The Douglas DC-3 / C-47 was " The M ost ost I mpo mportant rtant Ai rcraf t o off the Ce Centur ntur y. y." "
The DC-3 was TH E pi vo votal tal air craft i n makin g mas mass transp transportation ortation by air a r eality. Nothing before it had accomplished that. Most aviation historians agree thatthe DC-3 is the most important aircraft in the history of the world. In the 1930s, commercial flying was exotic, expensive, dangerous and uncomfortable unco mfortable for passengers -- until the DC-3 came along, with its stu r dy, stabl table e bul k, excell excelle ent perf or ormance, mance, -- a civil ize ized d f lyi ng characte characterr istics istics,, r ugge ugged d depe dependabil ndabil ity, an d economi economi cal h igh -cap -capacity acity se seatin g practical combination far surpassing any airplane that had ever come before.
The DC-3 evolved from the smaller DC-1 and DC-2 , created in 1934 by Douglas
Aircraft of Santa Monica, California, to accommodate a specification from Transcontinental and Western Airways (later "TWA"). Though outwardly similar to the later DC-3, the DC-1 and DC-2 had narrower fuselages, with only two-abreast seating. Though the prototype DC-1 -- and resulting DC-2 airliner -- seated more than most of the competition, they still only carried about 14-15 people.
Nevertheless, the DC-2 was an excellent airliner airliner (shown at left, top), pushing forward forward the design standards of the time, with lightweight (but stout) hollow-shell, allaluminum structures, and a clean, unbraced "cantilever" wing. And it was powered by the new, reliable 710-horsepower Wright Wr ight "Cyclone" radial engines. The DC-2 also had "flaps" on the trailing edges of the wings, which extended downwards for extra lift and drag at low speeds -- making slow landings and quick stops on short airstrips safely possible, and enabling quicker takeoffs at slower speeds, from shorter airstrips. Yet, aloft, with flaps and landing gear retracted, the aerodynamically "clean" DC-2 was just about the fastest airliner in the sky, cruising at around 185 mph, ranging up to 1,200 miles. The quick, roomy, efficient and flexible DC-2 airliner was a fairly quick hit with the airlines. 1935 35,, when when A me merr ican A ir way ways s orde derr ed a However, in 19 (later "American Airlines") or (later " slee leepe perr " ve verr si on, with slee sleepin ping g be ber ths f or l ong fl igh ights ts,, Douglas had to bui ld a widerr , bulk ier pl ane wide ane..
With great care, under the guiding hand of Donald Douglas and engineers Arthur Raymond and "Dutch" Kindleberger, the company created a wide-but-strea wide-but-streamlined, mlined, cigar-shaped fuselage tube.
While most previous major airliners had been boxy (with straight vertical walls and horizontal tops and bottoms), the DC-3's cross-section was a near-circle, fairly evenly distributing stresses around the fuselage, and expanding its width and height. At the same time, the smooth, round shape's greater aerodynamic qualities minimized the drag effects of greater size, and -- combined with powerful new Wright Cyclone engines -- the roomy, 180-mil e-per- hour Douglas Sleeper Tr anspor t (" DST" ) was born.
Designer Jack Northrop added another advantage: the wings used a new " multi- cell ul ar, str essed-ski n" constr uction , where the traditional main support beams (wing spars) and cross-members (ribs) were replaced with dozens of metal boxes riveted together like a honeycomb, providing redundant strength not dependent on any one member. Th e r esul t woul d be a win g of l egendar y str ength and safety.
While most previous major airliners had been boxy (with straight vertical walls and horizontal tops and bottoms), the DC-3's cross-section was a near-circle, fairly evenly distributing stresses around the fuselage, and expanding its width and height.. At the same time, the smooth, round shape's greater aerodynamic qualities minimized the drag effects of greater size, and -- combined with powerful new Wright Cyclone engines -- the roomy, 180-mil e-per- hour Douglas Sleeper Tr anspor t (" DST" ) was born.
Designer Jack Northrop added another advantage: the wings used a new " multi- cell ul ar, str essed-ski n" constr uction , where the traditional main support beams (wing spars) and cross-members (ribs) were replaced with dozens of metal boxes riveted together like a honeycomb, providing redundant strength not dependent on any one member. Th e r esul t woul d be a win g of l egendar y str ength and safety.
MAKING PASSENGER AIRLINES PROFITABLE But it quickly became clear that the flying-sleeper business was not what the airlines had hoped for. Too few people could be carried to make a "sleeper" flight profitable, and too few people needed to travel so far, by air, that it would require sleeping in flight.
But Douglas clearly had a fine new airplane on its hands. By simply replacing the sleeping ber ths with seats, the 21-seat D ougl as DC-3 was born -- requiring little or no more power (and fuel) than the 14-berth sleeper, and not much more than was required for the 14-seat DC-2. The 50% growth in passenger capacity, without a corresponding growth in operating costs, revolutionized the profitability of airliners, and commercial aviation. Before the DC-3, airlines hardly existed, and almost no one ever flew. Rickety, noisy, flying rattle-traps like the Ford and Fokker tri-motors, and lumbering biplane-airliners by Boeing and Curtiss, trundled their awkward, bulky shapes through the sky at 90-120 miles per hour -sometimes struggling to make headway against strong winds, which the trains on the ground could swiftly blast through. The cost of the slow, expensive, flight was shared by a measly dozen or so passengers (in two-abreast seating) -- making tickets so expensive that they were practical only for the rich. By comparison, the DC-3' s smooth, str eamlined shape and power ful engines enabled it to sli p thr ough th e sky graceful ly and eff ici entl y, cru isin g at nearly 200 mi les per h our (though 160-180
mph was more common). When bucking strong headwinds aloft -- particularly when heading west -- it was not uncommon for DC-3s to arrive in less than half the time of older airliners.
