One of the star attractions of the Bray Airshow this year was the Douglas DC-3 painted in period Aer Lingus colours. This DC-3 was manufactured in September 1943 and is currently registered ZS-NTE. It served with the Royal Air Force until transfer to the South African Air Force in 1945. There it remained until retired in 1995. It was sold and registered ZS-NTE and after a period of 7 years in storage was restored to flying condition in 2009 and modified from a C47 cargo version to a DC3 passenger configuration. It is painted in the colours of EI-ACD.
The original EI-ACD was built as a Douglas (Model DC-3A-456) C-47A-DL, msn 9140, USAAF serial number 42-32914, and delivered to the U.S. Army Air Forces on March 4, 1943. After serving in North Africa and Europe, the aircraft was sold to Aer Lingus, registered EI-ACD, and delivered on 14th December 1945. After being converted to a commercial airline configuration, she flew for Aer Lingus until 1963. Initially, she was named “Padraig” (St. Patrick) but was renamed “St. Gall” from 1954 to 1957. In June 1963, she was sold to a Portuguese airline based in the Azores.
More information about this aircraft is available HERE.
