FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1960
1960 - 3053.PDF
FLIGHT, 23 December 1960 985 nearly 30,000 hours when it was retired in 1946 and it is possiblethat others exceeded this total. Among the leading carriers who bought DC-2s was AmericanAirlines, and early in 1935 discussions between this operator and Douglas resulted in a further development of the basic DC-1design. American's president, C. R. Smith, wanted for his Southern transcontinental routes a new sleeper transport whichcould replace the Curtiss Condor biplanes then in service as "coast-to-coast" sleepers. The talks led to a stretched version ofthe DC-2 with an enlarged fuselage, higher operating weights and more powerful engines. Although Douglas was at first doubt-ful about the economic case, construction started in mid-193 5 and the firm tooled-up to manufacture 25. The fuselage was widenedby 26in (to 7ft 8in) and deepened by 3in (to 6ft 6in), while its length was increased by about 2jft. Sufficient volume was thusprovided for berths for 14 passengers—the same number as the DC-2 accommodated in seats—plus a small cabin, known as the"honeymoon suite," forward. The new type was at first known as the DST—"Douglas Sleeper Transport"—but was soon namedDC-3 in its "Day Plane" version, which accommodated 21 passengers in 21 in-wide seats at 40in pitch arranged three-abreastin double units on one side of the 19in aisle and singly on the other. Take-off weight of the DC-3 was increased at first to 24,0001band the power raised to 1,000 h.p. each with R-1820-G Wright Cyclones. At the same time the tail surfaces were enlarged andthe wing area was increased about five per cent to 987 sq ft by adding pointed 5ft extensions at each tip, thus putting up the spanto 95ft. The flaps-down stalling speed was in this way held down to 64 m.p.h., only three miles per hour more than that of the DC-2.The cruising speed remained about the same at around 170 m.p.h. on 50 per cent of take-off power. Economic Achievement The economic characteristics of the DC-3 proved to be a con-siderable advance on those of the DC-2 while, compared with the Boeing 247, the DC-3 had seat-mile costs about 25 per centlower. The economy of the DC-3 played a major part in the financial progress of the American domestic airlines between themid-1930s and 1950, when they first achieved overall profitability without subsidy. In the mid-1930s the US airlines were coveringless than two-thirds of their costs. Fifteen years later they were profitable in spite of the fact that their fares (expressed in constantmoney-values) had been reduced about 40 per cent during the period. From Douglas's point of view also, the DC-3 was soona financial success. About $1,200,000 (£240,000) is believed to have been spent on the type's initial development. At a purchaseprice of between $90,000 and $115,000 (£18,000 to £23,000) break-even was achieved after about 50 had been built. The first DC-3 (X14988)—a DST of the type ordered byAmerican Airlines—was flown by Carl Cover for the first time at Santa Monica on December 22, 1935. Though the new typequickly proved its worth, directional stability during early test flying was found to be deficient and the DC-3's characteristicdorsal fillet was soon added in front of the fin. The design was obviously so promising that the initial orderfrom American Airlines for ten aircraft was soon increased to eight DSTs and 12 DC-3s; and in March 1936 W. A. Patterson, presi-dent of United Air Lines, ordered ten DSTs and soon afterwards five DC-3s. The aircraft for United were to be DC-3As withPratt & Whitney Twin Wasps of 1,150 h.p. This type of engine (with its maximum power increased to 1,200 h.p.) was later toprove to be the most popular type in the DC-3. In due course, the maximum take-off weight of the DC-3A was increased to25,2001b in American airline service and to 28,0001b in most other countries. In military roles, take-off weights of 30,0001bor more were common. The first four DSTs had been delivered to American Airlineswhen scheduled services, between New York and Chicago, started on June 25, 1936. At least two of these first DSTs (all DSTswere later converted into DC-3s) are still flying today: NC16004 (the fifth built) is now an executive aircraft with the PacificLumber Company of San Francisco and NCI 6005 (the sixth) is still in scheduled service with the US local-service carrier, OzarkAir Lines. Orders for DC-3s came rapidly and in large numbers soon afterthe type entered service; 150 had been ordered, and most of these delivered, within eighteen months. By 1939, DC-3s were carryingabout three-quarters of the United States domestic air traffic. By time America entered the war in December 1941, 360 DC-3swere in service on her domestic routes. Although nearly 200 of these were soon commandeered for military transport duties, theremainder—operated at fantastically high utilizations—continued to provide almost all (93 per cent) of America's internal air trans-port until the end of the war. By 1941 more than 800 DC-3s had been built, 450 of these for airline use at home and for 30other airlines all over the world. By then the DC-3 comfortably outnumbered the three-engined German Junkers Ju52/3m which,up to the outbreak of war, had been the airliner in most numerous service (300 were in commercial operation in 1939). About 4,000 Ju52s are believed to have been built, mostly formilitary purposes, but the DC-3 was soon to eclipse even this large total. Even before they entered the war the American forceshad ordered developments of the DC-3 in considerable numbers. However, once they became involved, they showed very clearlythat they realized the importance of air transport to the most effective conduct of the war. Large orders were placed for,particularly, the C-47 and C-53 military versions. Up to August 1945, when production finally ceased, no fewer than 10,125military models of the DC-3 had been built, mainly at the Douglas plants at Long Beach and Oklahoma City. At one time, in mid-1944, they were rolling off the assembly lines at a rate of nearly two an hour. But the DC-3 was not produced only in America;before the war, licences to build the type had been sold to Britain, Holland, Russia and Japan. In the event, production was notundertaken in Britain or Holland, but the Russians tooled up to do so; they are believed to have built about 2,000 of a version whichthey called the PS-84 in military service and which has become known as the Lisunov Li-2 since the war. (Boris Lisunov, a Sovietengineer, spent two years at the Douglas factory obtaining the information needed to put the type into production in Russia.)The Japanese also built the DC-3, about 450 of their Showa L.2D model being made. Thus it was that, by 1946, well over 13,000aircraft of DC-3 design had been produced, 10,928 of them in the United States. About 2,000 American-built military DC-3s weresupplied to Britain and other allied countries under Lease-Lend —in the RAF the type was known as the Dakota—and about700 were sent to Russia. At the end of the war thousands of surplus military DC-3s werethrown on the civil market. At prices ranging from as low as $8,000 to $15,000 (£2,000 to £3,700) they were bought up byoperators all over the world. A few were even sold for as little as $1,200 (£300). At first it was thought that these aircraft wouldnot survive long. Indeed, as early as 1942 the American CAB had indicated that it would not certificate DC-3s for commercialuse after 1947. In the years following the war, licensing authorities in various parts of the world have repeatedly put deadlines on thefurther use of DC-3s; but these have always had to be extended, and today (although increased weight limitations have recentlybeen placed on DC-3 operation from airfields at high altitudes and temperatures) it is generally recognized that the type is likelyto continue in use .for an indefinite period. For this there are good reasons. Safety statistics show that, although the DC-3 does notsatisfy modern theoretical airworthiness requirements, in practice the type has proved a good deal safer than many more recentdesigns. Another reason is that, although many manufacturers have produced so-called "DC-3 replacements," no new type hasyet succeeded in tapping more than a small part of the market. In 1949 Douglas themselves sought to meet the replacementrequirement with a revamped DC-3 which they called the Super DC-3. The idea was that DC-3s should be rebuilt with new wingand tail surfaces, more powerful engines and a fuselage lengthened by 2£ft. The idea did not catch on: at $250,000 (£62,000) a time,commercial operators found the Super DC-3 too expensive. The US Navy ordered a hundred, but the majority of operators pre-ferred to continue with the DC-3 itself, even though its second- hand price had by now increased considerably above its immediate (Concluded on page 998) "It's a DC-3 replace- ment" (a cartoon first published in "Flight" two years ago and even more apposite today)
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
