HISTORIA DEL DOUGLAS DC-3 - EL MEJOR AVIÓN COMERCIAL DE LA HISTORIA
Video from the channel V1 AERONAUTICS about Douglas DC-3, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 12:19. Language: Spanish. Video type: Documentary.
What it's about
History of the Douglas DC-3 from its origins to its current use in Colombia's Eastern Plains (Llanos Orientales), with footage of a recent accident and testimony from a pilot who flies it.
Historical context
In 1933 TWA wanted to respond to United's Boeing 247, limited to 10 passengers. Douglas built a single DC-1, with two more seats; with 900 hp engines instead of 700 it went on to carry 14 passengers and became the DC-2, of which 200 units were built, 20 of them for TWA. American Airlines, which operated an overnight sleeper service with the Curtiss Condor II, asked Douglas for a faster sleeper aircraft: the DST (Douglas Sleeper Transport), with a widened fuselage, greater wingspan and more powerful engines. Its 21-seat version for daytime routes was the DC-3. In the Second World War the R4D, C-53 and C-47 were derived from it, with a reinforced floor and large cargo door, and after the war thousands returned to civilian use.
Key facts
Total production reached 16,079 units: 607 civilian, 10,048 military C-47s and C-53s, 4,937 built under license in the Soviet Union and 487 in Japan. Civilian production ended in 1942 and military production in 1945. Its systems include feathering propellers, hydraulic landing gear and flaps, the ability to land with the gear retracted without serious damage, carburetor heaters and an autopilot. From the 1950s there were turboprop conversions, culminating in the Basler BT-67 with Pratt & Whitney PT6A engines and 35% more internal volume.
In Colombia it still carries cargo, food and medicine to unprepared jungle airstrips. A DC-3 crashed between San Martín and San Carlos de Guaroa (Meta) after declaring an emergency due to a probable engine failure while trying to reach the La Rinconada airstrip; all 14 occupants died. Pilot Jorge Álvarez explains that he operates with about 3,000 kg of cargo on short, pothole-ridden airstrips, and that he sees no other aircraft capable of replacing it.