Flight Craft 21: Douglas DC-3

Flight Craft 21: Douglas DC-3

The Airliner that Revolutionised Air Transport

Author: Robert Jackson

Highlights

One of the most significant commercial aircraft ever produced

Accounted for 90 percent of the world’s airline trade in 1939

First airliner able to make a profit by carrying only passengers

First aircraft to land at the South Pole

In addition to over 600 civil examples of the DC-3, 10,048 military C-47 variants were

built

Some 4,937 examples produced under licence in the USSR as the Lisunov Li-2 and 487

built by Showa and Nakajima in Japan as the L2D.

The DC-3 had a lasting effect on the airline industry

The type is still in service in some parts of the world more than 80 years after its first

flight

Contains a wealth of information for the modeller and the aviation enthusiast alike

Description

No airliner in the history of commercial aviation has had a more profound effect than the

Douglas DC-3. It was reliable, easy to maintain and carried passengers in greater comfort

than ever before.

Its origins stem from a design by the Douglas Aircraft Company of Santa Monica,

California. Known as the Douglas Commercial One, or DC-1, this new aircraft was

revolutionary in concept. It was quickly developed into the DC-2, an airliner that lead to

Douglas’ domination of the domestic air routes of the United States, and of half the world.

Experience with the DC-2 led to the development of an improved version, the Douglas

Sleeper Transport (DST), first flown on 17 December 1935. This in turn evolved into a 21-

seat variant, the DC-3, featuring many improvements. The first American Airlines DC-3

entered service in June 1936, and within three years of its introduction the aircraft

accounted for a staggering 95 percent of all commercial air traffic in the United States.

From commencement of service to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the DC-3

increased domestic revenue passenger miles more than fivefold. Of the 322 aircraft

operated by the country’s airlines in December 1941, 260 were DC-3s. At the pre-war peak,

30 foreign airlines operated the DC-3. On the eve of war, the DC-3’s scheduled flights

represented 90 percent of international air traffic.

In addition to over 600 civil examples of the DC-3, 10,048 military C-47 variants were built,

as well as 4,937 produced under licence in the USSR as the Lisunov Li-2 and 487 built by

Showa and Nakajima in Japan as the L2D. After the war, thousands of surplus C-47s,

previously operated by several air forces, were converted for civilian use. These aircraft

became the standard equipment of almost all the world's airlines, remaining in frontline

service for many years. The ready availability of cheap, easily maintained ex-military C-47s,

both large and fast by the standards of the day, jumpstarted the worldwide post-war air

transport industry.

The full remarkable story of the DC-3, and its ancestor, the DC-2, is told in these pages,

providing a wealth of information for the modeller and the enthusiast alike.

Author Details

ROBERT JACKSON is the author of over eighty books on military, aviation, naval and

scientific subjects. He was defence and science correspondent for a major British

newspaper publishing group. Among the other books he has compiled for Pen & Sword are

on the Bf-109 in the FlightCraft series, whilst he has written extensively on the T-34, the

Panzer I and II, the Centurion, and Chieftain main battle tanks, as well as the Russian