Basler Turbo Conversions
A small Oshkosh workshop that builds no new aircraft at all: it strips Second World War Dakotas to the bone and sends them back out as turboprop BT-67s for polar science, firefighting and counter-insurgency.
Basler Turbo Conversions: the company and the aircraft that made its name
The plane that led D-Day
In 2015 a researcher contacted a workshop at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, about a tired Douglas C-47 sitting in its yard. The airframe had been bought to be cut apart and rebuilt as a turboprop. It turned out to be the aircraft that led the paratroop drop on D-Day, 6 June 1944, later flown over Market Garden, the Battle of the Bulge and the Rhine crossing, before passing through 16 civilian owners. The Commemorative Air Force bought it that summer and then paid the same workshop to restore it to wartime condition. Its engines ran again in December 2017.
Warren Basler’s idea
The workshop was Basler Turbo Conversions, founded by Warren Basler, an Oshkosh operator whose DC-3s flew mail. To meet the demands of a US Mail contract he replaced their piston engines with turbines, and the answer became a standard package: Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-67R turboprops on a rebuilt Douglas airframe. The design began with an airframe left half-finished by United States Aircraft, which Basler moved to Oshkosh and completed. By March 1989 eight airframes were in work at Van Nuys, California, and by February 1990 a purpose-built 75,000 sq ft line was open at Wittman Regional Airport.
Ninety per cent new
A BT-67 is not a re-engined Dakota so much as a new aircraft wearing an old data plate. The fuselage is lengthened by 40 inches, the wing leading edges and tips are reworked, the structure is strengthened and the cockpit modernised; the company says about 90 per cent of the aircraft is replaced, at roughly 50,000 man-hours per conversion. Production runs at about two a year. The 70th was in work in 2022. Customers range from the Colombian air force, which flies a gunship version at night, to Antarctic research programmes in Australia, Germany, China and the United States.
Basler Turbo Conversions in numbers
Společnost
- Stručně řečeno
- Založeno 1990
- Founded at Oshkosh by Warren Basler (1926–1997)
- Owned by Jack Goodale since 1996
- About 65 employees (2023)
Výroba
- Nejznámější pro
- BT-67
- Turboprop conversions of the Douglas DC-3 and C-47
- 70th conversion under way in 2022
- About two conversions a year
Dnes
- Teď
- Converting and supporting the BT-67
- Military users in Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mali, Mauritania and Thailand
- Polar research operators include the Australian Antarctic Division and the Alfred Wegener Institute
Price quoted at 12 to 16 million US dollars per aircraft (EAA, 2023).
Čísla
- Zaměstnanci
- asi 652023
- Conversions
- 70th under way2022
- Labour per conversion
- about 50,000 man-hours
- Parts approved for manufacture (PMA)
- some 7,000
- Unit price
- 12 to 16 million US dollars2023
- BT-67 accidents and incidents
- 152019
Every notable Basler Turbo Conversions aircraft
Photos: Takeaway / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
| Letadlo | Role | První let | Postavený | Postavení | Poznámka |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basler BT-67 | Turboprop utility and transport conversion of the DC-3/C-47 | about 70 conversions (2022) | Ve výrobě | Two PT6A-67R turboprops, fuselage stretched 40 inches; gunship variant flown by Colombia |
Basler Turbo Conversions aircraft in the world’s air forces
4 air forces in the Order of Battle fly or flew Basler Turbo Conversions types. 4 of them still have one in service.
| Letectvo | V provozu | Dříve létal |
|---|---|---|
| Kolumbijské letecké síly | Basler BT-67 (AC-47T ‘Fantasma’) | |
| Malijské letectvo | Basler BT-67 | |
| Mauritánské islámské letectvo | Basler BT-67 | |
| Thajské královské letectvo | Basler BT-67 |
Where Basler Turbo Conversions built, who led it, what it achieved
Továrny
- Wittman Regional Airport works · Oshkosh, Wisconsin — Purpose-built 75,000 sq ft conversion line, open by February 1990
- Van Nuys plant · Van Nuys, California — Eight airframes in conversion by March 1989
Lidé
- Warren Basler · founder — 1926–1997; DC-3 operator who conceived the turbine conversion
- Jack Goodale · owner — Took control of the company in 1996
Rekordy a prvenství
- Restored “That’s All, Brother”, the C-47 that led the D-Day airborne assault, for the Commemorative Air Force, 2015–2018
Basler Turbo Conversions, year by year
Eight airframes in conversion at Van Nuys
Basler Turbo Conversions founded; Oshkosh line open
United Technologies becomes BT-67 distributor
Jack Goodale takes control
Death of Warren Basler
C-47 in the yard identified as the D-Day lead aircraft “That’s All, Brother”
Restored engines of “That’s All, Brother” run at Oshkosh
70th BT-67 conversion in work
Everything people ask about Basler Turbo Conversions
What is a Basler BT-67?
How many BT-67s have been built?
Who flies the BT-67?
What is the link between Basler and D-Day?
Around Basler Turbo Conversions
Každý fakt, ověřený
- Basler BT-67 – Wikipedia
- Resurrection – EAA Inspire, 2023
- Basler Turbo Conversions and Creating the BT-67 – Aircraft Maintenance Technology
- Lost Airplane That Led D-Day Invasion Located At Basler’s – Midwest Flyer
- That’s All Brother – Basler Turbo Conversions
Ověřeno 2026-10-03.