Uncle Charlies, 1987

Fables and Facts from ACVW History
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Uncle Charlies, 1987

Post by Pine »

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Re: Uncle Charlies, 1985

Post by retrovan »

Pine, Thanks for the memory's...

Still remember going through that plane on the by to CT, Sitting in the pilots seat.

but that plane if I remember correctly, was removed by the Air force for restoration, and they where given a DC to replace it.

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Re: Uncle Charlies, 1985

Post by Pine »

No it is actually the other way around - it used to be a Dakota, but the Dakota was restored and exchanged for the Shackleton in the pic above. It is still there (saw it last year), but it is now painted in SASOL colours.

That Shackleton is one of only 8 that was operated by SAAF, this one was restored but crashed (luckily with no casualties) in the Sahara desert and abandoned in 1994 -

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Re: Uncle Charlies, 1985

Post by retrovan »

Sorry, :oops: old age,...

Of course it was the other way round, because it was called the Dakota roadhouse.... DAAAA!!

Thanks for the back ground.
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Re: Uncle Charlies, 1985

Post by Pine »

Eish I am a bit confused myself now.... it wasn't a Dakota at Uncle Charlies, but a Viking - and it seems like the Dakota Roadhouse was somewhere else?

Found this at http://www.dc-3.co.za/dakota-roadhouse.html
Many older residents of Johannesburg will remember the Dakota Roadhouse, which was established soon after World War II in Main Reef Road, Langlaagte. For many years, this roadhouse had a real live Douglas Dakota mounted on the roof. Many people confuse this aircraft with the Vickers Viking ZS-DKH on the roof of Vics Viking Garage at Devland (now replaced by the Shackleton 1723) and still others confuse the location with the roadhouse at Uncle Charlie’s, some distance from either site.
The Vickers VC.1 Viking was a twin-engined short-range airliner derived from the Vickers Wellington bomber. The initial nineteen production aircraft (Mark 1A) carried between 21 and 24 passengers. The fuselage was metal but the geodetic wings and tail planes were fabric covered.

The aircraft has two Bristol Hercules 630 engines. These are 14-cylinder two-row, sleeve valve, air-cooled radial engines developing 1,690 hp each.

The VC stands for Vickers Commercial, sometimes also called Vickers Civil.

Built at the Vickers-Armstrongs factory in Weybridge, England, c/n 121 first took to the air on 30 August 1946, registered as G-AHOT with British European Airways and was used in the 1948 Berlin Airlift. On 26 September 1954 she was sold to Trek Airways, registered ZS-DKH and operated in Protea Airways colours, a second airline of Trek, and for many years, transported hundreds of passengers on leisurely and scenic flights between South Africa and Europe. She even starred in the film, “Kimberly Jim” with the late Jim Reeves.

After 13.881 flying hours she was disassembled and transported by road to Armadale south of Johannesburg, where, in January 1963 she was lifted on to the roof of the Vic de Villiers “Vic’s Viking Service Station” where she became a famous, if forlorn, landmark.

On 5 March 1987, the Viking was replaced by SAAF Shackleton 1723 and donated to the SAA Museum Society. The Viking’s wings were removed and she was towed to Jan Smuts Airport.

Unfortunately 20 years plus later, in 2008, the aircraft has not been restored and is a tatty hulk standing not too far from the engine run-up bay at OR Tambo International Airport.
....and these pics
VikingtopVikinggarage.jpg
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ShackletonreplacesViking.jpg
SHACKLETONVIKINGCOKE.jpg
VICSVIKINGSASOL.jpg
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Re: Uncle Charlies, 1987

Post by Klaus »

Interesting, thanks for sharing
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Re: Uncle Charlies, 1985

Post by retrovan »

Pine wrote:.... the Dakota Roadhouse was somewhere else?

Found this at http://www.dc-3.co.za/dakota-roadhouse.html..... .
That history of our Dakota is amassing.
It was delivered from the factory on September 25 1944
To think that it has such a lousy history when in service, that they stuck it on a roadhouse, then recommissioned it, into a flying hospital.
and after that again landed perched on posts in the suburbs at the Trade Employees Union in Paraná Argentina still there today.
A real "Kanniedood"

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Re: Uncle Charlies, 1987

Post by beetlepower »

The one that crashed in the Sahara was pelican 16. Pine have you heard the story that Johan Bakkes from Voetspore tells about it?
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Re: Uncle Charlies, 1987

Post by Pine »

beetlepower wrote:The one that crashed in the Sahara was pelican 16. Pine have you heard the story that Johan Bakkes from Voetspore tells about it?
No, I haven't - please do tell! Found this pic:

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Re: Uncle Charlies, 1987

Post by splitfan »

Pine wrote:
beetlepower wrote:The one that crashed in the Sahara was pelican 16. Pine have you heard the story that Johan Bakkes from Voetspore tells about it?
No, I haven't - please do tell! Found this pic:

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Saw that episode , realy amazing story ! also followed the link as posted above and read the story about the Coelacanth , verry interesting !
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Re: Uncle Charlies, 1987

Post by piesang »

No matter what plane, that I can not remember, thow had seen it a lot. Grandma/pa lived only 3km from there and we in Florida(Rodepoort). So we past it a lot. And yes thank's, that bring back old memories.

And moving down to Cape Town in the late 70's had to see the Dakotas a lot in air over Goodwood on there way to or from Ysterplaat.
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Re: Uncle Charlies, 1987

Post by Retrobug »

Here is a Google maps link :D
Can check her out on street view! 8)
http://maps.google.com/?ll=-26.2771,27. ... 2,,0,-5.48
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Re: Uncle Charlies, 1987

Post by MELLO YELLOW »

I think the plane that you are refering to is the one that is on top of a garage in Devland intersection.
I dont recall a plane ever being at Uncle Charlies I could be wrong.
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Re: Uncle Charlies, 1987

Post by piesang »

MELLO YELLOW wrote:I think the plane that you are refering to is the one that is on top of a garage in Devland intersection.
I dont recall a plane ever being at Uncle Charlies I could be wrong.
if I'm right this was at the crossing where you would turn or to vereniging and Paragwana airport or some ting like that. remember I was 12 when we moved from there
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Re: Uncle Charlies, 1987

Post by 62vwbeetle »

Wasn't there also one at Viking in eldorado park?
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