Douglas DC-3

  • Period: Interwar (1919-1938)
  • Uses: Corporate
  • First Flight: December 17, 1935
  • Display Status: On the Museum Floor.

The DC series of aircraft was developed in response to the challenge posed by the Boeing 247 and culminated in the magnificent DC-3, the most successful air transport of all time. The DC-3 met with immediate enthusiasm as the first airliner in the United States able to work at a profit without government subsidy. By 1939 the DC-3 accounted for 90% of world airline trade. Almost indestructible, large numbers of DC-3s continued to fly in the 1990s, carrying passengers and cargo.

The DC-3 came into being almost by default. Douglas built a larger version of the DC-2 to contain berths for night flights. The result, called the Douglas Sleeper Transport, had a longer, wider fuselage. The DST was a limited success, but when its big fuselage was filled with passenger seats instead of berths, the DC-3 was born. A combined total of about 3000 DC-3s were built under licence in Japan and Russia.

Even with a full crew and a few passengers the DC-3’s predecessor, the DC-2, came second to a racing airplane in the MacRobertson London-to-Melbourne (Australia) Air Race in October 1934.

Museum Example

  • Registration #: C-FTDJ
  • Manufacturer: Douglas Aircraft Company Inc., United States
  • Manufacture Date: 1942
  • Construction #: 6261
  • Aquisition Date: 1983
  • Provenance: Donation from Goodyear Corporation

The Museum specimen was on civil order as a DC-3 prior to the attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941, when it was impressed into the U.S. Army Air Forces as a C-49J-DO. It was sold to Trans-Canada Air Lines, its first DC-3 acquisition, in 1945. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company bought the aircraft in 1948 and flew it until 1983, when the company presented it to the Museum.

Specifications

Wing Span:
29.1 m (95 ft 6 in)
Length:
19.6 m (64 ft 5 in)
Height:
5.2 m (16 ft 11 in)
Weight, Empty:
8,300 kg (18,300 lb)
Weight, Gross:
11,430 kg (25,200 lb)
Cruising Speed:
274 km/h (170 mph)
Max Speed:
381 km/h (237 mph)
Rate of Climb:
335 m (1,100 ft) /min
Service Ceiling:
7,010 m (23,000 ft)
Range:
1,650 km (1,025 mi)
Power Plant:
two Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp, 1,200 hp, engines