I've already posted this DC-3 build here on iModeler, but when this group came up, I decided after conferring with David to go ahead and post some pics here.

I was working for a small cargo outfit called Pronto Aviation Services, based at Sunland Air Park in far west El Paso, Texas. While physically within the El Paso city limits, the airport was actually in New Mexico because of the horse track across the road. Betting on races was illegal in Texas, so some political genius bent the state lines a little to accommodate the high rollers, who then flew into the airport to attend the races. By the time we got there, that era was long gone and the only airplanes there were a few general aviation types and our DC-3's and Beech 18's.

http://www.airfields-freeman.com/NM/Airfields_NM_ElPaso.htm

We were approached in the summer of 1981 to do some flying scenes for the movie "Lone Wolf McQuade", which starred Chuck Norris, David Carradine (the Kung Fu guy) and Barbara Carrerra. The movie was filmed in and around El Paso (which is my home town) and the parts we were involved in were shot at West Texas Airport east of the city. Our DC-3 N102BL was available, so one crisp October day we flew out to West Texas and started seeing what being in a movie was like. 102 was a working girl, a far cry from the pampered warbird restorations of today, and she probably fit the part of a drug runner perfectly. There were hundreds of nondescript old transports flying around then, hauling everything from bank checks to auto parts and a lot of things that were not quite legal.

http://www.airfields-freeman.com/TX/Airfields_TX_ElPaso.htm

I got to participate in the best airplane landing I have ever been on when our two pilots plunked 102 onto a 2000ft dirt strip that had been bulldozed into the desert floor that morning. It was just getting dark and I remember the rabbit lights on the runway looking awfully short just before we touched down. I then got to heave ammo boxes out the back to movie extras. The glamorous life of a Hollywood aviator! After all that, the landing scene didn't make it into the movie, and 102 was probably on screen for about a minute throughout the entire movie. So was I for about ten seconds while standing fire guard for engine start in another scene.

Chuck Norris came to talk with us for a while and autographed 102's cargo door, something I neglected to recover when the airplane was totaled in an engine out crash about a year later.

If anyone needs ideas for a subject, this site is a good place to start:

http://www.impdb.org/index.php?title=The_Internet_Movie_Plane_Database

And don't forget that your subject for this group build might also be a fine candidate for the Nose Art Group Build!

4 attached images. Click to enlarge.

David, we call them Gooney Birds (after the albatross, which is ungainly on the ground but quite graceful in flight), though I think the official US military designation was "Skytrain", which I always thought was a little silly. They also had numerous other names, usually preceded by profane colorful metaphors...

While we're on the subject, here is an interesting website for a trip down memory lane - http://www.airfields-freeman.com/

jesus christ i could cry, you were there, part of history.
watching that scene for first time, Chuck in the the grave, it was like when my grandma
watches spanish soap opera cliffhanger. "Noooo, you have to live, dont dieeeeeee."
and when he breaks out "yeeeeesssss" you start kissing everyone like you won the lottery - priceless.