The Plane That Changed the World - The Douglas DC-3
Video from the channel The Antique Airshow about Douglas DC-3, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 15:05. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.
What it's about
A review of the history of the Douglas DC-3, from its origin in the DC-2 to its military and post-war versions.
Historical context
C. R. Smith, president of American Airlines, pressed Douglas for a larger DC-2 to replace his Curtiss Condors and Ford Trimotors. This produced two versions identical except for the cabin: the DST, with berths, and the DC-3, with 21 seats. The first DST flew on 17 December 1935, and American launched it in June 1936 on the non-stop New York–Chicago route. It was the first aircraft with which an airline could make money from passengers alone, and by 1938 more than 30 foreign airlines were already using it. From 1940, the US Army ordered the C-47 and C-53 versions; the Navy and Marines used it as the R4D, and the RAF called it the Dakota.
Highlights
The C-47 had a reinforced floor, a double cargo door and Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp engines of 1,250 hp, and carried 6,000 pounds or 28 paratroopers. It supplied China from India over the Himalayas and took part in every major airborne assault of the war, with more than a thousand aircraft on D-Day. It later served in the Berlin Airlift, in Korea and in Vietnam, where the AC-47 gunship "Spooky" flew more than 20,000 missions between 1965 and 1969. The 1949 Super DC-3 sold only four units, but the Navy converted 100 R4Ds into R4D-8s, later named C-117Ds. More than 10,600 were built, of which more than 10,200 were military, in addition to licensed production in Japan and the USSR (Li-2).