Old and new

Quite a contrast but the same lineage:



Thanks to an American reader who remarked:

A C-47 and a C-17 are doing a side-by-side flyby at an air show this year at Altus AFB in Oklahoma. Unfortunately, they're not in CF livery in the shot but that aside, it's nevertheless a rather striking photo. No doubt, a few Torch surfers can walk down memory lane seeing that old Dakota.

I can remember when I was in the USAF, in the early 70s, they had one of the last of the AF Gooney Birds there, used mainly for the pilots in desk jockey assignments to get their requisite monthly minimum flying hours to get flight pay, although they called it "maintaining flying proficiency". (A C-47 helping you maintain your KC-135 or F-4 driving skills? Yeah, right. :-) A pilot told me that for a "proficiency flight", they'd load up the seats with desk jockeys and just fecklessly fly around northern California and Nevada all day, taking turns at the controls, otherwise reading a novel or BS'ing with each other when not at the controls. Ah, well, the ones I knew were good guys and were mostly Korean or Vietnam combat veterans and had earned the perq, I guess.

The difference in specs [see following links] is a microcosm of air transport development and history. One thing for sure, if the Globemaster ends up with as distinguished a history as does the Gooney Bird/Dakota, it'll be no less a milestone.

RCAF Dakota:



Canadian Air Force Globemaster III:



And here are DC-3s still flying in the Canadian north:



Lots more on old planes still flying in the north here.

Update: The first Globemaster:



And the second:



Upperdate: Here's a video of the Gooney Bird and Globemaster together (see about 50 seconds in; h/t to Astrodog at Milnet.ca)