Dimensions of cargo door on C-47

[special ed]

There is video on mil channel of kickers kicking out supplies to mountain top in Asia, may be Stilwell's troops, with both doors off. The amazing thing to me is no chutes or restraining straps. Only a third man holding on to them.

 

[MX Trainer]

Last of the few operators left!!

Looks like 6' 8" X 5' 0"

Buffalo Airways: Your passage to the North. - Aircraft Data

WIR just taxied past the hangar but I didn't have a tape measure!!!!

MX

 

[Hansie Bloeckmann]

While the data isn't availabe at the moment ( although still searching ) the idea of the WW2 Jeep width seems to be a good reference. Here are shots of loading of a such vehicle to the C-47. It can be clearly seen that the ramp and the car got the half or more of the door width. So if the jeep was 62 inches wide we can estimate the width of the door at about 90-100 inches or so.

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the pic source: the net.

• At least they loaded a Colonel's Jeep into a C-47- Not like the Fubar with the 101st A/B glider division, that reinforced a glider with steel framing to not only protect a General, but also accomodate his Jeep- that major Fubar was well covered in the movie "Saving Pvt. Ryan".. Hard to believe any glider pilot would believe an aluminum framed and canvas glider with a Jeep loaded could be controlled when the tether line was dropped in flight- I struggle to see how the C-47 that towed this "disaster" handled the take-off and pre-drop flight. My understanding is that the Big Brass in the A/B units felt that one glider could carry 13 paratroops, getting them all down on land in aprox. the same location-assuming everything went right- which it usually didn't, as opposed to the "stick" formation used in the static line drop procedure. Who can say, in hindsight?

 

[Graeme]

Saw this in an old book talking about the DC-3...

 

[Elvis]

I scaled the drawing posted by Wurger and came up with the following dimensions for the door:

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For clarity, the height is where the two doors meet in the middle. The measurements will also be slightly off since it is a sloping surface... but it should be "close enough for government work"!

That adds up to an opening width of 84.5".
Seems to agree with the info supplied from Graeme's book.

 

[jarwha]

hi,
We have an C47 Skytrain in our museum. If needed I can measure the door openings etc.

rgrds
Jan

 

[Wurger]

That would be great. The thread is the next request for the info posted on the forum but no accurate answer has been provided so far..

 

[SamT089]

I scaled the drawing posted by Wurger and came up with the following dimensions for the door:

View attachment 502029

For clarity, the height is where the two doors meet in the middle. The measurements will also be slightly off since it is a sloping surface... but it should be "close enough for government work"!

"Close enough for government work"?! Heh. In 1906 that meant meeting exacting standards for quality, but by the 1960s, the phrase meant the exact opposite. I'm thinking that you meant something in the middle. Thank you for your help. Now I have the dimensions I needed.

 

[YGBSM]

You're welcome!

The phrase is usually used in those cases where tolerances are less exacting - say in government contracted infrastructure projects where 'nominal' can be measured in inches... the phrase does not apply for cases such as a government contracted aerospace machine shop, which can deal in 1/1000" and 1/10,000" tolerances...

I just happened to be organizing some of my photos from this year and found a shot of a C-47 door that is close to the perspective of loading a Jeep or other larger cargo, such as an aircraft engine. Apologies I don't have any closer shots, but this particular aircraft was roped off at quite a distance. US Army paratrooper mannequin for scale.

Source: me

If you need any other particular dimensions, just let me know.

 

[Tracker]

We have a C-47 at the local museum. Can measure (as stated by Jarwha) but not until Tue this week,

 

[Wurger]

No problemo. There is no need to rush.

 

[FIWI]

We are indeed talking bout the INNER door, that was the door used to drop the loads that the 101st and 10th Armored needed badly on December 23rd 1944.
Calculation is roughly 262 airplanes and 330 tons of supplies if I'm not mistaken. Each plane had 1 go over the doughnut. The chutes had different colors, for instance red chutes for ammunition. Goods had to be dropped quickly since the DZ was rather small, so was the doughnut.
This operation was entitled Operation Repulse

 

[Tracker]

Did these measurements early this morning. All measurements are in inches and are plus minus 1/2 in max. The measurement at the bottom are to the major rivet line beneath the door. Also took measurement with door open to top of floor. The vertical measurement on the photo incorporate the curvature of the fuselage. The straight down measurement from top of door to floor was 68" at mid door and 65.5" at the right side. This is the original 'kwicherbichen' (quit your bitchin), 42-92489 flew in support of the D-Day landings by towing gliders and dropping paratroops. The original 42-92489 was still flying with Environment Canada until donated to CWH museum. Do not think the doors were modified in any way.
Hope this helps!

 

[YGBSM]

We got pretty close fudging the numbers, but Tracker's answer is "Winner, winner, chicken dinner."

 

[Wurger]

I agree . It appears that the total width of the cargo door is 85 inches judging by the shot above. So we got really the very close dimensions for that.

Tracker .. THX for your work and time. Well done

 

[SamT089]

Sorry--I was out of town for a week and just got back.
That info is also helpful.
Again, thanks to all. I have the information to write a good note.

 

[Graeme]

t appears that the total width of the cargo door is 95 inches judging by the shot above.

Hi mate. I see 45 + 35 + 4.25 = 84.25"......??

 

[Wurger]

Oh.. yes just typo. It should be 85 inches. I have edited that.

However , it seems that the 35" is for the smaller inner door only IMHO. So the 2x4.25" should be added. Unless I'm wrong. In the case the 84.25 would be fine.

35+45+2x4.25=88.5

 

[Tracker]

If there is any confusion with the diagram, I mistakenly used two arrow heads. The left hand door is about 39-40" total from the front hinge to the door edge to the right of the handles. The piece where the handles are situated is approx 5 1/4". Sorry to cause any confusion.

 

[Wurger]

So we have here the three numbers ( A+B+C ) to find. According to your explanation the A+B+C= ~40". Am I right?