New Osprey on US C-47/R4D Units

[Franek Grabowski]

Those aircraft flew enough penetrations to be permanently painted black but possibly temporary USAF insignia for daily flying. They also had removed any inscriptions that could identify them, so they were a little bit troublesome in maintenance. As they were flown for about four years in such places like Athens airport, I would be surprised if there are no photos. Career of RAF RB-45s was way shorter and they were kept in one base if I recall correctly.
It is good Gooneys are still flying, though I am not a great fan of Basler variant. For similar reasons such common aircraft like An-2 are also being used by services.

[Christoph]

It would be very interesting to read about the C-47s which operated during the Korean War in the nocturnal "firefly"-role (flare dropping for night interdiction missions). Most of these planes had black painted undersides - btw a very attractive camouflage. In books about the Korean air war these planes were often mentioned but not in a very detailed way. The C-47s were not the only types which performed these missions but nevertheless did a great contribution.