This DC-3 belongs to the FAA and have an unusual low N# due to the fact that registration numbers N1 through N99 are strictly reserved for FAA internal use.
It is seen here celebrating the DC-3 75th Anniversary at "The Last Time" Whiteside County Airport, Rock Falls, IL.
Completed in 1945 near the end of World War II, the Navy used the Douglas DC-3, N34 at various worldwide locations as a transport airplane. Among the assignments were London, Rome, Naples, Paris, Algiers, Frankfort, Brussels, Oslo, Stockholm, Dublin, Cairo, Kuwait and Baghdad. Later converted to a R4D-6, it was assigned to the U.S. Navy Utility Transport Squadron Four (VRU-Four) from February 26, 1947 until March 1949 when it was detached from the squadron and returned to the U.S. On April 8, 1947, N34 nosed over in the mud while being taxied out of the only parking area available in London, and both engines had to be changed. While not officially assigned to the Berlin Airlift (1948-1949), it is highly probable that N34 flew into Berlin in support of Operation VITTLES, as most airplanes in the area during that time were pressed into support of the airlift operation. Sometime prior to 1956 the airplane was put into storage by the Navy.
In 1981, N34 was withdrawn from flight inspection and assigned to the training program in Oklahoma City, but was declared excess to FAA needs on January 1, 1983. During the early stages of disposing of the DC-3s beginning in the 1970s (as new jets were taking over their functions), initial efforts by FAA employees to preserve one for its historic value finally cumulated in this last FAA DC-3, N34, being reinstated by the FAA Administrator in 1985. Since its 1983 retirement and 1985 restoration, N34 has been used in the FAA's aviation educational programs to promote aviation and the FAA's heritage. The airplane retains the same equipment, furnishings and arrangement that were originally installed in 1957