RAF Broadwell

Boogie Baby image The World War II Airborne Demonstration Team is very lucky to own a WWII era C- 47 Dakota for training and demonstration purposes. ‘Boogie Baby’ a 1942 Oklahoma built C-47A-DK is currently owned by the Team and is operated by Regional Air.

‘Boogie Baby’ was assembled in 1942 at the Douglas Plant in Tinker, Oklahoma and was one of some 5354 C-47 Dakota III aircraft that were built at the plant during the war and was given the manufacturers serial number 12060. She was delivered and registered with the U.S.A.A.F. as aircraft 42-92277 before being diverted in November 1943 under the Lend-Lease program to the Royal Air Force in Montreal, Canada where it was allocated the RAF registration FL633 on 11th January 1944.

On 31st January 1944, ‘Boogie Baby was transferred to the command of 512 Squadron RAF and based at RAF Hendon just outside London, England. She was transferred, with a nucleus of crewmembers from 512 Squadron, to the newly formed 575 Squadron on 14th February 1944, who were also based at RAF Hendon. On 14th February 1944, both 512 and 575 Squadrons were both moved from RAF Hendon to RAF Broadwell, England for them to continue their training and preparations for the upcoming invasion of Normandy. Boogie Baby went with them, remaining there until 10th April 1944 when she was transferred to Air Command South East Asia and based in India. Here she saw action delivering valuable supplies to the troops fighting in the jungles of Burma and, as you will see, made many relief deliveries to Imphal and the Chindits. She remained in operation here until June 1944 when she was transferred to Middle East Command, based in Cairo, Egypt. From here, ‘Boogie Baby’ was moved to Corsica, and Italy before returning to the Middle East and Cairo at the end of August 1944, where she remained in service until the end of WWII. In late 1945, she was returned to the UK with 1382 Transport Support Conservation Unit and based at Wymeswold, England until the termination of her military service.|

At the end of the war, ‘Boogie Baby’ was reregistered as a civilian aircraft TC-Yol and continued its cargo duties in 1946 with Turkish Airlines before again being reregistered as CS-TAI with Universal Air Leasing of Boavista and operated by Air Acores in 1969. In 1975 she was again in military service registered as 4XFNT/Serial No. 029 with the Israel Air Force, where she remained until being sold to Global Aircrafts and regaining a civilian registration of N751 in 1999. She was shipped back to the USA in 1999 via Malta, where she was acquired by the Oklahoma Airborne Museum in 2000 and based at Lawton, Oklahoma, before moving to Frederick Army Airfield, Frederick, Oklahoma in 2005.