AC-47 Gunship airplane modelDouglas AC 47 Gunship airplane model. Few aircraft are as well known or were so widely used for so long as the C 47 or "Gooney Bird" as it was affectionately nicknamed. The aircraft was adapted from the DC 3 commercial airliner which appeared in 1936. The first C 47s were ordered in 1940 and by the end of WW II, 9,348 had been procured for AAF use. They carried personnel and cargo, and in a combat role, towed troop carrying gliders and dropped