11/30/2010. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "This aircraft was produced as a DC-3A-467 C-47B-20-DK under the USAAF serial 43-49824 on January 9, 1945. A few day later, January 22, it was delivered to RAF Nassau at the Bahamas as a Dakota Mk.IV, s/n KN219, while on March 10, 1945 it was transferred to ACSEA (Air Command, South East Asia) at Singapore, and it was returned to the USAAF on September 12, 1947. On February 23, 1949, it was transferred to the Belgian AF as a C-47B, s/n K25, and coded OT-CWK it served with 21 Squadron, 15 Wing.

Returned to the USAF/MAAG (Military Advisory Aid Group) on September 18, 1952, a few weeks later, the C-47B was transferred to the French AF on October 9, and serialed 349824. It was reserialed 424 when it transferred to the French Navy on September 6, 1971. Reportedly it used the call signs F-RBDL, F-UIHH, F-YDQS when flying into civil airports, and was withdrawn from use by June 30, 1984. A planned sale to Air Périgord did not materialize, and on November 4, 1985 it was registered in the USA to Basler Flight Services at Oshkosh, Wisconsin as N70BF.

Subsequently Schafer Aircraft Modifications Inc. (formed 1977 by Earl Schafer) at Madison Cooper Airport, Waco, Texas, in conjunction with Aero Mod International (AMI) of Fort Worth, Texas, used this aircraft to develop a turboprop conversion for the DC-3 which involved replacing the aircraft's piston engines with two 1,230 shp Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-65AR turboprops. The conversion also included a 3 ft 4 in (1.02 m) fuselage 'stretch' forward of the wing root to maintain the aircraft's center of gravity envelope. The hydraulic system is also modified and fuel capacity increased.

Design work on the modification, which was known as the Schafer DC-3-65TP Cargomaster, began in January 1985. Work on the prototype conversion (N70BF) began in December 1985, with the aircraft making its first flight on August 1, 1986, work on the first production conversion began in September 1986. Subsequently the type was marketed by AMI and by 1989 Cargomasters were operating in South America, South Africa, and the USA, and had been demonstrated to the USAF, USN and other US Government agencies at Andrews AFB, Washington, D.C., on February 22 1989.

The prototype N70BF was reregistered to AMI on November 15, 1986 and in February 1988 to N887AM. In September 1988 it was sold to Rhoades International Inc. of Columbus, Indiana, and registered as N146JR. In August 1993 it was ferried to Kenya for operation on behalf of theInternational Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), while in July 1995 it was registered
5Y-RDS to Rossair Kenya, at Nairobi, Kenya. The aircraft is presently stored at Lanseria."