I feel that I have to come to the defence of the venerable DC-3 whose reputation was somewaht besmirched on another thread that was shut down. The Dakota was refered to as a museum piece that should be sitting in someone's backyard.
There were 18,000 C-47s produced from the early 30s until 1944. Of those, over 2,000 are still in active commercial service! The airframe had no service life date and some of these aircraft will no doubt be still flying in another 50 years. It is the perfect air transportation solution for some situations. Cheap on fuel, extremely reliable, very good flight characteristics and good payload capacity.
That is all.
DC-3 Info
The dissing of the DC-3 happened on the the "New Dealer...." thread that Fred shut down because it wasn't up to "Infiniti General Forum" standards. I just couldn't let it let it go without coming to the defence of the Gooney Bird.
They are super loud especially in the ****pit. I swear my dad lost a lot of hearing piloting those Daks.
They are super loud especially in the ****pit. I swear my dad lost a lot of hearing piloting those Daks.
DC-3
Explain this to me.
Why could good old American know-how come up with such an enduring engineering marvel as the DC-3, yet we must look to the Japaneese auto makers to produce autos with with an attitude that doesn't tollerate bad engineering?
I just don't get it. Perhaps we reserve our best engineering for the aviation, space and DOD stuff. We certainly excell in those areas! IMHO
Why could good old American know-how come up with such an enduring engineering marvel as the DC-3, yet we must look to the Japaneese auto makers to produce autos with with an attitude that doesn't tollerate bad engineering?
I just don't get it. Perhaps we reserve our best engineering for the aviation, space and DOD stuff. We certainly excell in those areas! IMHO
One last thought on the DC-3. When I was a young flight instructor in Nashville I witnessed a DC-3 lose his right engine on takeoff from runway 20R. He nursed it around to runway 31...we could see him most of the way in his approach...very impressive..only airplane I ever saw lose one in 4 years working at the airport. The B737 will rotate and climb pretty good after the loss of one nowadays...a little dicey but no big deal. But flying on one in the recip DC-3 was a big deal.
Scott
Scott
My dad flew DC-3s during WWII and told of one that wouldn't lower the landing gear. When retracted the bottoms of the tires still stuck out a few inches, so the pilot got on final approach, shut down and feathered the engines, used the starter to rotate the props to clear the ground and landed with no damage to the aircraft. That shows some serious confidence in the stability of the airframe!
The DC3 was a milestone in aviation because when introduced was designed to operate on one engine to ease the fears of the traveling public.
My father commanded a Canadian Armed Forces Dakota Transport Squadron in the early 80s after he retired from the regular force. The Dak was retired after his command and replaced with Dash 8s. He called it "low and slow" after being a fighter pilot but loved the plane.
He worked for Transport Canada flying Dehaviled Beaver float aircraft, Beech Barons and KingAirs. The Beaver was the best. I would go as his "crew" when he went on aerodrome and seaplane base inspections. There are so many fly in only resorts in Canada it would make your head spin. On a light day, we would land on some lake that probably no one had ever been to in the middle of nowhere and put out the fishing lines for a couple of hours. It spoiled the fishing experience anywhere esle for me. Learned to fly, too.
Ahhhhhh........ government work.
My father commanded a Canadian Armed Forces Dakota Transport Squadron in the early 80s after he retired from the regular force. The Dak was retired after his command and replaced with Dash 8s. He called it "low and slow" after being a fighter pilot but loved the plane.
He worked for Transport Canada flying Dehaviled Beaver float aircraft, Beech Barons and KingAirs. The Beaver was the best. I would go as his "crew" when he went on aerodrome and seaplane base inspections. There are so many fly in only resorts in Canada it would make your head spin. On a light day, we would land on some lake that probably no one had ever been to in the middle of nowhere and put out the fishing lines for a couple of hours. It spoiled the fishing experience anywhere esle for me. Learned to fly, too.
Ahhhhhh........ government work.