DC3--"Southern Cross"

HI--I'm seeking information and history on the old DC3 jump plane 'Southern Cross". Any and all info would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. Don "Doc" Stewart D-2785

Chris Spence (CSpenceFLY) would know some info. He tried to get that plane for the Dublin boogie earlier this year. I think it's somewhere in Florida. It was needing repairs and maintenance before it could be flown for skydivers and they couldn't get that done in time for the Dublin boogie.

I'm moving this to the History forum... you'll probably get more hits with good infe there!

You may want to look thru this thread

/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=510339#510339

I know it was for sale and the new owner was going to bring it to Georgia.

It's going to be at the WFFC in August. We'll have a pic or two on the website some time next week.
See you there!

The DC-3 "Southern Cross" is now based in Cleburne, TX, and flying jumpers at Eagle Flight Skydiving DZ, in Granbury, TX. as of Memorial day weekend, 2005.

Me and the Southern Cross back in November '04 when it was up in Utah.

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The DC-3 "Southern Cross" is now based in Cleburne, TX, and flying jumpers at Eagle Flight Skydiving DZ, in Granbury, TX. as of Memorial day weekend, 2005.

Is Bob still flying it?

He WAS on 5/30/05! I'm not sure if he will be with that great old bird in the future, i.e. New Owners.
Doc

Hmm...interesting..that sucks to hear though...

Looks like I'm gonna have to make a trip here soon!!

If I remember right Southern Cross was owned by George Kabeller and originally based at Chambersburg Pa and than at Phoenix Zhills. With its larger Wright engines and a gutted interior it was known as a fast climber. It was very loud inside though. I have an advertising video made for the Phoenix drop zone Called "The Magic is Back" hosted by Jerry Bird that shows a shot of the VSI steady at 1500 FPM.
I especialy remember Dave Rickerby's mural on the aft bulkhead of the Grim Reaper admonishing; "Hey , Let's be careful out there". A quote from the TV series Hill Street Blues. I hope it's still there. Tom

Loud doesn't quite describe it

WFFC says that Southern Cross will be there, not Skip Evans N 26MA. www.freefall.com

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Dave Rickerby's mural on the aft bulkhead of the Grim Reaper admonishing; "Hey , Let's be careful out there". A quote from the TV series Hill Street Blues. I hope it's still there

nope sorry, it got striped off last year to check for cracks or something like that... i liked seeingit and was sad when it was gone....... i wish i wouldof got a picture of it...... we always wondered how old that picture was....

Southern Cross came to Rantoul WFFC 2005 and flew quite a few loads. It is an amazingly strong climber for a DC 3. We were typically getting out above 15K and it did NOT take forever to get there. The plane could use a paint job, there are a few empty holes in the instr. panel, but she runs sweet and STRONG. The pilot was an old hand, having flown C 46s in SE Asia for Air America during the Nam war. He retired on jets as number one seniority on America West Airlines. For some reason the spots were WAY off if there was any cloud cover. On one jump most of the laod landed many miles from the DZ. After they got some coaching from Dean, the air boss, and repleced their GPS, things got much better.
I sure hope Southern Cross returns to WFFC. It is really LOUD inside, so bring earplugs. It also has a HUGE step below the door for floaters, more like a porch than a step.

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. It is really LOUD inside, so bring earplugs. It also has a HUGE step below the door for floaters, more like a porch than a step.

Ear plugs? EAR PLUGS??? I don't need no stinkin' ear plugs!!!

Good one Billy! Ever "hear" the one about the tall, good looking redhead jumper in Skip Evan's DC 3 at WFFC 2003? She came up front and asked Skip" "If I take my top off will you give us some extra altitude?" Skip said "sure" and off it came. She put em right up against his face. Skip was flying IFR for a few seconds. I think we got over 15, 000 feet on that load.

I spotted one of the few loads that made it on to the airport.Tthe kid in the right seat came back to me to say only give 5 degree turn changes with a hand signal I asked what the signal was for 90 right. I then told him I jumped DC-3s before his dad was born,and try to do what his was told , he finally went back up front, we had gone on a 8 mile go around still climbing . The floater bar and step remind me of Daves king air 200 room enough for a picnic table and chairs.Great plane hope its back again

Was wondering what happened to all the DC3s we used to jump at the nationals booies in Muskogi Oklahoma , southern cross , sugar alpha , our douglass , mr douglass , Might be slower than some jumpships today but they sure are a blast to jump.

Don't know about all the 'other' ones...

But I get to jump this all next week!

ENVY

Here's Southern Cross at WFFC in 2005. I've jumped out of it in the past, but never got to fly it. I did manage to get about 1400 hours in (I think) nine other DC-3s. Great airplane to fly.
try centercomp.com/dc3 for an online DC-3 museum. I've got about 80 photos of assorted DC-3 there in the photos section. They're listed under my real name


Well, haven't figuted out how to attach jpeg files ... but the plane was really there ... I swear it was.

Here it is. Sweet plane, climbs well, has Wright 1820-86 engines from a Grumman HU 16 Albatross. Shown at WFFC 2005. I made almost every load flown by the DC 3, just loved the plane, but the spots.... well, lets say that it was hard to believe that they had a GPS, but they did. One load I was on landed miles!!! from the WFFC DZ. Exited over scattered clouds. Finally Air Boss Dean flew with them and showed them how to fly a jump run. They seemed to improve after that. Oh, and that plane was the loudest (by far) of the six DC 3s I have flown on. Ear plugs mandatory.

Southern Cross was flying skydivers today at Skydive Dallas. It has its original military paint job now and it is own by a flying museum group out at Fort Worth Spinks Airport.

http://www.douglasc47.org