By DrSoda 
2025 saw a special guest over the skies of the UK when the Commemorative Air Force’ Douglas R4D-6S ‘Ready 4 Duty’ with their Navy to Victory Tour. Last in the UK 40 years ago, she is honouring the 80th anniversary of the Allied victory in 1945 and acts as a flying memorial to the American and Allied sailors and navy airmen who serviced during the Second World War.
The DC-3 was developed to carry 21 passengers, but our R4D-6S was no mere passenger carrier. She was built as a warbird. Our R4D-6S was modified to carry depth charges on external racks mounted under the fuselage between the main landing gear. She was assigned to the U.S. Navy Atlantic Special Service Squadron and conducted airborne search radar and sonar evaluation as well as training airborne specialists and operators.
Based out of Fort Worth Wing, in Dallas, Texas, R4D was the first CAF warbird to make the short cross over the North Atlantic to tour Europe in 1985 and now, 40 years later, she made the same trip and using IWM Duxford as her home base for the duration of her stay. Chris Volpe, Wing Leader of CAF DFW Wing supported the flight from the first to the last day and his surrounding crew coming over from the US on 10 day tours to fly, maintain and support the tour, as well as volunteers from the UK from other DC3 and Skytrain projects.
I had a lovely catch up with Chris one quiet afternoon at Duxford as he had the aircraft open for viewings are tours, as well as selling merch to keep the tour rolling. A common phrase of the CAF on the tour, was every £10 spent on merch was 1 miles worth of fuel and oil, so every little bit the public could spend really pushed the length that the tour would last.
The tour started in April before finishing at the end of July after their return visit to the Royal International Air Tattoo and the IWM Duxford American Flying Day however, some engine issues were found on the pre-trip maintenance that ended up requiring the engine to be replaced, pushing their return home until mid August.
Brightening up the Airshow Scene
The aim of the tour was to get round as many airshows as possible and made a habit of doing her best to not just fly within the shows, but to be on Static display before and after the flying as much as possible, so people could have a look inside and get up and close for photos of her and the artefacts she carried. She took part in airshows at IWM Duxford, Old Buckenham, was static at RIAT and also made flights and visits to the Netherlands and Normandy for the Liberation and D-Day rememberance ceremonies respectively.
The highlight personally for me was at the Shuttleworth Festival of Flight, the friendly atmosphere around the aircraft and tour as well as one of the most stunning air displays I have seen from such an aircraft was nothing short of breathtaking, followed by a slow taxi back to their static area, with flags and crew aloft waving to the crowds.
