It's hard to think of a more successfull and durable desing than the C-47's This plane has a very deep print in aviation history, which goes beyond the sole WWII.
Thanks Gordon, I always appreciate these kind of links. The most moving detail for me is that a 1994 pilot has been found alive and will come to Merville. Congratulations to those who saved this from scrap.
The C47 is fast becoming my favorite WWII aircraft, thanks for sharing this link! Hope you can keep us posted on it's journey!!
This is classical robbery. Unprofor soldiers are taking advantage of present political situation in Bosnia and steal property of Ex-YU. Unfortunately, this is not the first unique piece of WW II history that is stolen from Bosnia by UN forces since 1992.
The article tells you in TWO different places that the men have the Bosnian government's PERMISSION to take the plane. Thieves don't usually ask if it's ok.
agreed Gordon, not only they have permisison but they will probably spend a lot of money to restore this aircraft that would otherwise be lost for eveybody. The fact that they are UN.soldiers has nothing to do with it. These men save this aircraft for future generations. Rather a foreign museum and a legal transfer than a scrapeyard
I didn't hear the Bosnians complaining too loudly at the amount of archaeology destroyed trying to prove that Visocica was "Europe's first pyramid"-that still grates with some of us. They've been mighty quiet since it was proven to be a natural phenomenon.
good point . I was at Mostar last Summer and was shocked when I saw local people selling "found" yougoslavian militaria from the 90s civil war. So when you see them trying to sell the bullets that possibly killed their neigbours for a pack of cigarettes it makes you think. I obvioulsly refused to buy any of that stuff. There were helmets with bullet holes too. I don't blame them because kids did the same in Berlin in 1945 when allied soldiers could buy a E.K. for a bar of chocolate.
Bosnian government is controlled by foreign administration. Officials inside the government are so corrupted that money can buy everything (like in every country after the major war, where people struggle to survive). Such an historical plane is worth quite amount of money, but I could imagine that was given as a "present". If they are keen to restore the airplane (very positive), who not doing that in Sarajevo or in Belgrade/Zagreb? After all, that plane was part of ex-YU Air Force history, too. Aviation Museum at Surcin airport or Technical Museum in Zagreb are perfectly capable of doing that job. Regarding the robbery, maybe I used too hard word, but UN forces in Bosnia have too much power and nobody can stop them doing what they want. A few years ago they also "discovered" German WWII glider near the museum site in Drvar (http://www.ww2f.com/wwii-general/10824-today-history-9.html). The glider, a part of museum exhibit for so many years, was taken by German battalion, without any permission. As an aviation enthusiast and ex-YAF pilot, I'm really pissed of when I heard how easy that part of Ex-YU is loosing historical heritage by somebody who is there to help.
