Small world WHBM. I had a very good friend who used to do the same thing as your dad in Burma during WW2. Don lied about his age and entered the RCAF at 17, so that made him about 19 at the time.
There is a wealth of stories about the DC-3 at
DC-3.com, including
this one. Imagine doing something like that nowadays.
I knew Joe McElrea, and the Otter Jack mentions was CF-MEL. I had my first Otter ride in it in 1959.
One of our (Northern Wings) DC-3's had a janitrol heater with a fresh air/recirc function which you selected according to the OAT. At the time - late 1960's - I was flying the 185 on skis, but if times were slack I flew as third crew on the '3. I was in the cockpit one winter day, with the heater selector in recirc, when the Captain let loose a blast that got sucked into the heater system. I peered through the little one way mirror in the cockpit door and could see passengers were twisting around and giving each other strange looks. I mentioned this to the co-pilot, who reached into the right hand map pocket and produced a roll of toilet paper. "Here," he said, "roll this down the aisle and the first passenger to grab it the others will think he shat himself."
Oh well, I guess you had to be there.
