Re: Air Medivacs, Normandy to Berlin

Bobstamp wrote:

On Feb 23, 4:33 pm, Bill Shatzer <bshatze...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Found this:

<snip>

C-47s, after flying vital supplies
to the front, took on patients, litters being fitted to collapsible
racks. Twenty-four patients made each trip along with a surgical
technician and a flight nurse.

The maximum commercial passenger load of the DC-3/C-47 was 32
passengers. It's hard to imagine 24 patients, plus medical personnel,
were transported on C-47s,

Well, I've just checked my library and there are several references to the C-47 accommodating up to 24 litters.

especially when only 16 to 18 patients were
all that were carried on the more-comodious C-54,

The C-54B (which was the hospitalship version) is listed as accommodating 26 stretchers.

I'd suspect that 24 or 26 litters on those two aircraft would be a teensy crowded but it seems quite possible. Certainly my references seem to confirm those numbers.

Cheers,

.