Delivered as XC-53A (prototype) to the USAAF on 27Mar43 to USAAF, tail number 42-6480 (cn4932). It turned to civil aviation as N69032 for Brinkerhoff Drilling Co, Dallas, TX in Dec. '53. The next owner was Corning Glass Works, NY in June 1963 and was reregistered as N48CG. It was changed slightly in 1967: N480G.

It entered the Canadian register as CF-VGO for C. W. Millard (15 June '67). The next year it moved on to Canadian Aero Service (Quebec) Ltd, registered as CF-WGO-X on April 02nd, 1968.

The next owner was Spartan Air Services Ltd, from Ottawa, Ont, who registered is as CF-VGO on Jan. 04th 1971.

Next was Air Dale Ltd, in Sault Ste. Marie in Jan. '75. The Canadian registration system was modified and in 1975 the tailnumber was changed to C-FWGO. It went on an exotic lease in Dec. 1978 as 8P-WGO for Tropic Air.

It re-entered the Canadian register again on Jan. 27nd 1983 for Air Dale Ltd as is probably returned from the lease.

Great Northern Freight was the next owner, which changed the tailnumber to C-FWGO (09Dec88). And it was leased to Great Bend Sport Para from Jan.'91 to Dec. 30th '94).

During the early 1990s it also operated for Classic Air Lines, under the same registration, C-FWGO. In 1996 it returned to the US Register as N603MC for MAC Flightlease. The initials are interesting: MC for Michael Chowdry. He was the founder of Atlas Air, an aircraft leasing company solely equipped with 747s. Mr Chowdry was also an aviation enthusiast and owned several aircraft. He died in a crash in January 2001 while flying his L-39 jet.

I took this photo at Oshkosh in 1998, while making a splendid flypast. Meanwhile it has found a home at Oshkosh, as it was registered on Sept. 20th 2001 to EAA Foundation Inc., at Oshkosh, Wisconsin.