The only problem is that the DC-3 as good as it was, is outdated after WW2 as the British Empire planned stuff like the Airspeed Ambassador and the turboprop Vickers Viscount to replace it The Douglas DC-3 was only used by civil airlines in massively produced because of the 2nd World War
Would like to Promote the Idea of a Video about the Ferguson System which changed the way Farming worked and is arguably one of the most important invention for the human food production. Ferguson Te-20 Tractor are still beeing used all around the world from the northenmost parts of Sweden to the southernmost parts of Africa. And the Ferguson 35 and Massey-Ferguson 135 are still beeing sold new to this day. Fun Fact Ferguson drove 3 TE-20's to the southpole in 1955 if i remember correctly, They were all of the shelf and more or less only fitted regular Wintergear/nordic weather gear. Also Great Video about the DC-3
4:34 Nice underside view. You may notice one engine closer to the fuselage. That difference is there to offset engine torque on take-off. The Dak (for Dakota in Canada and U.K.) is the epitome of the expression "If it looks right, it will fly right." It's a beautiful piece of work.
I love DC-3s! As a young child in the 1960s, I used to fly on them from our home in the Aleutian Islands to Anchorage Alaska - on Reeve Aleutian Airways. Reeve bought a number of surplus C-47s after WWII and converted them for combo use - freight and passengers. The sound of those big twin engines still reverberates in my ears over fifty years later. So happy to hear there are nearly 200 of these wonderful birds still flying today! Thanks for sharing
You forgot to mention about the dc3's being "refurbished" today. A company named Basler has been remaking dc3's with new turboprop engines, and modern glass cockpit instruments, being renamed BT-67. Once the work is done, the airframe has 0 hours on it and is basically brand new.
@@noele6588 They do not. Literally 2 seconds on Google...geesus people, this is how misinformation starts. Boeing owns the type certificate (since September 27, 2010). They acquired it when they bought McDonnell Douglas. Basler owns the TC for the Basler.
I flew the DC-3 for several years for Southern Air Transport. It was low and slow and loud to fly. And could be a handful to land in a strong crosswind. But it was a work horse and I'm very lucky to have flown it. My favorite old aircraft.
I flew in a DC-3 about 60 years ago. I'll never forget the sound, & the stewardess in her contemporary uniform, asking if anyone wanted "coffee, tea or milk" & offering chewing gum to the kids. A piece of history!
It did not use a turbo prop engine. It used a radial engine. They are not the same. A turbo prop is basically a jet engine with a propeller. A radial is more similar to your car engine.
There is a turboprop version. The aftermarket BT-67 is a turboprop conversion. There were turboprops being studied during its production but non came to pass.
I traveled from cairns to Karumba a few times in a DC3 “Bush Pilots “ was the name of the company When you got to your seat the hostie would throw you a can of beer. Better days.
What made the DC-3 such a successful was it was truly the first airliner that could carry enough passengers to make a profit without a US Mail subsidy. For its day, the monocoque structural design and advanced aerodynamics was far ahead of every other airliner of its day. No wonder when American Airlines introduced this airliner in 1936 it marked the beginning of the end of train travel for USA transcontinental travel (lot of difference between three days from New York City to Los Angeles by train and 17 hours on a DC-3!).
I'll never forget an old pilot in a documentary back in the '70's "It creaked, it groaned, the wings would wobble up and down in flight, but it flew, and flew, and flew"!
colombian here, our armed forces still use the AC-47 in a modernized form, locally called Fantasma (Ghost) and a lot of smaller regional airlines use it as well
we get a refurbished DC3 flying in to our community every now and then. it has newer turbine engines installed. pilot says about 30% in fuel savings. the nicest DC3 I seen.
I am currently in the business of making aircraft parts. It is amazing how many pieces of equipment we have dating back to the 60's and before. As long as one is still flying, parts may come back to be fixed. Very few people makes resolvers any more, but they are essential. Our place is a museum to the 50's, 60's, 70's et all.
A few years back I had the pleasure of being riding in the last DC-3 in passenger service while on safari in South Africa. A beautiful aircraft meticulously maintained. That was one heck of a trip.
The last one? Buffalo Airways of Yellowknife Canada would like a word with you. They still fly several of them and do use them for passenger service. They even have their own UA-cam channel and had their own TV show about their DC3's, C47's, C46, and other aircraft- Including a D Day C47 still used in regular service. I believe there are still others used around the world for passenger service, not to mention the ones used for cargo service.
The DC-3/C-47 is one of the best looking planes ever made, that ever took to the sky. Even parked and stationary, the plane looks like it is ready to take the wind and fly. I absolutely love this plane!
I very recently had an opportunity to fly in a DC-3 operated by Ken Borek during a trip to the Arctic. I actually couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the plane taxiing over in Eureka. I'd always thought DC-3s only existed in museums and history books!
The DC-3 is also one of the best sounding airplanes. Everything from start-up to takeoff and flying overhead. They just sound like you think a propeller plane should (also, radial engine, not turboprop which is why they sound so great).
Awesome. The DC3 is truly an iconic aircraft. Superb to fly in too. I have had four flights in them and look forward to doing it again should the opportunity arise.
My friend flew DC3 for Continental Airlines (many years ago). He hated it because it did not have pressurized. Big problem for trying to get around weather.
The engine was not turboprop originally but a radial "Wright R-1820 Cyclone". There were later conversion to Turboprop engines like "Rolls-Royce RB.53 Dart".
The best thing about this video is including a picture of “Whiskey 7”. Whiskey 7 was the lead C-47 of the Second Wave of the 82nd Airborne Division on St. Mere Église on June 6th, 1944. She now rests at the Geneseo Air Museum in Geneseo, Western New York, USA. I have seen her fly many times, including at the D-Day Conneaut event in Conneaut, Ohio for the 75th Anniversary of D-Day in 2019.
The DC3 I flew during the usa-Vietnam War was older than I was. I was made in 1946 and it was made in 1942. The engines had been rebuilt hundreds of times before I got it.
In 2017, I had the chance to fly as a passenger in planes at a little...well, "air show" would be a but generous, but it effectively was one from the Commemorative Air Force. They brought in four historic planes to show off on the ground, and for not an insignificant amount, you can be taken up in the air in them for about 30 minutes at a time. The first plane they did flights in was a C-47. I was almost shocked at just how smooth every bit of the flight was, and it became shock upon reflection after going up in the other planes: a B-25, a B-17, and finally the only still-flying SB2C. The C-47 was a truly remarkable plane to fly in. That said, it might not have helped that just weeks prior to the flights, my great uncle, shortly before he passed away, gave me his M1 Garand that was issued to him during WW2. During my flight in the C-47, I kept finding myself almost instinctively checking to see if the Garand was still slung across my body (I obviously did not take it with me to the show), if I was secured to a parachute, and if there was a going to be a red light near the door turning on before someone opened the door mid-air. Yeah, I know the whole thing was silly, but I have always been a big military history buff, so I couldn't help but imagine what it was like being a crewmember of the B-25s in the Doolittle Raid, or the nearly countless B-17s shadows passing over the ground on their way to France or Germany (I recorded a stretch of the B-17's shadow after takeoff), or the rear gunners in SB2Cs (because that was how you went up as a passenger at that show) having to watch out for Japanese fighters trying to shoot them down. If you ever get the chance to fly in a DC-3 or any of its variants, I highly recommend it.
As someone born in the 80s I consider myself extremely lucky to have been on a DC-3 or technically the C-47. It was Canada Day in Ottawa and the Canadian Aviation Museum was running short tours onboard a C-47. The most extreme sense of joy and goosebumps kicked in when I heard those radial engines roar during take off. Truly memorable 🙂
As someone born n the 80's I consider myself extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to fly the DC-3. I think you put it well when you say "an extreme sense of joy": it's an airplane that just flies the way airplanes are supposed to fly!
Had the pleasure of flying in a "Warbird" DC3 in Auckland New Zealand, in a scenic flight over the city, about 30 years ago. This aircraft, ZK-DAK, was manufactured in 1944 and is still flying.
I listened to this in a building that a good number of gliders towed by the CH-47 were built in. Also I was machining parts for Boeing 737 at the same time. There is a CH-47 that flies out of Detroit that occasionally flys over my house. I love to hear those radials.
I flew on a Nicaraguan Air Force, Douglas C-47 from Managua to Blue Fields, Nicaragua back in 1976. Great story on the iconic DC-3/C-47 Dakota. Thanks for sharing!
The DC-3 flew "in" the weather, not above it. It could be a very upchucking experience for at least half the passengers when most were very new to this modern, sometimes very "turbulent mode", of travel.
Yep, the DC3 could be rough ride at times. No cabin pressurization, so usually limited to not over 8000 ft. I was on one over the Piedmont mountains in around 1958 on a regional airline. Drastic up and down fast altitude changes that made many nauseated.
@@simonrancourt7834 Nope. Buffalo does not operate scheduled passenger flights anymore: The story I heard from a friend still working there is that after the 2013 crash in which they were both over weight and had undocumented passengers on board (SOP when I worked there which is why I left after 8 months), they were prohibited by Transport Canada from operating a scheduled passenger service. This explanation seems a bit tenuous to me as they still operate passengers charters, so my guess is that insurance simply became prohibitive. "Buffalo Airways operates private charter flights, and can fly both domestically and internationally. Popular routes include flights within Canada, to popular tourist destinations, with a focus on keeping northern communities served and thriving. Cargo Flights The airline operates regular cargo flights to the following destinations in the Northern Territories: Cambridge Bay, Déline, Fort Good Hope, Hay River, Kugluktuk, Norman Wells, Tulita."
2:45 - Chapter 1 - Pioneering travel 4:30 - Chapter 2 - Built to fly 6:00 - Chapter 3 - The beginning of an era 7:15 - Chapter 4 - The goovey bird 8:30 - Chapter 5 - Operation Market Garden 10:05 - Chapter 6 - Battle of the bulge 11:15 - Chapter 7 - The spooky dragon 13:20 - Chapter 8 - Building an era 14:35 - Chapter 9 - They don't build them like they used to be 16:00 - Chapter 10 - The world after teh DC3
I've always loved the DC3, ever since I saw one at Jersey (the real, Channel Islands Jersey, not the subsequent city in America) Airport. I loved it because it appealed aesthetically to my then young mind, which quality still leads in my appreciation of it all these decades later. Nice use of Handel, by the way.
The DC-3 used radial engines, thus the "R" in R-1820. A turboprop is essentially a jet engine with a propeller. Some DC-3s have eventually received truboprops as through Basler conversations out of Wisconsin as thr BT-67. Basler is resurrecting older, and usually non-flying airframes and giving them new life. Their expertise was crucial in getting "That's All Brother", the C-47 that led the D-Day invasion, flying again.
It is almost shocking to look at a plane that looks relatively modern, with pleasant lines and shape and realise it is a design almost 85 years old, in an era when air machines were still relatively new. Some plane far newer look ugly and old. This is one of the things that has always struck me about the DC-3 and made it stick in my mind.
They are pretty exciting to skydive out of as well, you go out behind that huge prop and in front of the tail plane, the prop gives you quite a kick. Plus you fly in a DC-3 what more could you ask for.
Most people aren't familiar with Sustain Engineering. Every part in the DC3 is detailed in a BOM or build of materials. Every time a part goes "end of life" it has to be replaced and the BOM has to be updated. No easy feat in a build consisting of 10s of thousands of parts. One of my instructors at Oracle University made a career doing Sustain Engineering for the DC3. Imagine how many changes were made to the DC3 over the decades.....
Flew in a DC-3 from Lima, Peru to the airport near Marcona Iron Mine in the late 1960s. It was interesting to notice that everything but the kitchen sink was being flown on that plane.
In 1961 pilot Ernest Gann's book "Fate is the Hunter" was published. Parts of the non-fiction book detailed his experiences flying DC-3s and C-47s. He passed away in 1991 (October 13 1910 - December 19 1991). One of those cases where the aircraft survived the author. "we had been held to the law of 25,346 pounds. Now we should lift a presumed 31,000, an increase which left us dubious because it canceled our ability to fly on one engine until long after take-off. Moreover, the loads were not accurately weighed but merely estimated. This led to some interesting surprises." C-47, WWII, "Fate is the Hunter," Ernest Gann.
I took an aerospace science class at my high school, which was an aerospace engineering based charter school at my city airport. Took a field trip to fly in one of the few functional DC-3s in the US, and it was unbelievably cool. The Sun n’ Fun fly in in Lakeland Florida usually has one running short flights around the airport during the fly in that you can go on.
4:36 The DC-3 didn't have turboprop engines as they weren't invented yet. First flight of a DC-3 prototype conversion, (N300TX), was on July 29, 1982. Great watch, gotta love the DC-3.....
The CH-47 is the designation of the Boeing Chinook helicopter. The Douglas C-47 is ONE of the designations used by DC-3 derived aircraft. The "DC-3" has many names - DST DC-3 C-39 C-41 C-47 R4D Skytrain Dakota In reality, only about 600 genuine DC-3s were built. The vast bulk of the production (well over 11,000) were opf the beefed up and militarised C-47/R4D. Another error in the commentary - the gunship version of the C-47 used in Vietnam was the AC-47 - not FC-47.
Even today, major airline companies only make profit margins around 3-5%. Now, 3-5% of billions is still a decent chunk of change, but when in consideration to wanting to expand to keep your company fresh in the publics mind, it does eat into it pretty good. I’m comparison, Amazon clears almost 30%, last I checked (numbers may have changed by now). I find it interesting that airliners are not rolling in the cash like most people think.
At 1:30 the picture is of a Basler converted DC 3 with Pt 6 Turboprop engines, note the five bladed prop, the nose was cut off and the fuselage was extended which is why it looks so long. (Note the modified wingtips as well and if I recall correctly, the control surfaces were covered with aluminum) I was lucky enough to go through the Basler Production hangar and into one of these ships. The inside seems to go on forever when you're used to a regular 3 as I was. One fellow told us that in addition to being able to back up, the airplane could climb (when empty) almost vertically on one engine! Remarkable.
I flew into a WWii based airshow in a DC3, They had to pause the show for us to land, it was fantastic! If you like the DC3 and haven't seen Ice Pilots, You have been missing out. Best reality show. Ever.
Market-Garden wasn't executed immediately after D-Day, it happened 3 months after the invasion. Otherwise to execute it that early, would've seen the complete destruction of the 101st, the 82nd and the 1st Airborne division as they would be completely cut off from the main Allied ground armies by a good distance.
I think what he meant was Operation Market Garden being immediately after Operation Overlord. Overlord finished on 30/8/44 and Market Garden started about 2.5 weeks later.
As a child of missionaries growing up in Brazil in the 50s and 60s I flew approximately 40 thousand km in war surplus DC-3s. I learned how to keep them on course and would love to fly in one again.
you said at 4:35 that it uses turboprop engines, but those are actually radial engines. Later conversions have been done, but those are likely on a different type certificate
The DC-3 does not use rotary engines. Rotary engines stopped being used shortly after WW1. Rotary engines have the crankshaft fixed to the airframe and the prop attached to the crankcase so the entire motor rotates when in use. The DC-3 uses radial engines in which the crankcase is fixed to the airframe and the prop is attached to the crank. In use the engine is stationary and only the prop rotates.
@@CaptHollister yep, they're radial. I'm very familiar with how they work, just mixed up the names. Though, i'd say a rotary is a much closer engine to radial than a turboprop ;)
You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching, Love like you’ll never be hurt, Sing like there’s nobody listening, And live like it’s heaven on earth
There is a company that specialises in rebuilding DC3's by extending the fuselage forward of the wings, updating the avionics and installing Turbo Prop engines. This has been done as the supply of avgas for the piston engines is getting scarce and many operators want to keep operating them.
Its wing was designed without a main spar, single point of failure. It has over thirty bolted joints that run the length of the winf so it can take a tremendous amount of damage. They were also used as gliders themselves. Loaded with fuel, ammunition and other aircraft spares they landed in temporary airfields in Normandy where they could be set up as fighter workshops and so service the aircragt locally and get them back in the air quicker.
Saw the ole Flabob Express... Sure do miss that aircraft, crew and Airfield. Thank you for speaking about this airframe and such an iconic aircraft. Clearest of skies from a fellow Flabobian.
My Grandpa's cousin owned a construction company but he loved planes and he paid for the restoration of "Whiskey 7" by the National Warplane Museum in Geneseo,NY. I've never flown in it but I have been inside it at the airshow.
@@BigBones2109 yeah, you should. I believe you can still book a flight through the museum. I'm originally from Syracuse and am thinking of doing just that next time I go there to visit my kids and family.. 😁👍
C-47 Dakotas saw massive service with Australian troops in the Pacific. See the battles of Lae and Salamua. They were also among the first and most common planes in the early Berlin Airlift.
In 2020, the Shuttleworth collection saw a dozen of these aircraft fly in for a show. Everything from a D-Day paratroop carrier to an Asian airliner with lace trim on the seats!
last night when I strolling in my flightradar24 app, I found 2 DC-3 still in use.. CGKKB and N500MF, both are manufactured in January 1944 according to the apps.. but I think from the photos, both are not using their original radial engines anymore..
Spooky is one of my favorite modifications to not just the DC3 but probably of all time. There is just something about 3 or more mini guns firing more ammo in a minute than a soldier does in his life… yeah we Americans perfected that.
The DC-3 did not have turboprop engines. They had radial engines. A very important detail that i'm surprised was missed, seeing as the specific radial engines that were fitted to the DC-3 and its military variant (C-47) were correctly mentioned.
I'm a bit of an aviation history buff and love WW II prop planes, the DC-3 is one of my all time favorites. Even knowing what a great aircraft it was it does seem a bit crazy that these things are still in service around the world.
We had a DC-3 at our local airport, when I was a kid. I used to think it looked cool, but only realized it's true awesomeness, when I took an interest in its history.
The take-off scene in A Bridge Too Far is amazing for being 100% real. The number of Dakotas brought together for the air-drop scenes was a huge deal in 1977, it's impossible today (but it'd be CGI anyway in a modern film).
Just so you know, it wasn’t a turboprop as you said at 4:33. A turboprop is a jet turbine with a shaft that drives a propeller. Because this has cylinders not turbines, it’s simply a piston powered propeller aircraft. The engines were in the radial configuration. Recently there have been some turboprop conversions, but those aren’t factory planes.
Nice one Simon indeed...thank you! And yes, the DC3 is an absolute legend of an airplane. Imagine the Douglas Aircraft Company would have been built/created more airplane models with the quality like the DC3 - Boeing and Airbus wouldn't be the leading aircraft manufacturers today...
I used to skydive out of 'Mister Douglas', a DC-3 that would come North in the summer. I can say that I have taken off and flown in a DC-3 multiple times, but I have never landed in one! There really is nothing like the sound of those engines starting, and yes, the ground crew still walked the props around a few turns before the starting sequence.
i remember hitching a lift from tassie back to essendon airport in a cargo flight as the beech 18 i worked with was goona be a few days. early 80s. loved it.
As a kid, I was fortunate to get a few rides DC3's. One of those included a trip from Melbourne, Australia, down to Tasmania and back again. The seats were as hard as hobnails. The roar of the big P&W twin wasps was unbearable. It was the middle of winter and I swear that it was about minus fifteen degrees Celsius once we got to cruising altitude. The only thing that tempered the smell of avgas and oil was the smell of burning tobacco. I reckon that the captain and the first officer smoked about half an ounce of tobacco each on both legs of the flight. They must have been in their seventies, I'm not kidding. I was waiting for one of them to have a heart attack at any moment. So much for "smoking kills". Those seventy plus years must have counted for something, though. Charts and a compass were the only way they had to navigate, and they didn't fail to find their destinations. On both legs of the flight, the landings were seamless. They wheeled it onto the tarmac like they were buttering bread on a hot summer's day. I'll never forget that trip. How spoiled I am to have experienced it.
Amazing airplane and the proud user of the world's largest amphibious floats. LaRonge Air in Northern Saskatchewan operated them until very recently. Simon, you need to get your guys to check terms a bit more carefully though. Turboprop???? Pistons are not turboprops. The DC3 has been fitted with turboprops but not until 50 years and more since any were built.
I dont know if I heard it from this channel or a different one but there are supposedly a small handful of DC-3s or C-47s (if not both...) that participated in Operation Market Garden that are still flying to this very day. In this other video the guy who made it did his best to track down as many of the last operational ones that he could and the fate of a few others after the war. It was a very interesting watch. They are of course owned and operated by very very small airlines used to transport passengers or civilian aid and other goods to very remote parts of the country where it would otherwise be impossible to get to by land or a massive headache due to the terrain. He managed to track down one that was under the possession of a small Argentinian airline but couldnt fine any information online if it was still in service or not. I will definitely have to find the video.
The 75th D Day anniversary had a lot of DC3s come out. Most were original D Day planes. Others also flew on that day from various locations. Mikey McBryans [Buffalo Airlines] D Day plane flew after a major renovation over several months in Montreal. After siting dead in a corner of the airport for 10 years. Tough old things, try doing that in a modern passenger aircraft
After WW2, Eisenhower was asked to name the five most important pieces of materiel. He chose The Jeep, The Bulldozer, The 2,5 ton truck (CCKW), the DUKW (amphibious version of the CCKW) and the C47 (DC3).
Having logged about 7000 hrs. on the C47 (military version of the DC3) I must point out that it took 5 new innovations to make the aircraft economically viable as an airliner - all 5 innovations were required to accomplish this feat : 1) retractable undercarriage, 2) flaps, 3) constant speed propellers, 4) air cooled radial engines, and 5) monocoque construction. That venerable aircraft was truly amazing for technology of those days !
There was a saying, that when the last 737 was parked in the boneyard, the pilots would fly out on a DC-9 When the last DC-9 was parked in the boneyard, the pilots would fly out in a DC-3... Indicating the lifespan of these old solid and tough birds.
The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in my hometown has two DC3/C47’s in regular flying condition. One of them is one of the highest hour DC3s in existence with over 82,000 air hours.
totally agree....it revolutionized personal transportation...like one video says movie stars could be in NY one day and in LA the next...and this was true around the world for various cultures
I had a few privalages to see the DC-3 live. At the time, I was attempting to get my pilots licence, so I was "allowed" onto the air-side of an airport (FAGM). Before one of my flights, I managed to watch the majestic aircraft do a take-off. Back at home, It was my favourite aircraft in Flight Simulator X.
3:24 a year prior United Aircraft and Transport Corporation, the parent company formed by Bill Boeing to vertically integrate the airline business had been required by the Fed to break the company up. UTAC was created with Boeing providing the planes to United, which was a previous airline acquired by Boeing in the 20s, with engines made by Pratt & Whitney and props made by Hamilton Aero and numerous suppliers owned by UTAC. Bill was able to design, source materials and parts, manufacture the aircraft and operate them all under one business. It was a company that was able to crush competition or just buy them out like he did with Vought, Sikorsky (Boeings largest competitor during the 20s for long range flying boats) and numerous smaller airlines. Whats interesting is that essentially the 3 companies that UTAC was broken up into still exist today and are massive. Boeing $62B, United Airlines $25B and 3rd largest airline in the world and the United Technologies Corporation (UTC) $13B, which owns defense company Raytheon, the largest elevator company Otis and Carrier, the refrigeration/ Air Conditioning company. Of course all three own numerous companies and brands I didn't mention and it is truly fascinating just how many brands you will recognize and how many sectors these three corporations are involved in.
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The only problem is that the DC-3 as good as it was, is outdated after WW2 as the British Empire planned stuff like the Airspeed Ambassador and the turboprop Vickers Viscount to replace it
The Douglas DC-3 was only used by civil airlines in massively produced because of the 2nd World War
wanna know where you can stick that dried pond scum???
Would like to Promote the Idea of a Video about the Ferguson System which changed the way Farming worked and is arguably one of the most important invention for the human food production.
Ferguson Te-20 Tractor are still beeing used all around the world from the northenmost parts of Sweden to the southernmost parts of Africa.
And the Ferguson 35 and Massey-Ferguson 135 are still beeing sold new to this day.
Fun Fact Ferguson drove 3 TE-20's to the southpole in 1955 if i remember correctly, They were all of the shelf and more or less only fitted regular Wintergear/nordic weather gear.
Also Great Video about the DC-3
Turbo prop?
Error at 4:30 it used radial engines not turboprops although you can find some nowadays with turboprops retrofitted by Basler
Beat me to it!
@@ericmason8718 made me do a double take and I thought Wait no that's not right
On top of that, the designation of the Spectre or “Spooky” is AC-47, not FC-47.
4:34 Nice underside view. You may notice one engine closer to the fuselage. That difference is there to offset engine torque on take-off.
The Dak (for Dakota in Canada and U.K.) is the epitome of the expression "If it looks right, it will fly right."
It's a beautiful piece of work.
Why couldn’t they just have them as one in clockwise rotation one in counter clockwise rotation so that they each offset each other?
@@furretthefuzzynoodle3896
Like the P-38 and the Mosquito +++
It was designed in an earlier time, maybe? I honestly don't know.
I love DC-3s! As a young child in the 1960s, I used to fly on them from our home in the Aleutian Islands to Anchorage Alaska - on Reeve Aleutian Airways. Reeve bought a number of surplus C-47s after WWII and converted them for combo use - freight and passengers. The sound of those big twin engines still reverberates in my ears over fifty years later. So happy to hear there are nearly 200 of these wonderful birds still flying today! Thanks for sharing
You forgot to mention about the dc3's being "refurbished" today. A company named Basler has been remaking dc3's with new turboprop engines, and modern glass cockpit instruments, being renamed BT-67. Once the work is done, the airframe has 0 hours on it and is basically brand new.
You neglected to capitalise dc3 that everywhere else is correctly stated as: DC3.
He mentioned it is turboprop powered 😊 /jk
Also, not a DC-3 once the Basler conversion is done...
@@noele6588 They do not. Literally 2 seconds on Google...geesus people, this is how misinformation starts.
Boeing owns the type certificate (since September 27, 2010). They acquired it when they bought McDonnell Douglas.
Basler owns the TC for the Basler.
@@wilfdarr You managed to spell both Jesus and McDonnell Douglas wrong. This is how misspelling starts, people.
I flew the DC-3 for several years for Southern Air Transport. It was low and slow and loud to fly. And could be a handful to land in a strong crosswind. But it was a work horse and I'm very lucky to have flown it. My favorite old aircraft.
The good ole days of Nicaragua and Ronald Reagan
I flew in a DC-3 about 60 years ago. I'll never forget the sound, & the stewardess in her contemporary uniform, asking if anyone wanted "coffee, tea or milk" & offering chewing gum to the kids. A piece of history!
It did not use a turbo prop engine. It used a radial engine. They are not the same. A turbo prop is basically a jet engine with a propeller. A radial is more similar to your car engine.
this is the same dude who referred to the X-15 as a jet lol
Basler Bt-67 and Conroy Tri Turbo were both superprop dc-3s
There is a turboprop version. The aftermarket BT-67 is a turboprop conversion. There were turboprops being studied during its production but non came to pass.
@@TollHammer Yea but they were conversions and not original planes.
Very true. Only in recent times have some DC-3 been retrofitted with turbo props.
When I worked with the Canadian Airforce Reserves in he 80s we were still flying them. Loved flying in them.
Legend has it, when they take the last Boeing 747 to the boneyard, a DC-3 will fly them home. The DC-3 will never die.
When the last UH-60 is retired, the pilots will
fly back in a Huey!
steve
I heard it as ... "when the last jet fighter ... "
I traveled from cairns to Karumba a few times in a DC3
“Bush Pilots “ was the name of the company
When you got to your seat the hostie would throw you a can of beer.
Better days.
What made the DC-3 such a successful was it was truly the first airliner that could carry enough passengers to make a profit without a US Mail subsidy. For its day, the monocoque structural design and advanced aerodynamics was far ahead of every other airliner of its day. No wonder when American Airlines introduced this airliner in 1936 it marked the beginning of the end of train travel for USA transcontinental travel (lot of difference between three days from New York City to Los Angeles by train and 17 hours on a DC-3!).
it also made the Boeing model 247 obsolete over night.
What made it last so long is because it is not pressurized, that reduced air frame maintenance drastically.
I'll never forget an old pilot in a documentary back in the '70's "It creaked, it groaned, the wings would wobble up and down in flight, but it flew, and flew, and flew"!
colombian here, our armed forces still use the AC-47 in a modernized form, locally called Fantasma (Ghost) and a lot of smaller regional airlines use it as well
we get a refurbished DC3 flying in to our community every now and then. it has newer turbine engines installed. pilot says about 30% in fuel savings. the nicest DC3 I seen.
I am currently in the business of making aircraft parts. It is amazing how many pieces of equipment we have dating back to the 60's and before. As long as one is still flying, parts may come back to be fixed. Very few people makes resolvers any more, but they are essential. Our place is a museum to the 50's, 60's, 70's et all.
A few years back I had the pleasure of being riding in the last DC-3 in passenger service while on safari in South Africa. A beautiful aircraft meticulously maintained. That was one heck of a trip.
The last one? Buffalo Airways of Yellowknife Canada would like a word with you. They still fly several of them and do use them for passenger service. They even have their own UA-cam channel and had their own TV show about their DC3's, C47's, C46, and other aircraft- Including a D Day C47 still used in regular service. I believe there are still others used around the world for passenger service, not to mention the ones used for cargo service.
Buffalo Airways still runs passengers on their DC-3's to this day! That being said, they are the last in the world to do so.
Back in 2016 or 2017 I flew on a DC3 between Yellowknife and Hay River. It was quite a fun experience
Buffalo Airlines are still using them for cargo.
I'm head of a team busy restoring a C47 in cape town, beautiful aircraft.
It is amazing the Douglas produced one of the most loved & trusted Passenger Aircraft in the DC3 & one of the most feared in the DC10
The DC-3/C-47 is one of the best looking planes ever made, that ever took to the sky. Even parked and stationary, the plane looks like it is ready to take the wind and fly. I absolutely love this plane!
I very recently had an opportunity to fly in a DC-3 operated by Ken Borek during a trip to the Arctic. I actually couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the plane taxiing over in Eureka. I'd always thought DC-3s only existed in museums and history books!
Ive been on the plane. Enterprise.
The DC-3 is also one of the best sounding airplanes. Everything from start-up to takeoff and flying overhead. They just sound like you think a propeller plane should (also, radial engine, not turboprop which is why they sound so great).
One of, yes, but I'll still put anything merlin powered above, and the C-46 takes top spot.
Awesome. The DC3 is truly an iconic aircraft. Superb to fly in too. I have had four flights in them and look forward to doing it again should the opportunity arise.
My friend flew DC3 for Continental Airlines (many years ago). He hated it because it did not have pressurized. Big problem for trying to get around weather.
The engine was not turboprop originally but a radial "Wright R-1820 Cyclone". There were later conversion to Turboprop engines like "Rolls-Royce RB.53 Dart".
Yeah. It's funny how right after calling it a Turboprop he mentions radial engines🤣
@@cg9952 Blame the ignorant American researchers and scriptwriters and editors.
There were R-1830 P&W versions also.
The best thing about this video is including a picture of “Whiskey 7”. Whiskey 7 was the lead C-47 of the Second Wave of the 82nd Airborne Division on St. Mere Église on June 6th, 1944. She now rests at the Geneseo Air Museum in Geneseo, Western New York, USA. I have seen her fly many times, including at the D-Day Conneaut event in Conneaut, Ohio for the 75th Anniversary of D-Day in 2019.
The DC3 I flew during the usa-Vietnam War was older than I was. I was made in 1946 and it was made in 1942. The engines had been rebuilt hundreds of times before I got it.
In 2017, I had the chance to fly as a passenger in planes at a little...well, "air show" would be a but generous, but it effectively was one from the Commemorative Air Force. They brought in four historic planes to show off on the ground, and for not an insignificant amount, you can be taken up in the air in them for about 30 minutes at a time.
The first plane they did flights in was a C-47. I was almost shocked at just how smooth every bit of the flight was, and it became shock upon reflection after going up in the other planes: a B-25, a B-17, and finally the only still-flying SB2C. The C-47 was a truly remarkable plane to fly in.
That said, it might not have helped that just weeks prior to the flights, my great uncle, shortly before he passed away, gave me his M1 Garand that was issued to him during WW2. During my flight in the C-47, I kept finding myself almost instinctively checking to see if the Garand was still slung across my body (I obviously did not take it with me to the show), if I was secured to a parachute, and if there was a going to be a red light near the door turning on before someone opened the door mid-air. Yeah, I know the whole thing was silly, but I have always been a big military history buff, so I couldn't help but imagine what it was like being a crewmember of the B-25s in the Doolittle Raid, or the nearly countless B-17s shadows passing over the ground on their way to France or Germany (I recorded a stretch of the B-17's shadow after takeoff), or the rear gunners in SB2Cs (because that was how you went up as a passenger at that show) having to watch out for Japanese fighters trying to shoot them down.
If you ever get the chance to fly in a DC-3 or any of its variants, I highly recommend it.
As someone born in the 80s I consider myself extremely lucky to have been on a DC-3 or technically the C-47. It was Canada Day in Ottawa and the Canadian Aviation Museum was running short tours onboard a C-47. The most extreme sense of joy and goosebumps kicked in when I heard those radial engines roar during take off. Truly memorable 🙂
As someone born n the 80's I consider myself extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to fly the DC-3. I think you put it well when you say "an extreme sense of joy": it's an airplane that just flies the way airplanes are supposed to fly!
Had the pleasure of flying in a "Warbird" DC3 in Auckland New Zealand, in a scenic flight over the city, about 30 years ago. This aircraft, ZK-DAK, was manufactured in 1944 and is still flying.
I listened to this in a building that a good number of gliders towed by the CH-47 were built in. Also I was machining parts for Boeing 737 at the same time. There is a CH-47 that flies out of Detroit that occasionally flys over my house. I love to hear those radials.
I flew on a Nicaraguan Air Force, Douglas C-47 from Managua to Blue Fields, Nicaragua back in 1976. Great story on the iconic DC-3/C-47 Dakota. Thanks for sharing!
The DC-3 flew "in" the weather, not above it. It could be a very upchucking experience for at least half the passengers when most were very new to this modern, sometimes very "turbulent mode", of travel.
Yep, the DC3 could be rough ride at times. No cabin pressurization, so usually limited to not over 8000 ft. I was on one over the Piedmont mountains in around 1958 on a regional airline. Drastic up and down fast altitude changes that made many nauseated.
Have had two flights on commercial DC3 s.They no longer carry passengers,but there are still some carrying freight. Thank you for the video
In Canada's North-West Territory, Buffalo Airways still fly passengers with DC-3s.
@@simonrancourt7834 Nope. Buffalo does not operate scheduled passenger flights anymore: The story I heard from a friend still working there is that after the 2013 crash in which they were both over weight and had undocumented passengers on board (SOP when I worked there which is why I left after 8 months), they were prohibited by Transport Canada from operating a scheduled passenger service. This explanation seems a bit tenuous to me as they still operate passengers charters, so my guess is that insurance simply became prohibitive.
"Buffalo Airways operates private charter flights, and can fly both domestically and internationally. Popular routes include flights within Canada, to popular tourist destinations, with a focus on keeping northern communities served and thriving.
Cargo Flights
The airline operates regular cargo flights to the following destinations in the Northern Territories: Cambridge Bay, Déline, Fort Good Hope, Hay River, Kugluktuk, Norman Wells, Tulita."
I worked on one once, what a joy to be apart of History.
2:45 - Chapter 1 - Pioneering travel
4:30 - Chapter 2 - Built to fly
6:00 - Chapter 3 - The beginning of an era
7:15 - Chapter 4 - The goovey bird
8:30 - Chapter 5 - Operation Market Garden
10:05 - Chapter 6 - Battle of the bulge
11:15 - Chapter 7 - The spooky dragon
13:20 - Chapter 8 - Building an era
14:35 - Chapter 9 - They don't build them like they used to be
16:00 - Chapter 10 - The world after teh DC3
A worthy tribute to a worthy aircraft. Disappointing that the Berlin Airlift was omitted.
I noticed that as well.
@@robertpearson8798 Disappointing that it contained a few errors too.
@@EricIrl it is UA-cam after all.
@@robertpearson8798 True
FC-47??? (11:18). Must be the little known interceptor variant. I wonder what its turn and climb rate was?
I've always loved the DC3, ever since I saw one at Jersey (the real, Channel Islands Jersey, not the subsequent city in America) Airport. I loved it because it appealed aesthetically to my then young mind, which quality still leads in my appreciation of it all these decades later. Nice use of Handel, by the way.
The DC-3 used radial engines, thus the "R" in R-1820. A turboprop is essentially a jet engine with a propeller. Some DC-3s have eventually received truboprops as through Basler conversations out of Wisconsin as thr BT-67.
Basler is resurrecting older, and usually non-flying airframes and giving them new life. Their expertise was crucial in getting "That's All Brother", the C-47 that led the D-Day invasion, flying again.
One of the most iconic aircraft, ever.
Some designs are just timeless and immortal
It is almost shocking to look at a plane that looks relatively modern, with pleasant lines and shape and realise it is a design almost 85 years old, in an era when air machines were still relatively new. Some plane far newer look ugly and old. This is one of the things that has always struck me about the DC-3 and made it stick in my mind.
A wise pilot once said, "If it looks good, it flies good". Truer words were never spoken.
If you pull back on the DC3 a bit too much on takeoff, the lost slipstream will cause you to loose control of the elevator and crash.
Ever heard of the de Havilland Comet?
The Lockheed F-90 looked great, but was disappointing to fly because of a weak powerplant.
@@RCAvhstape Poor engine performance on new aircraft seems to be norm. All the great airplanes have been because of engine upgrade.
@@oldmech619 With tail draggers you can't really rotate on takeoff.
You have to fly them off the strip.
My Grandfather flew to New Zealand from Australia in a DC3 in the 1950's - his only flight of his life. he passed away in 1980 at the age of 95.
They are pretty exciting to skydive out of as well, you go out behind that huge prop and in front of the tail plane, the prop gives you quite a kick. Plus you fly in a DC-3 what more could you ask for.
Most people aren't familiar with Sustain Engineering.
Every part in the DC3 is detailed in a BOM or build of materials. Every time a part goes "end of life" it has to be replaced and the BOM has to be updated. No easy feat in a build consisting of 10s of thousands of parts.
One of my instructors at Oracle University made a career doing Sustain Engineering for the DC3.
Imagine how many changes were made to the DC3 over the decades.....
Your interested in Sustain Engineering?
Flew in a DC-3 from Lima, Peru to the airport near Marcona Iron Mine in the late 1960s. It was interesting to notice that everything but the kitchen sink was being flown on that plane.
In 1961 pilot Ernest Gann's book "Fate is the Hunter" was published. Parts of the non-fiction book detailed his experiences flying DC-3s and C-47s.
He passed away in 1991 (October 13 1910 - December 19 1991). One of those cases where the aircraft survived the author.
"we had been held to the law of 25,346 pounds. Now we should lift a presumed 31,000, an increase which left us dubious because it canceled our ability to fly on one engine until long after take-off. Moreover, the loads were not accurately weighed but merely estimated. This led to some interesting surprises." C-47, WWII, "Fate is the Hunter," Ernest Gann.
I took an aerospace science class at my high school, which was an aerospace engineering based charter school at my city airport. Took a field trip to fly in one of the few functional DC-3s in the US, and it was unbelievably cool. The Sun n’ Fun fly in in Lakeland Florida usually has one running short flights around the airport during the fly in that you can go on.
4:36 The DC-3 didn't have turboprop engines as they weren't invented yet. First flight of a DC-3 prototype conversion, (N300TX), was on July 29, 1982. Great watch, gotta love the DC-3.....
Two Rolls Royce Dart turboprop conversions were built in the early 1950s.
Great story of the importance of C-47 in Greg Crouch's book China's Wings. Tons of facts and anecdotes. Well worth the read if you like this bird.
The CH-47 is the designation of the Boeing Chinook helicopter. The Douglas C-47 is ONE of the designations used by DC-3 derived aircraft. The "DC-3" has many names -
DST
DC-3
C-39
C-41
C-47
R4D
Skytrain
Dakota
In reality, only about 600 genuine DC-3s were built. The vast bulk of the production (well over 11,000) were opf the beefed up and militarised C-47/R4D.
Another error in the commentary - the gunship version of the C-47 used in Vietnam was the AC-47 - not FC-47.
@@EricIrl edited to correct my CH to C-
Even today, major airline companies only make profit margins around 3-5%. Now, 3-5% of billions is still a decent chunk of change, but when in consideration to wanting to expand to keep your company fresh in the publics mind, it does eat into it pretty good. I’m comparison, Amazon clears almost 30%, last I checked (numbers may have changed by now). I find it interesting that airliners are not rolling in the cash like most people think.
I got to take a ride in a DC-3 years ago and it was damn cool. And if I ever get a chance to do it again I'll jump on it!
87 years old. 13 years to become a truly Century Plane.
I feel like I will have to celebrate this in 13 years. I'm sure there will be a number of commemorations.
At 1:30 the picture is of a Basler converted DC 3 with Pt 6 Turboprop engines, note the five bladed prop, the nose was cut off and the fuselage was extended which is why it looks so long. (Note the modified wingtips as well and if I recall correctly, the control surfaces were covered with aluminum) I was lucky enough to go through the Basler Production hangar and into one of these ships. The inside seems to go on forever when you're used to a regular 3 as I was. One fellow told us that in addition to being able to back up, the airplane could climb (when empty) almost vertically on one engine! Remarkable.
I flew into a WWii based airshow in a DC3, They had to pause the show for us to land, it was fantastic!
If you like the DC3 and haven't seen Ice Pilots, You have been missing out. Best reality show. Ever.
My first ever plane flight was on a DC-3, such an iconic aircraft. I would love to own one.
Market-Garden wasn't executed immediately after D-Day, it happened 3 months after the invasion. Otherwise to execute it that early, would've seen the complete destruction of the 101st, the 82nd and the 1st Airborne division as they would be completely cut off from the main Allied ground armies by a good distance.
I like this guy's vids but he is not always the most accurate storyteller
I think what he meant was Operation Market Garden being immediately after Operation Overlord. Overlord finished on 30/8/44 and Market Garden started about 2.5 weeks later.
As a child of missionaries growing up in Brazil in the 50s and 60s I flew approximately 40 thousand km in war surplus DC-3s. I learned how to keep them on course and would love to fly in one again.
you said at 4:35 that it uses turboprop engines, but those are actually radial engines. Later conversions have been done, but those are likely on a different type certificate
The DC-3 does not use rotary engines. Rotary engines stopped being used shortly after WW1. Rotary engines have the crankshaft fixed to the airframe and the prop attached to the crankcase so the entire motor rotates when in use. The DC-3 uses radial engines in which the crankcase is fixed to the airframe and the prop is attached to the crank. In use the engine is stationary and only the prop rotates.
An error corrected with an error...🤦
@@CaptHollister yep, they're radial. I'm very familiar with how they work, just mixed up the names. Though, i'd say a rotary is a much closer engine to radial than a turboprop ;)
@@jhford Well yes, a rotary being a kind of radial. For the kids out there, when we say "rotary" we don't mean a Wankel.
You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching,
Love like you’ll never be hurt,
Sing like there’s nobody listening,
And live like it’s heaven on earth
I'm pretty sure the DC-3 pre-dares the invention of the turboprop engine!
There is a company that specialises in rebuilding DC3's by extending the fuselage forward of the wings, updating the avionics and installing Turbo Prop engines.
This has been done as the supply of avgas for the piston engines is getting scarce and many operators want to keep operating them.
11:17 "The FC-47" *shows name as AC-47*
Its wing was designed without a main spar, single point of failure. It has over thirty bolted joints that run the length of the winf so it can take a tremendous amount of damage. They were also used as gliders themselves. Loaded with fuel, ammunition and other aircraft spares they landed in temporary airfields in Normandy where they could be set up as fighter workshops and so service the aircragt locally and get them back in the air quicker.
Saw the ole Flabob Express... Sure do miss that aircraft, crew and Airfield. Thank you for speaking about this airframe and such an iconic aircraft. Clearest of skies from a fellow Flabobian.
My one and only flight (so far) on a private plane was at Flabob 🤣
Hoping to start taking lessons next year, 25 years later.
@@JoshuaTootell It's never to Late to get back on the ole saddle again.. I just hope I can get out of my own head and be PIC of that ole gal someday.
My Grandpa's cousin owned a construction company but he loved planes and he paid for the restoration of "Whiskey 7" by the National Warplane Museum in Geneseo,NY. I've never flown in it but I have been inside it at the airshow.
Didn't NBC News 10 go up in it for a news story they did back in June??
@@elfpimp1 I think so. I know it's airworthy I just haven't had the chance to fly in it yet.
@@BigBones2109 yeah, you should. I believe you can still book a flight through the museum. I'm originally from Syracuse and am thinking of doing just that next time I go there to visit my kids and family.. 😁👍
C-47 Dakotas saw massive service with Australian troops in the Pacific. See the battles of Lae and Salamua. They were also among the first and most common planes in the early Berlin Airlift.
In 2020, the Shuttleworth collection saw a dozen of these aircraft fly in for a show. Everything from a D-Day paratroop carrier to an Asian airliner with lace trim on the seats!
I'm sure you mean Duxford.
@@EricIrl Nope, Shuttleworth. Was 2019, not 2020 though. ua-cam.com/video/7hmOZJiQwHU/v-deo.html&ab_channel=RichardBarker
last night when I strolling in my flightradar24 app, I found 2 DC-3 still in use.. CGKKB and N500MF, both are manufactured in January 1944 according to the apps.. but I think from the photos, both are not using their original radial engines anymore..
Spooky is one of my favorite modifications to not just the DC3 but probably of all time. There is just something about 3 or more mini guns firing more ammo in a minute than a soldier does in his life… yeah we Americans perfected that.
The DC-3 did not have turboprop engines. They had radial engines. A very important detail that i'm surprised was missed, seeing as the specific radial engines that were fitted to the DC-3 and its military variant (C-47) were correctly mentioned.
I'm a bit of an aviation history buff and love WW II prop planes, the DC-3 is one of my all time favorites. Even knowing what a great aircraft it was it does seem a bit crazy that these things are still in service around the world.
We had a DC-3 at our local airport, when I was a kid. I used to think it looked cool, but only realized it's true awesomeness, when I took an interest in its history.
The take-off scene in A Bridge Too Far is amazing for being 100% real. The number of Dakotas brought together for the air-drop scenes was a huge deal in 1977, it's impossible today (but it'd be CGI anyway in a modern film).
My grandfather flown the C-47 during WWII and Korea. He loved that plane and said it was the best airframe he ever flew.
Just so you know, it wasn’t a turboprop as you said at 4:33. A turboprop is a jet turbine with a shaft that drives a propeller. Because this has cylinders not turbines, it’s simply a piston powered propeller aircraft. The engines were in the radial configuration. Recently there have been some turboprop conversions, but those aren’t factory planes.
Nice one Simon indeed...thank you! And yes, the DC3 is an absolute legend of an airplane.
Imagine the Douglas Aircraft Company would have been built/created more airplane models with the quality like the DC3 - Boeing and Airbus wouldn't be the leading aircraft manufacturers today...
I used to skydive out of 'Mister Douglas', a DC-3 that would come North in the summer. I can say that I have taken off and flown in a DC-3 multiple times, but I have never landed in one! There really is nothing like the sound of those engines starting, and yes, the ground crew still walked the props around a few turns before the starting sequence.
i remember hitching a lift from tassie back to essendon airport in a cargo flight as the beech 18 i worked with was goona be a few days. early 80s. loved it.
The DC-3 is my favourite aircraft of all time... and IMHO the most beautiful :D
In the mid-1970's I got to ride in a DC-3 from Florida, over Cuba, to the Cayman Islands. I feel privileged to have flown in such an iconic aircraft.
My grandmother worked on a C-47 assembly line for a few years. I have two squares of aircraft skin That she riveted together for the job.
As a kid, I was fortunate to get a few rides DC3's. One of those included a trip from Melbourne, Australia, down to Tasmania and back again. The seats were as hard as hobnails. The roar of the big P&W twin wasps was unbearable. It was the middle of winter and I swear that it was about minus fifteen degrees Celsius once we got to cruising altitude.
The only thing that tempered the smell of avgas and oil was the smell of burning tobacco.
I reckon that the captain and the first officer smoked about half an ounce of tobacco each on both legs of the flight. They must have been in their seventies, I'm not kidding. I was waiting for one of them to have a heart attack at any moment. So much for "smoking kills".
Those seventy plus years must have counted for something, though. Charts and a compass were the only way they had to navigate, and they didn't fail to find their destinations. On both legs of the flight, the landings were seamless. They wheeled it onto the tarmac like they were buttering bread on a hot summer's day.
I'll never forget that trip. How spoiled I am to have experienced it.
Amazing airplane and the proud user of the world's largest amphibious floats. LaRonge Air in Northern Saskatchewan operated them until very recently. Simon, you need to get your guys to check terms a bit more carefully though. Turboprop???? Pistons are not turboprops. The DC3 has been fitted with turboprops but not until 50 years and more since any were built.
I dont know if I heard it from this channel or a different one but there are supposedly a small handful of DC-3s or C-47s (if not both...) that participated in Operation Market Garden that are still flying to this very day.
In this other video the guy who made it did his best to track down as many of the last operational ones that he could and the fate of a few others after the war. It was a very interesting watch. They are of course owned and operated by very very small airlines used to transport passengers or civilian aid and other goods to very remote parts of the country where it would otherwise be impossible to get to by land or a massive headache due to the terrain.
He managed to track down one that was under the possession of a small Argentinian airline but couldnt fine any information online if it was still in service or not. I will definitely have to find the video.
The 75th D Day anniversary had a lot of DC3s come out. Most were original D Day planes.
Others also flew on that day from various locations. Mikey McBryans [Buffalo Airlines] D Day plane flew after a major renovation over several months in Montreal. After siting dead in a corner of the airport for 10 years. Tough old things, try doing that in a modern passenger aircraft
After WW2, Eisenhower was asked to name the five most important pieces of materiel.
He chose The Jeep, The Bulldozer, The 2,5 ton truck (CCKW), the DUKW (amphibious version of the CCKW) and the C47 (DC3).
Having logged about 7000 hrs. on the C47 (military version of the DC3) I must point out that it took 5 new innovations to make the aircraft economically viable as an airliner - all 5 innovations were required to accomplish this feat : 1) retractable undercarriage, 2) flaps, 3) constant speed propellers, 4) air cooled radial engines, and 5) monocoque construction. That venerable aircraft was truly amazing for technology of those days !
The Lockheed Constellation would be a fun video.
The Gunship verfsion of the c-47 AC-47.
My grandfather flew a c-47 for RAAF in SEA, during WW2. My daughters love looking at the DC3 in our local Air Force association museum
Operation Marjet Garden. My father was one of those paratroopers. He was wounded and sent to a POW camp in Germany.🙂🇨🇦
There was a saying, that when the last 737 was parked in the boneyard, the pilots would fly out on a DC-9
When the last DC-9 was parked in the boneyard, the pilots would fly out in a DC-3...
Indicating the lifespan of these old solid and tough birds.
The image at 6:40 appears to be of a C-46 Commando, another venerable transport aircraft from that era and still in use today..
The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in my hometown has two DC3/C47’s in regular flying condition. One of them is one of the highest hour DC3s in existence with over 82,000 air hours.
The Wright and the Pratt & Whitney weren't turboprop engines. The turboprop engine, a type of jet engine using a propeller, hadn't been invented yet!
How dare you question fact boi! 😂 just kidding, nice call and thanks for posting the truth 🍻
Lol, I think they meant turbo-supercharged!
@@paqx3534 Yes. They may have gotten the terms confused or conflated.
That and spooky's designation was AC-47 not FC-47.
Nope, turboprops are not jet engines, you're thinking of turbofans.
totally agree....it revolutionized personal transportation...like one video says movie stars could be in NY one day and in LA the next...and this was true around the world for various cultures
I had a few privalages to see the DC-3 live. At the time, I was attempting to get my pilots licence, so I was "allowed" onto the air-side of an airport (FAGM). Before one of my flights, I managed to watch the majestic aircraft do a take-off.
Back at home, It was my favourite aircraft in Flight Simulator X.
You didn't mention the Basler. The airline I work for has 3. Radial engines swapped out for turbo engines.
Well, that's oversimplified just a little 😉
3:24 a year prior United Aircraft and Transport Corporation, the parent company formed by Bill Boeing to vertically integrate the airline business had been required by the Fed to break the company up. UTAC was created with Boeing providing the planes to United, which was a previous airline acquired by Boeing in the 20s, with engines made by Pratt & Whitney and props made by Hamilton Aero and numerous suppliers owned by UTAC. Bill was able to design, source materials and parts, manufacture the aircraft and operate them all under one business. It was a company that was able to crush competition or just buy them out like he did with Vought, Sikorsky (Boeings largest competitor during the 20s for long range flying boats) and numerous smaller airlines.
Whats interesting is that essentially the 3 companies that UTAC was broken up into still exist today and are massive.
Boeing $62B, United Airlines $25B and 3rd largest airline in the world and the United Technologies Corporation (UTC) $13B, which owns defense company Raytheon, the largest elevator company Otis and Carrier, the refrigeration/ Air Conditioning company. Of course all three own numerous companies and brands I didn't mention and it is truly fascinating just how many brands you will recognize and how many sectors these three corporations are involved in.
They were used for spraying DDT and agent orange as well.
No they weren't.