The famous DC3 still flying 50 years later

Press, 18 December 1985, Page 24

The famous DC3 still flying 50 years later

NZPA-Reuter Los Angeles

It was bom in the midst of the Great Depression. Italy invaded Ethiopia the same year and the Nuremberg laws in Germany deprived Jews of citizen-

ship. World War II had still to come.

On December 17, 1935, the first DC3 aircraft, affectionately known as the Gooney Bird, lumbered almost unnoticed into the air from Santa Monica Airport in Los Angeles. Its maker, the Douglas Aircraft Company, expected the plane to last five years before being overtaken by newer models.

Today, 2000 DC3’s are still flying, workhorses of civil aviation and veterans of three wars, a McDonnell Douglas spokesman said.

They carry passengers and cargo, spray crops, douse forest fires and are a fav-' ourite of drug smugglers. The planes give customs officials headaches because of their ability to carry big cargoes of drugs long distances and set down on remote, rugged landing strips. The twin-engined propeller plane also loved by pilots who forgive its dawdling pace of 250km/h, has beaten the natural rules of aircraft longevity. The DC3 — the DC stands for Douglas Commercial — could originally carry 24 passengers, but an early version built for American Airlines had sleeper berths for 14 passengers and a honeymoon compartment.

The first DC3s were sold for $U5125,000 ($236,000)

each compared with the millions of dollars for modem jetliners. The DC3 superseded the 14-seat DC2 and, within five years, the two planes were carrying 90 per cent of all United States air traffic and were being flown by 30 foreign airlines. By the time the United States entered World War 11, Douglas had sold nearly 450 DC3s. Another 149 ordered by United States airlines were taken over by the military. When it stopped production of the plane in 1945, Douglas Aircraft had built 10,629 civil and military versions. Another 4000 DC3s were built under licence outside the United States.

The plane, under its military designation of C 47, became as familiar to servicemen as to villagers in remote Pacific Islands. It flew bombing and reconnaissance missions and evacuated wounded.

It was also the first plane to land at both the North and South Poles, said a spokesman for McDonnell Douglas, corporate successor of Douglas.

A parked Chinese DC3 lost a wing in a Japanese air attack in 1941. The only replacement part available was a DC2 wing 1.5 m shorter. The plane took off safely with the shorter wing and became known for ever as the only DC2%. A Japanese Zero fighter sheared off part of a C 47 tail before crashing into the Himalayan “Hump.” The C 47 flew safely back to base.

The plane took part in the Normandy invasion in 1944, the Berlin Airlift of 1948, and the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

In the Vietnam war, the plane was fitted with three rapid-firing guns, aimed to fire shells over a wide target area, and became known to United States troops as “Puff the Magic dragon,” after a popular song of the time. The plane has also been named Skytrain, Skytrooper, Dakota, Tabby, and Spooky. Pilots, who call the plane simply “the Three,” and other admirers of the aircraft collect DC3 badges and cloth patches, ties, and coffee rriugs.