Why the DC-3 Continues to Fly Decades After WWII
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- Опубліковано 6 вер 2024
- Tens of years after its service in WWII, the DC-3 continues to be used with distinction, now for civil aviation. Two reasons: its affordability and reliability.
From: PLANES THAT CHANGED THE WORLD: DC-3
bit.ly/1MrPVFX
When an aircraft not just outlives its pilots but even the company which built it
1 reason because the cabin is not pressurized. Another factor is the engineers back then don't know a lot about metallurgy so they rather overbuilding it rather than underbuilding it and risk premature structural failure.
The pony express lasted a year or so... people still use pony's today. Point?
Producers of over-engineered products, usually go bust.
@@lindasmall9354 Pony's are alive, aircraft aren't. Point?
actually the dougles company merged with McDonald and then the company was renamed mcdounalddougles then it was bought by Boeing so all of the dc-3s are owned by Boeing
A worthy fact to note here: According to the FAA there has never been a single in flight air frame failure for the DC3. That's quite a testimate for this grand old flying machine!!
Doug Spencer 😳😳😳😳😳............Well damn
I wonder what is the highest airframe in hours?
Aeronautical engineering was new, so they over built the DC3.
I was wondering, should there not be maintenance on the air frame, meaning you would change elements of the frame? I have seen videos with "basel DC3" and other refurbished DC3's which had their airframe strengthened in order to accomodate more power and weight?
@@kevinmoore4887 there are 747's with over 200000 hours but large parts of the structure will have been replaced over the years .The life of a ship of aircraft is basically unlimited subject to continued maintenance but the question is at a certain point it ceases to be cost effective but with so many parts still around for DC 3 aircraft it is still cost effective to keep flying .
@@kevinmoore4887 They not being pressurized also helps immensely with low metal fatigue
DC3 = work of art. It's beautiful
The Douglas DC-3 was revolutionary because it was arguably the very first large-scale production all-metal airliner that used modern monocoque structural design and was extensively wind-tunnel tested. As such, the DC-3 was in 1936 arguably one the most advanced planes in the world, period.
The fact that we went from planes made out of twine, paper and wood to the DC-3 in just over 30 years time is a staggering feat of humanity.
Noah Davidson Not to mention that a plane designed over 80 years ago is still in use today!
@@noahdavidson8733 indeed. and it took a metal previously difficult to smelt called aluminum to make it happen.
In the late 80’s I was flying to the Bahamas for the first time with a small group of people. When we arrived at the airport in S. Florida and I saw this old, old- fashioned airplane we were going to be taking, my heart dropped to my feet. I expressed my dismay and the man I was with was like. “Are you kidding? This is the safest plane we could take!” I learned a lot about them when I returned home and am happy I got to experience that piece of history. My dad, a deceased aviation jet mechanic of the US Navy, would have been proud!
..and, yet, he still wouldn't have been allowed to overhaul the props..
The only replacement for a DC-3 is another DC-3
Eastern Explorer i would do the douglas c117d (super dc-3). It has more cargo, same engines as a dc-4 and just a better version although there is not a lot. My dads old work place had 4 Super Dc-3
And the Convair 580, I like to think of that as the son of the DC-3. It looks so similar yet just different enough to look updated, of course it was built to be the replacement for the DC-3 so it's not a surprise.
Then, let's hope Boeing or other aircraft manufacturer restarts the DC-3 production.
@@andreithetare Well, Douglas is part of Boeing today, so that would figure.
What about 747 MAX ;)
It is still flying possibly because it is one of the most perfectly designed airplanes of all time? Douglas got it right.
*DC10 HAS LEFT THE CHAT*
@@jcjcjunk1881 DC-10 was a great airplane, it just was maintained very sloppily
@@nczioox1116 whooooooooshh
Douglas is dead, only the DC3 and DC10/MD11/KC10 lives on
@@nczioox1116 DC-10 was beautiful, but the landing gear was woefully inadequate.
I fell in love with the DC3 the first time I saw one, immediately it inspired confidence and strengh. We flew from Santiago, Chile to Patagonia and back so many times, for 20 years of my life. Nothing can replace the DC3.
*So You Were In WW2?
*So You Were In WW2?*
LemmeGetA McUmmm bruh, im a 14 year old boy and even i have have flew with dc-3
A small airport 2,5 km away from my house has one dc-3
is it strange to say I'm starting to want one?
oh, yeah if i ever won the lottery...... i dont need a fancy yacht no fancy jet, just give me a DC3 with full passenger interior, a small galley, and a bathroom. figure 21 seats that's plenty to take all of my family and friends anywhere they might want to go...... and unlike a modern airliner you can enjoy the view at 8,000 feet. make mine bare aluminum and polished to a shine that will make you squint in the sunlight lol
andrew donohue I'd just have like the cargo or old millitary C-47 version.
each to their own, i would like my own airliner, a real airliner... if i started a company that needed to haul freight my aircraft of choice would be a C47 but for a pleasure aircraft a DC3 airliner.
You can tell the C-47 from the standard DC-3 by the screws holding the tail cone onto the rest of the fuselage, It was built so that the back few feet (and empennage) could be easily removed to load the plane onto a ship for transport.
+David Hague Really? That is actually a cool bit of information.
My first flight was a DC-3 from Portland to Astoria. My dad was a 1930's radio officer who flew with Tinker in his "Bird O' Prey" Martin B-10. Dad wanted me to have a memorable first flight. During WWII dad was a CAA (Civil Aeronautics Administration) maintenance technician supporting navigational aids west of the Mississippi River. I lived in Montana, Oregon, and ended up in Wyoming at the age of ten, where Frontier Airlines used the DC-3 for several years. My flight home from Fort Leonard Wood, MO, to Denver, was, I think, a DC-3 that stopped at several locations in Kansas. I don't remember the date they converted to the Convair 580. The radial gas engine produces a unique sound, and is easily identifiable as one passes overhead. While in Alaska 2007-2015, I heard several different aircraft that had radial gas engines, and I always commented to those with me that "Do you realize that that engine was likely built over 70 years ago?"
I love how the DC-3 look like a modern airliner, while keeping a very historical look via prop engines. Truly a revolutionary aircraft.
When you consider the first DC-3 was built (and flown) In 1935, it seems "modern" airliners look a wee bit... old-fashioned.
@@omepeet2006 well that is the ideal shape for a aircraft so why not reuse something that is reliable and is proven to be safe while also benefiting everyone involved
...and a tail-dragger, at that...
Three reasons: its affordability, its reliability, and its awesomeness.
What year Was The DC-3 manufactured
@@nhacuachua4986 1935.
Barely 3 decades after the Wright Brothers made their historic first flights the DC 3 was born. And we still fly them 8 decades later!
DC3 still do passenger service in many remote parts of the earth - I’ve enjoyed DC3 flights in the jungles of Guatemala.
The DC-3 is the 737 of the 30s and 40s and still does a good job at what it does even today. It's design also allows it to still be a viable option 80 years later.
Luca H
Yeah, and it won’t refuse to give control to the pilots and nosedive straight into the ground.
A beautiful testament too engineering, the DC-3 still is appealing to the eye.
its awesome that you how to spell 'testament', but you blew it on 'to'...
@@tommurphy4307 your sentence made no grammatical sense whatsoever. Learn English before you criticize others for not knowing how to speak English, also that comment Is literally like 3 years old.
The absolute epitome of engineering! There is one parked up at my local airport and every time I am anywhere near the airport I always go out of my way to get out of the car and stare at it in the utmost admiration! I hope to have the privilege of flying in it someday. I'm only a young man but this is my favourite aircraft ❤️❤️❤️
A masterpiece of aviation design. Priceless American history. Played a critical role in WWII.
The DC-3 is the most beautiful plane ever created. It’s so iconic.
I just rode on a dc-3 today, i'm 15 and i paid 295 dollars to fly an hour, the plane might not be the speed of a jet, but it still is amazing, once during the flight we pulled a 180 turn with a bank of somewhere around 45 degrees, everyone in the plane almost fell out of their seats but the plane still had significant speed coming out of the turn.
Had a friend who flew one for a cargo company on a regular basis, said they were not very comfortable, and flight controls were tight and stiff, but very durable, and he just had this feeling he was safe in this plane, just seemed like there was very little that could go wrong, rugged plane
i was talking with someone at an airshow. he said there is a pretty big difference between the comfort level of a DC3 and a military C47. DC's were setup for passenger comfort and a C47 was a military aircraft
The thing is the C-47 is essentially the same as a prewar DC-3 with the exception of the cargo door.
Post war the C-47s were bought super cheap but they were extensively modified for airline service. A C-47 could be as comfortable or as uncomfortable as you wanted it to be.
And the majority of post war airliners were C-47s originally.
Its 11pm and I have n assignment
UA-cam: Why does the DC 3 Continues to Fly Decades After WW2
Me: Mom, its for my future aeronautics class okay
GamerkiddoCody it’s summer
@@SPBaviation Northern hemisphere chauvenism!
My first flight was on a C47, a great aircraft! And like me still around!
same plane
When I was about 12 or 13 I built one of those plastic models around then. Being from New Zealand, I painted it with the fluorescent pink strips favoured by the planes of Project Deep Freeze flying to Antarctica out of Christchurch at the time.
I was surprised to have my parents tell me they flew on a DC3 on their honeymoon trip to Stewart Island before I was born. It seemed like ancient history to me, but now I'm nearly 70 and those planes are still flying.
My dad had an extensive DC-3 carreer after WW2 and his B-17 service. It's a loveable mule.
A beautiful rugged and reliable! As a kid back then I was a passenger on one as well as able to walk around and admire it.
1 reason this bird seems to last forever is because the cabin is not pressurized. Another factor is the engineers back then don't know a lot about metallurgy so they rather overbuilding it rather than underbuilding it and risk premature structural failure.
I'd love to turn a DC 3 into like a flying motor home
I'd fly it to a remote airfield and camp out in the plane
Golden Retriever If you need a second pilot, let me know! That sounds awesome!
Golden Retriever
An original idea I love it. I think one person could drive. D.C.-3, no ? 😊🙏
That’d be awesome
Call it the Flying Nomad. :D
There are two flying DC3's in NZ giving anyone the opportunity to fly in one for around a hundred dollars for a half hour flight over either Auckland City or Tauranga City. One is a converted C47 and the other is an original 'air-stair' passenger version. Both were wartime aircraft. Flying in either of them is amazing and they are very smooth and quiet, just the opposite to what you might expect. Those 14 cylinder radial engines are silky smooth in operation and flight, quite unlike the initial cold start-up which has the lower cylinders slightly loaded-up with oil and fuel due to gravity hence the 'rough' running for half a minute or so, if that. They 'feel' very strong aircraft with no vibrations or shaking that you can often disconcertingly notice in smaller aircraft of lighter construction. The DC3 was built to last and they will be flying for many many years yet to come.
Way back the mid-eighties I did also fly in a Bristol Freighter across the strait between the north and south islands of NZ. That aircraft was a different type of experience. It rattled and banged and shook like a bucket of loose bolts and I was glad to be back on the ground again. During the landing on that occasion I was wondering if the wings were going to fall off the fuselage because they were both literally alarmingly flapping up and down at the tips like the wings of a bird as the aircraft bounced it's way down the airstrip at Rongotai (admittedly it was a botched 'heavy' landing but the DC3 does not behave in this manner when slammed hard down onto the ground - it just takes it in it's stride - a superb beautifully engineered thoroughbred aircraft of enduring world class like no other, excepting perhaps the Boeing 727, another of my favourite aircraft, the clean-winged smooth-flying 600mph 'pocket rocket' as it was called by the RNZAF which operated two of them during the 1980's, with a third which they kept to cannibalize for spares . .
Had a ride on both DC-3s. Smooth as. But.., what happened to AMY then?
the dc-3 did not come with an air-stair, they were retrofitted with them.
In my mind it's the most elegant and striking plane ever made. Beautiful.
I don't see any mention of the fact that since it is not pressurised it can be certified longer.
That, my dear big-x, is the main reason it's still around flying.
Yes! I rarely see this acknowledged. Pressurizing/depressurizing once per flight induces eventually-fatal metal fatigue. Escaping this fate is the top single reason these old birds still fly.
Except that the Convair 580 is still flying and it’s pressurized. It’s only 5-10 years newer than the DC-3.
Bartonovich52 Yes the type is still flying but the first 580s were most likely put out of service a while ago
@@omepeet2006 And that it was produced until a few years before jet aircraft were built, early examples of which became obsolete or too costly to service
If it an't broken don't fix it! DC-3 tougher and harder than a coffin nail , a work horse without equal in aviation history and a tribute to the designers , we Applaud and Salute You !
Will always be my favorite airplane. What a beauty!
It's like questioning that why Hercules and chinooks are still flying when they're 40+ years old designs
If something is good,,, you don't get to change it,,,just make it better
The engine also had a lot to do with it. The Twin Wasp was used in many airframes during the war, and all those engines and spares became surplus when the jet age arrived and sent all fighters and bombers into obsolesence.
Not only the DC3 was cheap... the engine was cheap, spares plentiful, and mechanics with war experience were everywhere
1st plane ~ my first solo skydive. Later Flew right seat with Harry Clark in cargo run. Genavco hawaii 💜blue skies& cigars Harry
69 years old! Good god...
Stephen Santilli 😏
It is much older. The 1st ones flew in the 1930's
Nice
Nice
Niice!
There was a DC3 operated by Kelowna Flightcraft for Purolator which sat at the Nanaimo Airport and crashed on Mayne Island in January 1999
I was fortunate enough to have been able to take a PBA DC-3 flight from Barnstable County Airport In Hyannis MA to Logan Airport in Boston MA and return to Hyannis. It was the only time I was aboard a "tail-dragger", but I will always remember being aboard the DC-3.
I always wanted to go for a ride in DC 3 or a c-47. In 2018 I finally got to take a ride in a c-47. Even though it was a short ride it was a great experience!
The "It's brighter here" outro, definitely fits this video.
I’m just imagining a modern redesign of the plane with some smoother curves and a set of jet turbines. The original plane certainly has a lot going for it in terms of design. It might be one of those things that just needs an update every once in a while, like how modern biplanes are almost the same as the ones that still flew during WWII.
I remember pilots saying the problem with the DC3 was it just didn't want to land. It wanted to keep airborne.
Old man Douglas really knew how to build them.
It's not "rugged" or "extra durable" or "old school overengineered" It's because it was designed as a low performance aircraft, meant for flying at low altitude and no compression. So the wear and tear from operational stress was much less. This make these planes, not just the DC-3s, but virtually most propellor driven planes from that era, extra durable. This plane just happen to stand out because it was so common and successful commercially.
Actually it is rugged and plus it is old school rather you like it or not
Any video relating to the magnificent Dakotas that occasionally pop up on my iPad, I love the most. May these flying machines live for ever.
I was flying one of these back in 85 and the conutour valve in the hydraulic back flow reflux system stuck wide open! well I don't have to tell you we lost our flaps and we didn't make it over the mountain range in Bolivia. we came in super hard but I set it down in a long valley just before the mountain, no souls were lost,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Reply
My father's best friend Bob Mahr, flew the military version of the DC-3 in the Berlin Airlift after WW2.
I believe as a pilot when you run through the checklist of everything you want in a plane, the DC3 is on the list for just about everything. It may not be #1, but there is a high probability it is on the list in practically every catagory.
“Float equipped.” ;)
I do believe it’s the largest plane ever to be put on floats.
you forgot one big thing- many modern pilots are afraid to fly/land tail-draggers
I have my own dream with this plane
To some day get enough money to turn it into a flying motorhome
Basically I’d buy one take out the seats if it has them
Put in some creature comforts like a stove bed tv etc
Then I’d find a remote airfield that nobody knows about fly to it and camp out in the airplane as if it was a Winnebago
Admit it that would be so much cooler than a Lear Jet
Actually the C47s went back to their original purpose as an airliner and cargo plane
A plane that was designed to work with short takeoff and landing.
The reason they are still working, often in fairly average conditions as well.
I read an article some time back that called the DC-3 'over-engineered' (hah) & said there was an occasion when one flew
with one DC3 wing & one DC2 wing (several feet difference - wasn't supposed to work - but it did...)
PS mention = last one built in 1946 !!!
In China, yes it happened. Or I have seen the same fallacy on several sites!!
Years ago, I heard someone on a television show ask, "Is a truly excellent airframe ever really obsolete?" I thought it was a great question. I love this aircraft!
The DC-3 is like that veteran serviceman who changed his perspectives in order to work around retirement and the diminish the risk of uselessness old age brings about. You can still do what you love most but in a context that suits your age.
I remember seeing one of these landing on a frozen snow covered lake (Red Shirt Lake, Alaska) on skis. It was privately owned carrying supplies. Our ski group rented a public use cabin (4) and couldn't believe what we were seeing. I think it was called a C 3. These planes were still in commercial service in the Yukon at that time (1990s)
Hyannis...PBA..early 70's.....loved hearing the radials spool up upon take-off.....now...Long Gone!
It offloaded thousands of paratroopers, air-supplied half of Berlin after the war, took millions of people to remote destinations and casevac'ed thousands of wounded. All on a cost effective fairly low maintenance budget. So what if it is normal for it to lose a bit of oil on the tarmac? Love it! It will probably fly for 50 years more, after the EMP has destroyed all other high-tech superplanes.
In 958 I flew from Mobile to Atlanta on a DC3. I had the last seat on the plane. When the tail came up it felt like magic , what a ride...
I've always wanted to fly on a DC-3. I've always loved that plane.
Because their beautiful movements in the air. More graceful than it should be.
Short answer: Unlike the fighters, DC-3 has real purpose after the war and the way it was overbuilt made it economical to maintain and run.
The real reason they still exist is because so many of them were built for defence forces and after WWII ended governments sold them of very cheaply. In Australia a DC-3 or C-47 could be bought for 200 pounds (about $5,818.50) in today's money with full tanks of fuel. The best that can be said of these aircraft today is that they are very cheap to buy but very expensive to fly.
I saw one of them at Nashville airport a couple days ago it was amazing to see it in person in actual service
Boeing should make a modernized version: option for piston or turboprop, modern avionics that can be swapped out for older ones if you're into that sort of thing...
Douglas knew how to make em
good old DC-3 it's still flying here in the Philippines delivering fish cargo. still a reliable rugged ass plane after experiencing 40 birds strikes in 3 years
Final aircraft shown was a dc2, I love the nose landing lights.
Good catch.
My dad served in WWII and hated this plane! He didn’t like how small everything was .
Imagine taking a photo of a parked DC-3 with a 777 taking off in the background omg that would be beautiful
Even better, a DC-3 taking off with a grounded 737-Max in the background.
Probably a Gooney taking off in front of a scrapped 777.
And currently most 737s!
Long after the last 737 and 777 and 787s are retired...the DC-3 will still be plugging along.
The crazy thing is that theyre still legal to use for commercial purposes despite being so old. Really well built
as long as you've got the money to keep a current yellow-tag on the thing
Simple, they got it right the first time.
Fun fact: Ex-USAF DC-3s bought by Finnair in the late forties had their rudimentary autopilots removed because the airline thought that protracted use of autopilot will deteriorate the pilots' skill to fly manually over time.
The last two Finnair crashes with fatalities (1961 and 1963) were both DC-3 and both were pilot errors, nothing wrong with the plane. Well the second one had a faulty altimeter, but not by much.
In the post war world around 90% of all air traffic was flown by DC-3s. No commercial aircraft has ever been as widespread. Not even the 737
I flew in one in 1981 while in the SADF , it was poetry in motion.
*Such an iconic Aircraft.*
From yakota air force base to Kadina air force base.i had the privilege to fly on a c 47 when I was a Marine. Very cool ha
I LOVE DC 3 ,IF I WIN A LOTTO I WILL BUY ONE AND THX 4 POSTING !
In my 20's I had the privilege of skydiving from one of the most well-known jumpships in the world. The legendary "Mister Douglas" N129H. No finer jump aircraft has ever flown!
My all time air favorites, uh1 & dc3.
I kinda want one now, I love the sound of the engines starting up
If it is not broke , DON'T FIX IT !!
@@stephenkrawiec1741 No , just an old tool maker with a good eye and mind.
Way back when I first moved to South Florida I was awakened early one morning to a horrific sound of ground shaking rumbling . Ran outside to see what it was . To my shock it was three planes flying wingtip to wingtip barely above treetop level . Thought we were under attack . That war had broken out . Soon afterward a relative informed me those were DC-3's used by the county spraying for mosquito control .
That's amazing, I had no idea they still were so common.
A very very reliable and handsome airplane!
the fact that it's still flying is nothing compared to people are still complimenting it.
Also, it's a fantastic LOOKING aircraft. Amazing there are still some flying today.I wish they had specified how much $$ "next to nothing" actually meant.Good video!
I helped my aircraft mechanic uncle change an alternator back in the late 1970’s on a DC3.
Do the machinery and blue prints still exist for possible replica production? Don’t know if it’s economically justified over a restoration project…
If I had the money this is the plane I would buy. It's heavy enough to be safe in the air and its got to be one of the most reliable planes ever built.
DC-3 must continue for all time to come. Cheers!
Iconic. A lasting thing of beauty.
what a job to be captain on this airplane! ( or even co-pilot ) simple yet fully chalenging I could fully use everything we are taught in aviation wow taking it from Newfoundland to Greenland at 9000 feet... with a mix of cargo and passengers on a semi vfr kind of day working for Greenway Airline is this what flying is all about? The ideal flying 'dream'
My opinion the finest aircraft ever built
When you build an aircraft (without the use of CAD or computers of any kind) that is perfect for its intended purpose it is no surprise it is still flying.
The older airplanes in the Dc family were very reliable, the newer ones, like Dc 10, not so much, but still a lot, the fact that they got it to mach 1 once without it crashing (the Dc 10) is astounding!
The last aircraft pictured was a DC-2, not a DC-3................
The DC-3 is so old it has a machine spirit and was blessed by the emperor of man
it these aircraft donated to philippines we can refurbish all of that and use as a reconisance aircraft and all around aircraft
The DC 3 was built in a time when aircraft were built to last, apparently they are very popular in the countries like Africa and Australia for their ability to land on rough grass or concrete runways where people rely on them out in the wilderness,
Will soon have the privilege to fly one. Looking forward to it.
I flew some of the last DC-3's (C-47's) in the American Air Force inventory....Vietnam (1972). We left those C-47's with the South Vietnamese when US forces withdrew. The ONLY problem with the C-47, that spelled its end in the USAF inventory, was the cost and time consuming work required for the maintenance of those engines. Other than that it was a GREAT plane to fly and certainly proved its worth in that war.
Correction: you left them with the Vietnamese, not the South Vietnamese, because the North took over as soon as the US withdrew.