DC-3 That Worked BP Oil Spill Makes Stopover at Angelina Airport
My youngest daughter hopes one day to be a Navy pilot, so she's been taking flight lessons over the past year or so. This past Sunday I was taking her to the Angelina County Airport for another lesson but a storm formed and we had to cancel plans. We were already at the entrance of the airport and one of her instructors (Hi Kent!) said we should come on out to the tarmac to see something interesting.
My daughter was stoked! A big circa-1945 DC-3 was parked on the apron. The aircraft belongs to Airborne Support out of Houma, Louisiana. They specialize in close-range spraying of chemical dispersant onto oil spills. They flew numerous missions in the Gulf of Mexico during the BP Oil Spill of 2010.
In some of the pictures below you'll notice the huge 1200 gallon tank and the tubing that extends onto the wings of the aircraft. This DC-3 is basically a huge, retrofitted crop duster that, of course, sprays dispersant onto bodies of water.
The crew of the plane were in town because one of the persons aboard was getting his certification to fly the aircraft and the examiner is from this area. We are forever grateful to Dan who allowed us to board the DC-3 and take pictures and video of the plane taking off back to Houma.