 21st century, she couldn't correspond to the majority of airplanes using the airport anymore and a modern replacement became necessary. But as she had been doused with so many tons of water during her 31 years of service for the SSA fire brigade, any hope of restoration was futile.
So her time came to an end and the final dismantling started on 23rd October 2006. The engines and some parts of the fuselage were handed over to help with the restoration efforts of other DC-7s, the rest ended up at a scrapyard.
>>>enjoy the photos<<<
Greetings from BE,
Andreas
