A vintage aircraft flew into Pangborn Airport Thursday afternoon and took members of the media on a flight up the Columbia River.  Pilot Gene Vezetti with the Historic Flight Foundation out of Everett, WA says the plane built in 1944, once performed military service and was retrofitted for life as a corporate plane for the Johnson & Johnson Company and later the International Shoe Machine Company.

The 1944 DC-3 was one of 300 designed to fly the harrowing supply route over the Himalayas between China and India during World War 2.  Vezetti says it was equipped with larger engfnes and fuel tanks and has a unique celestial navigation dome in the cockpit.

The plane is here for Aviation Days on Saturday at Pangborn Airport. The Historic Flight Foundation is offering public flights for a fee during the event from 9am to 3pm. A P-51 Mustang is also scheduled to be on display.  More event details can be found here

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Pilot Gene Vezetti

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1950's Corporate luxury included two cabin telephones

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The DC-3's exterior restoration has been to Pan Am airliner standards but the interior is 1950's corporate VIP

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