02/28/2011. Remarks by Jack McKillop: "This particular airplane, a Douglas Model DC-3A-360, was ordered by the USAAF as a C-47-DL, s/n 41-18438 and delivered on July 9, 1942. By October 1942, it was assigned to the 8th Troop Carrier Squadron, 62d Troop Carrier Group at Keevil, Wiltshire, England. The group had been designated as one of the units participating in the invasion of Northwest Africa in November 1942.

On November 15, 1942, the group moved to Algeria and then to Tunisia in July 1943. The group then operated from bases in Sicily and Italy between September 1943 and November 1945 when it was inactivated. During this period, the group dropped British paratroopers to attack German airdromes in Tunisia in November 1942, towed gliders and dropped paratroopers during the invasion of Sicily in July 1943, dropped paratroopers in northern Italy in June 1944 to harass the retreating Germans, towed gliders and dropped paratroopers during the invasion of southern France in August 1944 and during the Allied assault on Greece in October 1944. In November 1944, it was reassigned to Headquarters, 51st Troop Carrier Wing in Italy.

Declared surplus, it was transferred to the Foreign Liquidation Commission on December 11, 1945 for disposal. It was sold to the Italian airline LAI (Linee Aeree Italiane SpA, became Alitalia in November 1957) of Rome and was registered I-LONA on November 12, 1947.

On February 8, 1960, it was sold to the Dutch airline Martin's Air Charter of Amsterdam, registered PH-MAB and used on charter flights. Convair 340s replaced the DC-3s and it was sold to the small Dutch operator Moormanair (Moorman Vliegtuigonderhoudsbedrijf, NV) of Amsterdam in 1963.

In December 1968, it was sold to Australian Aircraft Sales of Melbourne, Victoria and was re-sold to the Indonesian Navy in February 1970 and assigned s/n U-603. It was written off on August 15, 1984 at Wamena, West Papua, New Guinea and the wreckage was stored at NAS Juanda, Surabaya, Java from 1991 to 2000."