The Observation Deck

Last week, a world war 2 vintage two engine plane with military markings was flying repeatedly over Lakewood. Anyone else see it or know anything about it?

Saw somebody say the same thing in my Facebook feed, but unfortunately he just had the same question.

Hmmmm. At least it wasn't just my imagination.

I saw it too. Looked like a B-17 from my vantage point (4 engines rather than 2) if that helps anyone find out why it was flying around.



If it was 2 engines, then I'm not sure.
http://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/ww2-us-military-bomber-aircraft.asp

A-20 Havoc, B-26 Invader, B-18 Bolo, B-25 Mitchell...

I saw it. It had two engines. I thought it was a Coast Guard plane because they use the slower prop planes for searches.

I saw it too.

It appears to have been a Douglas C-47 Dakota/Skytrain aircraft, developed from the pre-WWII DC-3 passenger aircraft and used by the hundreds as troop carrier/paratrooper and cargo aircraft in WWII and Korea. These were used as late as the Vietnam War as rapid-firing gun platforms. At that time, they were known as AC-47 "Spooky".

(I used to LOVE to build model planes!)

Whether these aircraft might still be in use by the Coast Guard around here, I could not say, but these planes were real work horses, so that could be a real possibility.

Gary Rice wrote:It appears to have been a Douglas C-47 Dakota/Skytrain aircraft, developed from the pre-WWII DC-3 passenger aircraft and used by the hundreds as troop carrier/paratrooper and cargo aircraft in WWII and Korea. These were used as late as the Vietnam War as rapid-firing gun platforms. At that time, they were known as AC-47 "Spooky".
(I used to LOVE to build model planes!)

I also saw it about three times on Tuesday last week. It was flying very slow, and fairly low. I'm pretty sure it had two props and looked much like the C-47 in your pictures, but it was all white. It looked like more of a restored post-war Air Force plane rather than a current Coast Guard one. Didn't see any evidence of Coast Guard markings. Cool looking plane.