My father Frank De Felitta (1921-2016) was a pilot who served with the Army Air Corps during the Second World War. To honor him on this special day I thought I’d post a couple of clips specifically about the plane he flew. The C-47 was a troop and equipment carrier and was such a robust and versatile bird that after the war it was converted to the passenger plane known as the DC-3. Because he didn’t discuss the war much–except for trotting out a few funny stories here and there–I never had a real grasp of how complex a task he faced and in what conditions he had to carry out the awesome responsibility of piloting this beast of a machine. Add to that his age–I think he was nineteen when he first joined up in 1941 and began flight training–and one realizes that the young men of that era were made of some bad-ass stuff that most of us can’t begin to lay claim to. Above is a modern-day look at an old C-47 that has been restored and is flown by a father and son vintage aviation team. Below is a training film made during the war, featuring Arthur Kennedy for some reason. (Hey, he needed a gig). I dedicate both of these clips to my father and his World War 2 fellow flyers. And God bless all veterans of all wars, alive and dead.