Douglas DC-3 / C-47

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Bayou Renaissance Man Posted: Fri, Feb 1 2008 12:24 AM

I have to nominate the Douglas DC-3 and its military transport version, the C-47, as the greatest civil airliner of the past 100 years.  Consider:

1. It's been built in greater numbers (counting civil and military versions together) than any other airliner;
2. It revolutionized air transport in the 1930's when it first appeared;
3. After World War II military-surplus C-47's were converted to airliners and freighters in huge numbers and formed the backbone of civil aviation in many nations through the 1950's;
4. Even today there are hundreds of DC-3's and C-47's still operational in the Third World, providing essential air services;
5. What other aircraft can boast still-flying examples that are well over 70 years old and still airborne?  (I know of two such DC-3's.)

That only speaks of US-manufactured DC-3's, of course,  The Soviet Union built over 6,000 of them as the Lisunov Li-2, and Japan built a few hundred under license prior to and during World War II.  I'm assuming that most, if not all, of the latter were casualties of war, but the Soviet examples served on for many decades after the war in the Warsaw Pact nations, across the Soviet hinterland, and in China and other Far Eastern nations.

So, with the greatest of respect to the many wonderful aircraft that came later, I don't think any of them can match that track record!

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General Eclectic replied on Fri, Feb 1 2008 10:02 AM

I have to agree. The introduction of the DC-3 marked the point when passenger travel could be profitable, not relying on a supplementary mail service.

I've also heard it said that in some South American areas it had such a profound effect that they went from the donkey to the DC-3 as primary transport in a single step.

 Truely a game-changing aircraft.