The Douglas DC-3 revolutionized world aviation.
Video from the channel Aero Por Trás da Aviação about Douglas DC-3, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 16:10. Language: Portuguese. Video type: Documentary.
What it's about
The channel's host, while building a Lego model of a Pan Am DC-3, goes through the history of the Douglas DC-3: its origin, its characteristics, its military role and its longevity.
Historical context
In the early 1930s, aircraft such as the Ford Trimotor or the Curtiss Condor were slow, carried few passengers and depended on mail contracts to be profitable. In 1933, the Boeing 247 launched the modern airliner, but its production was tied up with United Airlines. TWA turned to Douglas, which created the 12-seat DC-1 and then the 14-seat DC-2. American Airlines, led by Cyrus Rowlett Smith, asked for a larger aircraft for overnight flights, giving rise to the Douglas Sleeper Transport, which first flew on 17 December 1935 and from which the day version, the DC-3, was derived, seating between 21 and 32 passengers. In 1936, American opened the New York-Chicago route with the DC-3, and by 1938-1939 the type accounted for close to 95% of US commercial air traffic. KLM was the first European airline to operate it. The war gave rise to the C-47 Skytrain, of which more than 10,000 were built, and in 1948 it played a leading role in the Berlin Airlift.
Key facts
It measured 19.7 m in length, 29 m in wingspan and 5.16 m in height, with two 14-cylinder Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp radial engines of 1,200 hp each. It reached a top speed of about 400 km/h and a cruise speed of about 340 km/h, with a range of about 2,540 km and a ceiling of 7,100 m, although being unpressurized it usually flew at about 3,000 m. More than 16,000 units were built, counting the Soviet Lisunov Li-2 and the Japanese L2D. Some examples still in service have been modernized with new avionics and turboprops.