Take one look at the restoration of Douglas C-47A Night Fright, being conducted by Heritage Air Services at Coventry Airport, and the extent of owner Charlie Walker's commitment to achieving total authenticity in returning this very historic transport to airworthiness becomes obvious. Every possible effort is being made to re-create each detail of a World War Two Skytrain, and no stone left unturned in the search for suitable components. Built by Douglas at Santa Monica in 1943 and allocated US Army Air Forces serial 42-100521, Night Fright is, of course, a genuine wartime combat veteran C-47, which flew many missions with the 79th Troop Carrier Squadron at Membury, Berkshire in 1944-45. The Walker family - which owns the old Membury airfield site - acquired the aircraft, registered N308SF, during 2012. At that time it was kept at Walnut Ridge, Arkansas. They subsequently moved it to Punta Gorda, Florida, the initial plan being to have it restored to airworthiness there. However, they decided in 2015 that it would be far better, and easier to manage, if the task was performed in the UK. The airframe was therefore dismantled and shipped across the Atlantic, arriving at Coventry by road in early 2017.
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