Douglas C-47A-30-DL  Skytrain     N44585         (c/n  9568)

                                                                                                      
                                                             While many ex C-47s became executive transports, by far the greatest majority
                                                             of course, found their way into the airline market.  This example was operated by
                                                             West Coast Airways, a forerunner of  Air West, later Hughes Air West when the
                                                             eccentric entrepreneur bought it, which in turn was merged into Republic Airlines.
                                                             Republic was eventually gobbled up by Northwest.   And Northwest?  Well they,
                                                             like just about all the airline names we remember, will probably go belly up 'ere
                                                             long.  (I am writing this in October 2005).  Anyway, back to our DC-3.  It was
                                                             built as a C-47A-30-DL at Long Beach in 1943 (to a 1942 contract) with serial
                                                             number 42-23706.  It was civilianized in 1946 and went directly to West Coast.
                                                             When this shot was taken at SFO in the late 1940s the CAA had just changed
                                                             the US national registration letters from "NC" to "N".  All West Coast did was
                                                             obliterate the "C", leaving the "N: offset.    N44585 was sold off when the airline
                                                             purchased Fairchild F-27s, and it was still around into the late 1970s, as a corp-
                                                             orate aircraft.