02/28/2011. Remarks by Jack McKillop: "This Douglas Model DC-3A-456 was ordered by the USAAF as a C-47A-80-DL s/n 43-15255 and delivered on February 24, 1944. By July 1944, it was in England assigned to the 43rd Troop Carrier Squadron, 315th Troop Carrier Group, 52rd Troop Carrier Wing, IX Troop Carrier Command, Ninth Air Force and based at Spanhoe, Northamptonshire. In late August, the IX Troop Carrier Command was reassigned from the Ninth Air Force to the First Airborne Army. This aircraft probably dropped paratroops over the Netherlands during Operation 'Market Garden' in September 1944 and the airborne assault across the Rhine River in March 1945.

Back in the US on May 14, 1945, it was declared surplus and transferred to the Reconstruction Finance Corp. on September 25, 1945 for disposal. It was sold to an individual in Miami, Florida in 1947 and after conversion to a DC-3C, was registered NC21919. In November 1953, it was sold to the US charter airline Miami Airlines of Greensboro, North Carolina.

It was sold to Arctic Wings Ltd of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on April 22, 1955 registered CF-ICU and operated in northern Canada. In 1956, Arctic Wings Airline and Central Northern Airways of St. James, Manitoba, merged forming Transair Ltd. of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and this aircraft was leased to Central Northern Airways until sold to Spartan Air Services, a Canadian mapping firm. The aircraft was operated by Transair.

In March 1969, it was sold in the US and registered N19721. It was owned by five different companies until placed in storage at Springfield, Missouri in June 1987. In March 1999, N19721 was moved to Rolla National Airport, Vichy, Missouri. As of this date, it is still registered in the US."

07/31/2011. Remarks by Bob Finch: "I was a crew member on CF-ICU which at that time was owned by TransAir in Winnipeg. My best recollection is either 1955 or 1956. It had a picture on the side of the nose of a Polar Bear and was called 'Miss Polar Bear'. We were sent to Knob Lake, Quebec, to haul freight to Mid Canada Dew Line sites. At the time we had skiis which did not last as one was broken on our first lake landing. I tracked the plane down as being in London at Gatwick April 1963. We had some very interesting experiences when I was with that aircraft."