The C-47 was developed in the late 1930s as a commercial airliner, the DC-3. It was quickly developed into a military cargo and troop transport by the U.S. Army and many allied nations during World War II. The "Gooney Bird" saw action in all of America's wars from World War II to Vietnam. C-47s and DC-3s are still flown by many civilian groups today.

This VC-47D, S/N 43-49336, was originally manufactured as a C-47B-16-DK by Douglas Aircraft in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and delivered to the U.S. Army Air Forces on 7 December 1944. It was assigned to the 554th Base Unit at Memphis, Tennessee, then the 35th Base Unit at the same field. In March 1948 it was transfered to the 16th Special Air Mission Group at Marietta AFB, Georgia. Later that year it went to the 1100th Special Air Mission Group, still at Marietta.

The aircraft was redesignated as a VC-47D in July 1948. The next month it went to the 4117th Base Unit at Robins AFB, Georgia. Over the rest of its history it bounced around between several units and bases, moving from USAF Headquarters Command to Continental Air Command, then to Tactical Air Command, and for a time in the Strategic Air Command. Finally, in July 1971 it was dropped from the active USAF inventory and transfered to Chanute AFB for static display. It is on loan to Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum from the National Museum of the United States Airforce.