Can anyone confirm that I might just have flown from Newcastle to Ronaldsway and back, in a DAKOTA in August 1966----I had already flown by Dak in previous years but were they still in service in 1966 ??

I have a photo (a staff photographer took our pics as we leapt off, and charged us for them)of me standing in the doorway of an aeroplane that year but cannot identify the make..

Help please

They were still flying from Elmdon in Birmingham to Ronaldsway in 1966 so you are probably right.

Ian If you had to put crampons on to scale the gangway it was a Dakota,they were still flying in 1966.Otherwise it was likely to have been a Vickers Viscount,

I have a passion for Daks! If you email me the pic, I'll confirm if it is.
Daks, Shaks and Bradford vans...all because of Dounreay...Watlings and Mowlems were responsible for making a wee country lassie an anorak!

Sheesh! Dan-Air would be the most likely operator; they ran a few Daks right into the late sixties, plus Ambassadors.

I used to watch 'em at Prestwick, taxi-ing and sounding great ( like a hundred G50s on the pipe )heading off to the Isle of Man

DANAIR- the predecessors to Ryanair!!

Funny thing was,they only began the summer IOM- Prestwick-IOM flights AFTER the TT was over; wierd , or what?

There are 3 DC3 or C-47s still flying in New Zealand I believe.
Usually they would put the heavier passengers towards the front so as to make takeoff easier, so where did you sit Ian?

Here a few stats for the plane buffs.

Accommodation : 2-3 crew plus 28 passengers
Dimensions
Span : 28.9m (95'0ft)
Length : 19.63m (64'5ft)
Height : 5.2m (16'11ft)
Weight empty : 7,657kg (16,865lb)
max : 11,441kg (25,200lb)
Power Plant : 2x 1050hp P&W R-1830-92
Performance
Max speed : 368km/h (230mph)
Max climb : 1130ft/min (345m/min)
Ceiling : 23,200ft (7,076m)
Range : 3,400km (2,125miles)

Don't forget the loose rivets in the wings!!

Thank you all for your responses--I was hoping someone could actually pinpoint the Newcastle-Ronaldsway schedule that year. Did they major on Daks ?
Reference to Rivets:
I certainly remember my girlfriend looking down, freezing with shock, and saying "Can I see clouds through the floorboards ?" She wasn't kidding !
Thanks Witch:
The photo is of me in a plane doorway which does not make identity easy, nor of the plane !!

You MUST visit

<A HREF="http://www.douglasdc3.com">www.douglasdc3.com</A>

Something to do over Xmas ???