a couple C 47 stories

A ski-equipped Air Force search­-and-rescue C-47 was dispatched to pick up the crew of a downed Icelan­dic Airlines DC-4 on top of Vatna Jokull Glacier in Iceland in the early 1950s. It landed safely, but despite repeated attempts to take off with JATO bottles, the Gooney wouldn’t budge. Bad weather set in, and the C-47 was abandoned, but not for­gotten. 

Two Icelanders—Kris Oleson and Alfred Eliasson, owners of the crashed DC-4 and nearly bankrupt—wanted that C-47 to con­tinue flying. They offered the Air Force $700 for it, and the offer was accepted. After digging through the snow and bulldozing a takeoff strip, they flew it out at a cost of about $5,000.

 The Gooney was flown to England for modification, but be­fore work began, a Spanish airline executive offered the plucky pair $80,000, which they promptly ac­cepted. The $74,300 profit enabled them to make a down payment on a DC-6 and keep their airline in busi­ness.

https://www.airforcemag.com/article/1285gooney/