DC 5

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
1

In a moment of madness I decided to build models of the aircraft of the Australian Armed Forces.

Upon completion of the Beaufort Mk lX Beaufreighter I want to build a DC5 but so far have not been able to find a kit. Dose anyone know of one? Resin or vacform will do. It seems I might have to scratch build one at the moment.

Dai

2

Execuform makes or made a 1/72 vacuform kit of the DC-5. It’s a very basic kit but it’s the only game in town. They turn up at swap meets & on Ebay.

3

Dai

I believe you’ve answered a question that has bugged me for years. I recorded most of the origional Wings series on VCR and in the one about the B-26 Marauder, there is a shot taken from the cockpit of a B-26 taking off from some field in Australia, departing for New Guinea. Just after it starts its takeoff roll, it passes a taxiway and there is DC-5, apparently waiting to takeoff its self. It’s dark, only on screen for a couple of seconds and no insignia is visible but the shape is undoubtedly a DC-5. As I’ve always been sure that no US forces operated DC-5s got overseas, I’ve always wondered who it belonged to. Must have been an RAAF bird.

4

Dai,

I’m probably wrong here, my Swiss cheese brain usually is, but…

Wasn’t one of the U S Presidential planes based on a C-54? which is the military DC 5/

And I think someone has kitted it recently, not sure what scale though.

There, hope that’s brought a bit of excitement to your life, thats about as exciting as it gets here!

All the best

Pete

5

C-54 is a DC-4

6

The DC-5 was a smaller, twin engined, tri cycle geared transport/airliner which I believe was designed to supplement the DC-3. It never caught on and sort of faded away after only a few were built. I have seen at least one color picture of a DC-5 painted in the navy tri-color scheme.

7

I got interested and did a Google search and found these results

DC-5 first flew in 1940, and possibly would have been a better transport/airliner than the DC-3 based upon load capacity and operational costs. However, because of the approaching war, it was never put into large scale production, the DC-3/C-47 already being in production.

There were 26 DC-5s built broken out as follows:

DC-5 1 prototype Crashed

DC-5 4 KLM 2 ended up w/RAAF

C-110 14 USAAF

R3D 7 USN/USMC

8

The DC-5

9

There is an old book on B-17’s that shows a B-17E taking off in New Guinea with a DC-5 in the background with US markings I will have to go the library to check it out. I think it is B-17 At War. Hope this helps.

10

Note to self,

Must re-read those airliner recognition books & stop relying on lactose based byproducts as memory storage devices in the desert heat.[:I]

(Intolerant? I hate the stuff!)

Pete

11

I’m glad someone else saw that. I saw that episode and saw the same DC-5. Acually it was an R3D-2. The Marines flew 4 of them until at least 1943. They were flown by Marine Utility Squadron Two Fifty Two (VMJ-252). They had the tri color camoflage with a red outlined star. There are photos of them in Squadron Signal’s US Navy Airraft Camouflage & matkings 1940-1945. After having said that, the Navy also flew 3 R3d-1s. The first one delivered crashed and the Navy acquired a civel DC-5 and designated it an R3D-3. I don’t know if any of the Navy aircraft were painted or not. All the photos I have show them in natural aluminum. Hope this helps.