Another possibility at Croydon would be DC3 G-AICV c/n 1943 of Skyways, a charter operator in the late 1940s (not the same name reused later). This had started as KLM PH-ALV in 1937, had been confiscated by the Luftwaffe and was still intact at the end of the war. It was given back to KLM but not used by them, they sold it to Skyways, who operated it from 1946-8. Very likely to have been through Croydon in that time.
The DC3 was built for civilian operators, whereas the C47 is a military designation, for of course the military completely took over the production.
The C47 is characterised by a large rear port pair of cargo doors, with a smaller passenger door inserted into one of them. The DC3 just had passenger doors. Changing the draughty double doors back to the DC3 passenger arrangement was a common postwar modification. The structure was pretty flexible, it seems, as pre-WW2 American Airlines DC3s had their doors on the opposite side, because the previous aircraft in the American fleet, Curtiss Condors, had the same, so ground procedures were standardised. American was also the principal (although not only) purchaser of the DST, Douglas Sleeper Transport, available all through the DC3 production time, which had an extra row of narrow windows above the main ones (but were otherwise airframe identical) to suit to overnight services with two-tier sleeper berths, giving a narrow lookout to the upper berth. These likely got incorrectly described as DC3s as well.
Regarding engines, I understand both P&W and Wright units were options on both the prewar DC3 and the C47. Someone can advise how interchangeable they were.
Last edited by WHBM; 4th Sep 2017 at 15:43.