It was a dream come true and an experience of a lifetime.
The Dakota DC3 is an iconic, twin radial-engined classic plane with a low slung rear wheel. Its engines produce a deep drone which can be heard numerous kilometres away on a calm day and is somewhat like that of war planes, such as Spitfires and Mustangs which flew in World War II.
Dakota ZS-NTC was built on September 24, 1943 at the Douglas Aircraft Corporation plant at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in the USA. Its production was intended for the United States Army Air Force (USAAF), as a model C-47A-1-DK.
The DC3 can seat 28 passengers with two cockpit crew and one cabin host.
Arriving 20 minutes early on June 29, we were treated to the pilots warming the Dak’s engines in hangar 5. It was a fairytale scene as blue smoke bellowed from its twin radial engines. The sound of its engines was only amplified in the giant hangar and I was taken back to what it must have been like in the 1930s and 1940s, when these planes ferried passengers.
Pomp and ceremony began after the engines were shut down and passengers were allowed onto the apron to view and board the plane.
The scene evolved even more into a fairytale when families waved goodbye to passengers on the plane as the pilots began the start up process again.
First the left engine turned slowly before a bang and splutter as it sprung to life. With one engine at idle speed, the right propeller began to turn slowly, I got goose bumps. Another bang and splutter emanated from the second engine and the plane began to push against its chocks, ready for action.
I could not help but wonder what the whole episode looked like from outside where most of the spectators recorded the event with cell phones and cameras.
I peered through the small, low-placed window. The brakes were released as the engines were sped up and we taxied to the end of a runway. In front of us, a Cessna light aircraft landed and another took off. Next it was our turn as the pilot guided the plane into its taking off position.
We idled there for a couple of seconds but it felt like several minutes. The cabin went silent as passengers waited in anticipation. The brakes were applied as both engines were sped up. That distinct Dakota sound once again dominated the skies and all eyes were set on the plane, from all angles of Rand Airport as it rolled down the runway.
The take-off was effortless as Captain Lorrie Dawid Raath and co-pilot Brian Trevor Stableford flew over southern suburbs of Johannesburg before making a right bank to turn at Soccer City stadium in Soweto.
One-by-one passengers made their way to the cockpit for a view of flight as the veteran pilots went about their duties. It was then that I thought to myself, it must have been a spectacular experience to be on an inter-continental flight and cross oceans in a DC3 back in the day.
Back on terra firma, my father and I discussed our experiences of flying in classic war-era planes; him in a SAAF Harvard and me in the DC3. It is an experience I will treasure for the rest of my life.
