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their landing grounds in Calabria. Rome

was liberated in June 1944 and the armies

pressed north, with Germany’s forces only

surrendering on May 2, 1945 – just a week

before the end of the war in Europe.

The capitulation brought an end to a

relentless pursuit that had taken the SAAF

squadrons without a break from El Alamein,

through Tunis and Sicily, to the Alps.

The Dakota remained at Maison Blanche

until September 1945, when it was flown to

Rand Airport in South Africa and given the

seial 6873 with the SAAF on October 1 of

that year. It was then assigned to 5 Wing,

but still with 28 Sqn. All 5 Wing aircraft

were marked with a four-letter code on the

fuselage side in yellow.

The aircraft was put on the ‘Springbok

Shuttle’, which had been established during

the conflict to ferry servicemen between

South Africa and the Mediterranean theatre.

By the end of fighting, the service was

from Rome and, with hostilities over, the

aim was to return all South African troops

by Christmas 1945. By January 25, 1946,

101,676 passengers had been carried.

The intensity of work subsided and

the aircraft was placed into temporary

storage by 1 Air Depot at Roberts Heights,

later Voortrekkerhoogte and subsequently

Thaba Tshwane on November 28, 1947. It

went to long-term storage, on the other side

of Zwartkop Air Station with 15 Air Depot

on June 2, 1950 where it remained for a

decade.

Then, a successful flight was made

to AFB Ysterplaat on August 6, 1960 for

receipt by 11 Air Depot, before returning

to 1 Air Depot at Voortrekkerhoogte on

January 19, 1966.

A new life and service began with 25

Sqn at Ysterplaat on September 13, 1966.

On June 8, 1971 it was transferred to

86 Multi-Engine Conversion Unit at AFB

Bloemspruit, Bloemfontein.

Yet another move came on December

28, 1981 when the aircraft went to the

Langebaanweg Navigation School, where it

remained until November 20, 1984 when it

joined 35 Sqn at Cape Town.

Here, it was the first aircraft converted

to ‘Dakleton’ status; its use followed

the retirement of the much newer

Avro Shackleton Mk 3s as a maritime

patrol aircraft. This involved extensive

modification of the airframe and systems,

plus conversion to SAAF ‘Dakota IV’ status.

It was the first DC-3 to be fitted with radar

equipment in the SAAF.

CIVIL SERVICE

In 1995, the aircraft was placed for sale by

tender by Armscor, together with its sister

ship, 6848. Both aircraft were sold to Wally

Gale and John Gaylard, of Aero Rebuilds at

Rand Airport and registered ZS-NTE and

’NTD respectively. The aircraft received a

Check V and was placed in service, still in

its blue SAAF colours, and was back in the

air on August 1, 1995.

‘During structural

repairs, at least three

bullet holes of a small

calibre were repaired

in the left nacelle and

aft fuselage’

54 Aviation News incorporating Jets March 2018

Above left: On the central console in the cockpit are the prop levers (white), the throttles (black) and on the right-hand side, the engine mixture

controls (red buttons). Michael Kelly

Above right: DC-3 ZS-NTE, with landing gear down, thrilling crowds at the Bray Air Display. Darren Kearns

The DC-3 painted in Aer Lingus colours from the 1950s with registration EI-ACD and named St Gall, at Dublin Airport. Michael Kelly

52-56_prop_aer_lingusDC.mf.indd 54 02/02/2018 13:37