El AVIÓN CIVIL que GANÓ la GUERRA la historia del DC-3
Video from the channel Alianzas Oscuras about Douglas DC-3, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 9:06. Language: Spanish. Video type: Documentary.
What it's about
Documentary about the Douglas DC-3 and its military derivative, the C-47 Skytrain. It follows the aircraft from its origin as a passenger plane through its role in World War II and its long service life afterward.
Historical context
In the early 1930s, American airlines barely made money from passengers and lived off mail contracts. American Airlines, led by C. R. Smith, asked Donald Douglas for a larger aircraft with sleeping berths to cross the country. Douglas started from the DC-2: he widened the fuselage and fitted air-cooled radial engines, simpler and easier to repair. When war broke out in 1939, the Allies adopted the military version, which had a reinforced floor and a large cargo door and could tow gliders. The British called it the Dakota and American soldiers called it the Gooney Bird.
Key facts
The aircraft first flew on December 17, 1935. It carried 21 seated passengers or 14 in berths at about 330 km/h, and is considered the first aircraft that let an airline make money from passengers alone. The C-47 carried up to 28 soldiers. It crossed the Himalayas to supply China, and on the night of June 6, 1944, hundreds of them carried nearly 13,000 American paratroopers to Normandy. More than 10,000 were built in the United States; including the versions built under license in the Soviet Union and Japan, the total is around 16,000. C-47s flew the first flights of the Berlin Airlift, starting June 26, 1948, and some, fitted with turbine engines, flew in Antarctica.