FAA Douglas C-47 Skytrain

The Douglas C-47 “Skytrain”, nicknamed the “Gooney Bird”, was a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. After World War II, thousands of surplus C-47s were converted to civilian airline use.

The Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) had this C-47 “Gooney Bird” stationed at Albuquerque beginning in 1965. The FAA used C-47’s at various locations around the country to survey existing airways and to evaluate proposed airways.  The aircraft carried equipment on board that was used to check the accuracy of electronic navigational aids such as the TACAN and OMNI systems. The C-47 assigned to Albuquerque was aircraft number N-34.