R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press Passengers and a flight mechanic discuss “Hairless Joe,” a Douglas C-47 Skytrain from World War II which was the first flyable aircraft obtained by the Michigan Flight Museum. It will participate in the upcoming Wings Over Marquette air show. Tickets for rides are for sale.

MARQUETTE — In preparation for Wings Over Marquette, the air show that will take place August 2 and 3 at Sawyer Regional Airport, a C-47 — a military transport plane used in World War II — dipped into Marquette recently.

The plane belongs to the Michigan Flight Museum, a Smithsonian affiliate located in Belleville, which is in the Lower Peninsula between Ann Arbor and Detroit. Pilots Grant Schwartz and Tom Leahy along with a very small crew flew “Hairless Joe” to the Upper Peninsula on July 8 so that the museum’s team could obtain badges to clear them to be on Sawyer’s grounds the week of the event.

The Douglas C-47 Skytrain, manufactured between 1941 and 1945, is one of the most famous aircraft from the Second World War. It was a versatile, twin-engine, all-metal monoplane that had been derived from the Douglas Aircraft Company’s DC-3, a commercial civilian airliner that entered service with American Airlines in 1936. To modify the DC-3 for military use into the C-47, Douglas installed a stronger fuselage, more powerful engines, strengthened floors for military cargo, a hoist attachment, a rear cargo door and benches for up to 28 paratroopers instead of seats for civilians.

“The first Army C-47s arrived in 1941 and eventually filled a variety of missions like cargo and troop transportation, casualty evacuation, and glider tug,” the National WWII Museum states.

The Allies used the planes extensively throughout the war: C-47s crossed the Himalayas to provide supplies to China, and 1,000 C-47s transported U.S. paratroopers into enemy territory during the D-Day invasion of Normandy. The United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force (RAF) also used this model but called it the Dakota; the U.S. Navy designated it R4D.

The museum in Belleville, a nonprofit, has owned the C-47 now known as “Hairless Joe” — a character from the comic strip “Li’l Abner” — since 1982, after the craft filled a variety of roles for the Air Force. It was the first flyable aircraft the museum acquired, and the first nickname it was given was “Yankee Doodle Dandy.” The museum had operated as the “Yankee Air Museum” until 2024, when it became the Michigan Flight Museum: Air Museum and Events.

In 2018, their C-47 was restored by Kalitta Air and given a new paint job to replicate an “under-represented paint scheme from the China-Burma-India Theatre belonging to the 1st Air Commando Group,” as Vintage Aviation News reported at the time.

Schwartz, who has operated the aircraft since 1987 on a volunteer basis, enjoys flying Hairless Joe and says it still handles well. He likened controlling the roughly-80-year-old plane to driving a car with no power steering and a manual gearshift.

A different flight crew from the Michigan Flight Museum will be in Marquette for the air show. The museum is bringing not only the C-47 but also a Bell UH-1 Iroquois, commonly known as the “Huey” helicopter, which was widely used during the Vietnam War, and a B-25 Mitchell bomber, another twin-engine plane from World War II. All three are not only participating in the show, but also offering rides to the public (ticket purchase required).

“I purposely put them in the show so people can see them actually just do like a flight over and all that, because you typically don’t see World War Two planes flying around often, or the Vietnam helicopter,” said Air Show Director Ashley Meyers.

The show will also feature acrobatic flying by Kevin Coleman; Warbird Thunder Airshows, in which two SNJ “T-6 Texans” perform stunts; a Soviet MiG-17F flown by Mike Terfehr of Traverse City; a JetCar that reaches speeds of close to 400 mph; and more.

The event of Aug. 2 and 3 will be the first Wings over Marquette, but the Michigan Flight Museum has also produced similar events Wings over Muskegon and Thunder over Michigan.

Other sponsors and partners of Wings over Marquette include Marquette Sawyer Regional Airport, Lake Superior Community Partnership and Travel Marquette.

Tickets may be purchased and more info found at wingsovermarquette.com.

R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press
Passengers chat and admire the aircraft on which they have just flown — a Douglas C-47 Skytrain from World War II — while pilot Tom Leahy, right, puts blocks against the tires.

R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press
The iconic Marquette Ore Dock is among the scenery seen from the sky during a recent flight on a C-47. The World War II plane will offer rides during the Wings Over Marquette air show in a couple weeks.