Douglas DC-2 Restoration

[The Owner]

Hi Guys, I am restoring DC-2 s/n 1376 , one of the 8 DC-2's left. I still have a long way to go , but she will fly again. I am lucky in that I have the original seats and its 90% complete . I am missing some important bits though that have been pinched over the years . Control Wheels , Throttle quadrant , RH instrument panels , and many smaller components. As you can imagine , the souvenier hunters have stripped the cockpit bare , but nothing that cant be replaced , made or improvised. Would appreciate you keeping an eye out for such treasures. Also looking for a pair of Needle Ham Std props (the same as go on the DC3) , 1820-F or G series engines and any DC2 or DC3 spares that may be hanging around ! I can be contacted on [email protected] . Much appreciate your help - one day we will see a third DC-2 in the air.

[mustafagander]

Is the derelict DC2 still at The Oaks?

I would recommend your contacting the owner of said ALA as he is almost certain to know quite a bit about all sorts of old A/C bits and pieces.

BTW what is the history of your DC2?

[The Owner]

There are 3 left in Australia , mine is VH-CDZ the only one Syd Marshal manager to operate after the war. It was originally delivered to KNILM in Jakarta , escaped the Japanese and was taken into the combined services transport squadron during the war then on to ANA . It was sold off to Syd Marshal wo also bought a bunch of other DC-2's from the military. These were all ex Eastern Airlines ships that the Govt purchased from the USA at the start of the war. Syd was prohibited by the govt from operating these but he did fly CDZ on charter and Joy flights as "Marshall Airways".

There are 3 DC2's left in Australia. One is at Morrabbin Aircraft Museum (1292), one is at Albury as a memorial to Uiver (1260 i think) , and mine. The Albury ship is the oldest Douglas commercial (DC series) aircraft in the world , but its just a corroded shell , having say on poles for the past 30 years.

I am not sure which ship was at the Oaks , 1288 used to be in Australia but was sold some years ago to the Dutch Dakota association. CDZ did move around quite a bit over the past 50+ years (by road !) so it may have been there .

Cheers Steve

[mustafagander]

Ah, CDZ. Many happy memories!! :ok:

My dad was a good mate of Syd Marshal and I had many a fly over SYD area up front with "Uncle Syd".

AFAIK "Dick % Harry's" did some serious work on CDZ but were never paid, so she sat on the Milperra side near their workshops for a couple of years in the late 80s if I remember rightly. GDO really wanted her but too many $$$.

The DC2 that GDO had at The Oaks came from Harold Thomas' museum at Narellan and quite an adventurous night was had when we towed her to The Oaks!! A DC2 with no outer wings is still remarkably wide to tow along a public road. :=

Where is CDZ now, Steve, and how bad is she?

[still-learning]

Hi, as far as the props go, the hubs may be the same but I'm fairly sure that the blades differ from the 6353A-18 blades on the DC3. See the FAA TCDS for more info. If you're serious I may know a source.

[The Owner]

Hi , The DC3 Needle will work (So i am told) but using the 1820-G2 engines I have , 23E50 / 6353-18 are what I need. And yes , I am serious. email me on [email protected] Cheers

[The Owner]

I assume the one that headed to the Oaks is s/n 1288 . Ralph Cusack exported it the the Dutch in the late 1980's

1376 is in my hangar at Bankstown and I am currently looking for volunteers to help restore her. I desperatly need sheeties but all hands are welcome. Most importantly I need a project leader as I cant spare the time and my engineering manager has to earn a living too ! I need people who can give up their weekends / or are retired and want some exciting work.

If I knew how to paste pictures into this site I would post some. Essentially she's fully dismantled , up on jacks and has had about 50% of the fuselage skins replaced so far. The main job now is to finish the fuselage and then center section , then we can start putting it back together again. Its a BIG job , everything needs to be overhauled but it can be done. Just cost big $ . Fortunatly I have a second job !!

I know of some F series engines , but will probably keep with the later G2's that I have now , de rated , with the DC3 props . Different if she was going to be static , but I am building her to fly .

Cheers

[The Owner]

Just figured out how to do it. These are a bit old , but it will give you an idea.

http://i515.photobucket.com/albums/t359/steveiap/DC2/img021.jpg