In June of 1944, in Oklahoma, a C-47A came of the assembly line. It was declared "surplus", sent to Canada, then to the Bahamas and then to South Africa where it performed for the military for over 20 years. When the military didn't want it, the South African CAA took it, converted it to a civilian DC-3C, ZS-CAI, and preformed airways checking for over 20 years. It was then sold as a freight dog. It worked for many owners and hauled mining equipment in and out of South Africa. It was in a few movies and TV shows. The aircraft also did parachute jumps. In 2010, while taxing in Port Elizabeth, the #2 (right) engine caught fire and that was the end of it. Years later, Flippie Vermeulen, a retired South African Airlines captain, with his son Ben, bought her and got her flying. They took her back to Rand Airport in Johannesburg, where Flippie has a maintenance hangar large enough to accommodate the aircraft. There hope was to do flying safaris. They were successful using Beech 18s and figured this would be better. They operated a DC3 school and had restored a few in the past. Here's a link to an article entitled Douglas DC-3 ZS-CAI Joins Springbok Classic Air and a detailed history of the aircraft.
I was lucky enough to find out about her. After a quick visit, to the Dakota Lodge at Rand Airport, I made a deal with Flippie. Arrangements were made to fly her back to the USA, which would not be an easy task. One of the sad issues, spare parts are not allowed on aircraft. Because of many rules, it had to stay South African registered. So I couldn't fly it (I couldn't even if I was allowed.) Flippie said that if it is staying registered to him, he was picking the crew. A good idea! Here's a very nice YouTube video on the 12-day/58 hour very exciting delivery flight from South Africa to the United States.
We made it to the United States and landed at Princeton Airport in New Jersey. The generosity of the airport owner, Kenny Nierenberg, was/is an IMMENSE help. The FAA said: "Just because it made it here from South Africa, doesn't mean it's airworthy'. Now the real hard part starts. Getting a U.S. airworthiness cert was almost impossible. I did get a letter on company letter head, from Boeing (who now owns the type data cert) that the plane was built to specification and if it had not gone into the military, it would have been certified when it left the factory. No one was interested in issuing a new one. After a volume of attempts, I met up with Dan Gryder. Well known aircraft accident YouTube commentator. He was the only one who offered to help and did get the Airworthiness cert. I can't thank him enough.
Then it took four years to get her flying. With the IMMENSE help of Sarah McGilly, an unbelievable mechanic and Theo Munro (from South Africa) the plane was slowly banged into place. Preferred AirParts, was great on getting me what we needed. Rich Osborn (DickO) spent lots of time and energy getting me and a few friends up to speed on flying the machine. Then Brandis, from South Africa came and got me "soloed". Another person with unbelievable talent and patience.
With my friend, Bob Ewing, who was with me the whole time, and is checked out as both PIC and SIC we fly her once a week when money and weather permits. Last summer, we made it to AirVenture 2025 and back.
Marty Balk
January 2026
Photo Credits: Marty Balk, Fergal Goodman, David Fogwill, Guus Ottenhof
