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The
Ambassador of the Prairie Aviation Museum
The story of our Douglas DC-3 "N763A, Ser. 4894
DC-3 Pictures |
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1942 March 11 Manufactured by Douglas Aircraft as a C-53. Construction # 4894
March 20 Accepted by United States Navy at the Norfolk, VA Naval Air Station. Assigned to the UA-1 (Fleet Tactical Support).
1945 September 12 Service from Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, FL.
1946 January Service from Naval Air Station in New York, NY.
February Reassigned to Fleet Air Wing, Headquarters 5.
April Joined the U.S. Marines, Headquarters MAG 21 (Marine Air Wing).
May Service from the Hedron MAW 21 (Marine Air Wing).
August Stricken from duty.
1946 March 12 Sold by the United States War Assets Administration to Continental Airlines, registered as N7326.
1949 August 31 Sold to Southern Airlines.
1957 May 14 Registration changed by Southern to N70SA.
1966 August 25 Sold to National Aircraft Sales of Dallas, TX.
1967 August 22 Sold to Jack Richards Aircraft, Registered as N763A.
1968 January 23 Sold to H.H. Coffield’s Rockdale Flying Service of Rockdale, TX.
1983 Sold to Tradewinds Aircraft of San Antonio, TX.
1984 February Sold to Prairie Aviation Museum, Restored to ferry flight condition by Bill Wilson and son’s Stan and Wade in TX.
November 19 Flown by PAM members George Carpenter, Bill Left and Dave Maisak to the Bloomington-Normal Airport.
1985 April Preservation including corrosion removal and exterior and interior cleaning by PAM members.
September 16 Loaned to Ozark Airlines. Restoration of exterior to Ozark colors by Ozark Airlines. Used for their 35th Anniversary Celebration and open house.
December 15 Returned to PAM display area for complete flight service restoration.
1996 April 20 After a lengthy restoration period. N763A appears at PAM open house.
1998 October N763A becomes the first DC-3 to be listed on the Dept. of Interior, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places.
At the same time it also becomes the only flight operational aircraft on the National Register ...today!.
Prairie Aviation Museum
P.O. Box 856
Bloomington, IL 61702
Phone:309-663-7632
Prairie
Aviation Museum is a non-profit corporation, and is certified as an educational
organization IRS Code 501(c)(3)