Apart from perhaps the first airplane to ever take to the sky, the Douglas DC-3 and its military counterpart, the C-47 Skytrain, are quite possibly the most important aircraft to have ever flown. Almost nine decades after it first took flight, DC-3s are still in service with cargo transport services in remote regions across the world. There’s always been one glaring problem with the DC-3, however, it’s pretty gosh darn slow.
This is where Basler Turbo Conversions of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, comes into its own. Founded in 1990, Basler’s made its name modifying and remanufacturing existing DC-3 airframes by removing the existing Pratt&Whitney R 1830 piston engines.
They’re replaced by upgraded Pratt & Whitney Cana PT6A turboprop jet engines. That’s right folks, these fully reworked Bassler BT-67s share the same restomod spirit as that LS swapped muscle car you’ve no doubt spent hours lusting over.
The process of converting an old DC-3 to turboprop power sounds simple enough in principle. But just like engine swaps in cars, there’s more work involved than us non-engineering inclined types could possibly fathom.
Every aspect of the DC-3s construction from the metal skin, to the fuselage, the wings, and of course, the engines are meticulously overhauled to ensure the airframe is sturdy enough to withstand the added power of jet propulsion. The overhaul is so substantial, the completed airframe shows “zero accumulated fatigue damage,” according to Bassler. In short, the BT-67 should be ready for another 90 years of flight.
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The wings are fabricated from their original rounded tips to more aerodynamic angled ones. The fuselage receives a significant extension just forward of the wings to improve the aircraft’s interior capacity to 1,225 square feet (34.68 square meters), over 30% more than the standard DC-3. All this work is done in-house by Basler’s team of highly skilled metalworkers.
The interior and cockpit of the aircraft receive similar treatment to that of the engines. That is, completely ripped out and replaced with the latest in navigation, communication, and avionics systems that bring the plane up to the level of even the most modern airliners.
Cruising speed on the BT-67 is a swift 210 knots (240 mph, 390 kph) up from the DC-3s cruising speed of barely 180 knots ( 207 mph, 370 kph). Astonishingly, the BT-67 weighs 16,000 lbs (7257 kg) compared to the DC-3s weight of 17-815 lbs (8080 kg). There’s also a near 5,000 lbs (2,267 kg) increase in the payload capacity.
What sets the BT-67 apart from other turboprop aircraft is the ability to operate in conditions usually too hostile for planes of its kind to operate safely. A trait carried over from the old DC-3. They are often employed by companies shipping high-value goods to harsh environments like the Arctic and Antarctic. The BT-67 is also perfectly situated for airports with shorter runways, often only a few thousand feet long.
Photo: Google Creative Commons (Fair Use)
Many fans of the DC-3 and C-47 know that there was also a famed gunship version of the iconic aircraft. One that sported more high-caliber guns in one airframe than almost anything else in the sky. This AC-47 was the predecessor of the world-renowned AC-130.
Basler continues this tradition by having the capability to mount several 7.2 mm miniguns at several points throughout the fuselage. A handful of these planes, codenamed AC-47T Fantasma to differentiate them from the original AC-47s were recently purchased by the Columbian Air Force for anti-cartel operations. There, it serves alongside the same gunships that inspired its design. If that’s not poetic justice in aircraft form, we don’t know what is.
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