Douglas DC-3
- CountryUnited States of America
- TypeShort range airliner and utility transport
- PowerplantsTwo 895kW (1200hp) Pratt & Whitney R1830S1C3G Twin Wasp 14 cylinder twin row radial piston engines driving three blade variable pitch propellers, or two 895kW (1200hp) Wright SGR1820 Cyclone nine cylinder radials.
- PerformanceMax speed 346km/h (187kt), economical cruising speed 266km/h (143kt). Initial rate of climb 1130ft/min. Range with max fuel 2420km (1307nm), range with max payload 563km (305nm).
- WeightsTypical operating empty 8030kg (17,720lb), max takeoff 12,700kg (28,000lb).
- DimentionsWing span 28.96m (95ft 0in), length 19.66m (64ft 6in), height 5.16m (16ft 12in). Wing area 91.7m2 (987sq ft).
- CapacityFlightcrew of two. Seating for between 28 and 32 passengers at four abreast or 21 three abreast.
- Production10,655 built in the USA, including 430 for commercial operators prior to US entry to WW2. 2000 or so built in Russia under licence. More than 400 remain in commercial service in 1998.
No more prominent award for the DC-3 exists than the way that in excess of six decades after its first flight more than 400 stay in business administration around the world. Sturdiness, life span and benefit are yet three of this exceptional air ship's temperances.
Improvement of the DC-3 follows back to the prior oneoff Douglas Commercial 1 (Dc1) and ensuing Dc2 which made their first flights in 1933 and 1934 separately. In 1934 American Airlines asked for that Douglas create a bigger more skilled adaptation of the Dc2 for transcontinental US sleeper flights. The ensuing DC-3 (or DST - Douglas Sleeper Transport as it then might have been) flew shockingly on December 17 1935.
A just about moment deals achievement, the DC-3 turned into the backbone of the US household aerial shuttle organize in the years before World War 2. Aside from traveler solace and offer, the DC-3 offered that most imperative of ethics, benefit, with the come about that in excess of 400 had been sold to carriers before late 1941.
The passage of the United States into Ww2 in December 1941 had a significant impact on the fortunes of the officially fruitful DC-3. The US Army Air Force's necessities for transport flying machine were splendidly met by the inproduction DC-3, with the come about that as the C47 Skytrain it turned into the standard USAAF transport amid the war. More than 10,000 were fabricated for administration with US and associated air arms.
After the war a significant number of these air ship got to be surplus to prerequisites and were sold off at deal costs. The result was that neutralized C47s turned into the standard after war airplane of practically all the world's aerial transports and the spine of the world carrier industry well into the 1950s. Its accessibility and unwavering quality implied it demonstrated to a great degree well known. Indeed today hundreds stay in administration.
A post bellum redesign of the DC-3, the Super DC-3, including an extended airframe and all the more influential motors, was industrially unsuccessful. This flying machine first flew in June 1949. A little number were manufactured for the US Navy as the R4d8 and for a US residential carrier, and a couple of stay in administration.
Pictures of Douglas DC-3
