VH-MIN

The DC-3 is probably  the world’s best known, best loved aircraft.

Conceived in 1932,  it was sturdy, reliable, economical, comfortable and safe , and it served the world’s airlines for decades.

Today . almost seventy years after it first flew,  the DC-3’s useful life is far from over.

At Bankstown Airport in Sydney, Australia, Discovery Air Tours (formerly Dakota National Air) has six examples  - one of the largest fleets of operational DC-3 aircraft anywhere in the world, taking  passengers on aerial adventures ranging from one hour scenic flights to ten day outback safaris.

VH-MIN, the aircraft featured in this video, was built in 1944 as a C-47A, and first saw service with USAAF and then the Royal Air Force. Post-war it was operated BOAC as G-AIAZ, by the Sydney Morning Herald (a major newspaper) and then by The  Bureau of Mineral Resources as VH-SNI, before being leased to Trans Australia Airlines where it served as an airliner with its current registration letters of VH-MIN for many years.

Other DC-3 aircraft in the Discovery Air Tours Fleet (February 2004) are VH-BPN and VH-PWN, ex Bush Pilots' Airways;  VH-DNA, VH-SBL and VH-UPQ.