Heads Up...Heading Back to Montana

It's been almost a year since I posted cuz that's when we traveled last.  But we're going north again and will be blogging but I'm not sure how much.

We usually go to Missoula first, then on to Bozeman.  But because our Missoula place was already committed for our preferred time, we reversed the trip...going to Bozeman first.

Last summer in Missoula I explored a little known museum called the Museum of Mountain Flying.


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As you scroll down the many photos, you'll come across a particular aircraft, a Douglas C-47 twin engine transport plane.  This plane had lots of history back when those photos were posted and the future was mentioned as a goal to participate in the Normandy Invasion 75th anniversary commemoration earlier this month.

As a C-47/DC-3 with much history, she was to become known as "Miss Montana" for this mission.

Skip to the summer of 2018 when I was there.  I toured the museum but didn't blog about it.  Here are a few shots from last year.

Her intro:

Her mid-restoration state, engines not installed yet.

A close-up of her nose art, copied & re-named from a vintage B-29.  The lady who posed for this shot came to the museum.  (She's 95 now.)

The cockpit & instrument panel.

Outside the hangar, getting ready for her test flight.

And finally, a shot of her flying over England, taken last month.  As you can imagine, getting her there was no small feat.  A fairly short range aircraft, she made many stops on the way over.  An oil company provided a full fuel scholarship for the trip.

The museum tells me she'll be back in Missoula by the time we're there.  I'll post some "after" photos.