World War II airplane still sees military use
October 17, 2011, 04:35 pm
While military aircraft are constantly updated and improved and the U.S. Defense Department spends an enormous amount of its resources developing and integrating new technology, many of the principles of flight are timeless, and some military aircraft have proved to be decades beyond their introduction.
According to KPLC, a Louisiana NBC affiliate, pilot John Kiedinger is still flying a 1943 Douglas C-47 for U.S. military researchers and developers who are working on IED detection technology, testing systems that will one day fly in state-of-the-art unmanned drones.
The C-47, originally used during World War II to train paratroopers and novice pilots, maintains an important role in military development today.
"We test equipment that's going to go on a remotely piloted vehicle and we can fly it on this and have 10 technicians sitting in the back with their computers and try to get the equipment working right before they actually put it on something that is unmanned," Kiedinger told the source. "It is a lot easier to work on an airplane where you can put your hands on it."
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