Hello and welcome to FlabobDC3Experieces.com! Flabob's very own DC-3 is called the Flabob Express and is a fully FAA licensed aircraft that is flown by highly experienced former airline pilots.

The Flabob Express is available for air shows, scenic flights, tours, DC-3 experience flights, and funeral or memorial flyovers. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.

And of course, if you'd be interested in actually flying our piece of history and would like to know what services we can provide for you or your airport, please visit our donations page to get an idea of our costs. We are a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that thrives only on the donations of aviation enthusiasts like you! So if you'd like to see the DC-3 in person, ride the DC-3 yourself, or even take classes to learn how to fly it, please visit our donations page right away!

History of the Flabob Express

A DC-3 is a propeller-driven aircraft engineered by the Douglas Aircraft Company that first flew in 1935. It was the third iteration of the Douglas Commercial (DC) line that advertised itself as the "Douglas Sleeper Transport". It's widely considered to be an instrumental milestone in the commercialization of aircraft transports in the United States of America. The inclusion of an in-flight kitchen and sleeping berths on earlier DST models allowed for comfortable coast to coast travel in about 15 hours time with few refueling stops. The DC-3's wider fuselage allowed for three to four-wide seating, improving the cost-effectiveness of transportation with fewer trips. Soon air transportation replaced the train as America's most popular means of long-distance travel, earning its place in history for creating a paradigm shift among US Citizens.

The DC-3 was sold to the U.S. Army where it was repurposed into dozens of military applications depending on whether it would carry military staff, troops, or the wounded. The DC-3 also had wide-spread use in many countries around the globe, including Japan, France, Australia, and the former Soviet Union. During World War II, hundreds of DC-3's were repurposed from civilian use and new variations of the aircraft, including the C-47 Skytrain, served during that period.

The Flabob Express was originally built in 1943 in Long Beach, California. Its model was C-47B, meaning its original purpose was for service in the U.S. Army as a staff transport and was one of 3,364 of this particular model ever built. It was very similar to the C-47A which was equipped for VIP transport, but has a larger fuel capacity than its predecessor. The plate near the cockpit reads that the serial number of the DC-3 is (C/N) 33569; however the Flabob Express' real serial number is 9531. How did it wind up with a phony data plate? In 1952, an American broker, Lee Mansdorf, bought seven C-47s from the Pakistani Air Force. The Flabob Express was one of the seven. When received by Mansdorf, the aircraft had no data plates; for whatever reason, the Pakistanis had removed them all. Since airplanes need data plates to be registered, Mansdorf simply made bogus plates using a range of serial numbers. To add to the confusion, the bogus number 33569 he chose for the Express had actually once been assigned to another C-47 Dakota that was delivered to the RAF in 1945 as KP267. This Dakota served in South East Asia after World War II then returned to the UK where it was broken up for parts in 1953. So the Express was given the serial number of an aircraft that no longer existed. Mansdorf then returned the aircraft to service and it was eventually registered multiple times in Canada and the US with its fake number.

However, with professional assistance, the trail of this DC-3 has been uncovered. It is rumored that our very own Flabob Express transported Winston Churchill and members of the Royal Family in 1943 during its initial tour of duty. Then the aircraft changed hands several times in India, Pakistan, Canada, and then finally the USA. It was registered as N103NA, and dubbed "Classic Express: Wings of Time" by the DC-3 Aviation museum in honor of its rich history. Flabob decided to only slightly modify the name to "Flabob Express: Wings of Time."