Not much brings me to tears.....this brought me to tears. Thanks soooo much for such a wonderful story, so beautifully told. You all restored a beautiful old bird, and in doing so, you restored my faith in humanity. True Story
I am in my 70s and the DC3 has always been my favourite aircraft. In 1958 I and my family flew to Malta, My father was to take up a new naval posting, and decided to take his family with him. We flew out by Eagle Airways and the flight took seven and a half hours with a fuel stop at Nice. Our flight took us though very bad weather until Nice and everyone on board was air sick, we did not fly over the Alps, we flew through them, then from Nice to Malta we had a wonderful flight, blue skies and sunshine. In the 1990s my new wife and I went back to Malta in an airbus, a 3 hour flight and while there we went to the malta air museum in the main hall was a DC3 being rebuilt, The wife and I were permitted to go inside and look around. she was not Eagle Airways, but she could have been, she was beautiful. Whe we left I was given a photo of the aircraft which is still on my shelf in the bedroom, when I look at it I am reminded of my first flying experience some 60 years ago, and today with all these modern aircraft in the air, I still feel that the DC3 is a safer aircraft than anything flying today. Mike Palmer.
Entering the United States Navy in May 1965, sent off to Air Traffic Control school learning all about airplanes and we learned anything Douglas was solid and with little or no failures. Flew a couple of times while stationed in Japan from Atsugi Naval Air Station where we had two DC-3s'and two DC-5. After two years in Japan, reassigned to Naval Air Station Key West where there were two C-47. The one constant for the ATC community was you knew it would leave and come back in one piece. A beautiful airplane and a superb video.
At the age of four in 1965 first flew DC3. Every trip till 1978 are etched in my memory. Enjoyment, I had in good old Dakotas have not been replaced any other aircraft.
The BEAUTY of the DC-3: It could land and takeoff from very short, unimproved airfields. In fact the rear tail wheel provided a rudder like effect that made takeoffs, from even grass fields...very controllable and very stable. THAT is probably the MAIN reason DC-3's have lasted so long in service. There are very few aircraft, with the cargo carrying capacity of the DC-3, that can do that!
The first time I ever flew in an airplane, when I was 7 years old in 1952 and that airplane was a DC-3 , it sure was an experience that to this day have not forgotten.
the DC 3 will go in history as the only plane that will still flying along jet liners of the future 100 years after getting design and build,so far got the world record for flying hours around the world and by continuing flying in more than 14 countries
In addition to the DC-3 being one of the most influential and versatile airplanes in history, in my opinion, it is also an absolutely beautiful aircraft.
I flew on a DC-3 in June 1962 from Dallas, Texas to Fort Leonard Wood, MO when I entered the US Army. The Army had a contract with the operators of the DC-3 to take new recruits to various training installations. We left Love Field in Dallas at about 8 PM with the plane about 3/4 full and landed in Fort Smith, AR where we picked up other recruits before flying and landing at the Air Field at Ft Leonard Wood about 3 AM in the morning. After landing we were picked up in an Army bus driven by a National Guardsman who drove around the post for a while before finally admitting that he did not know where the Reception Center was. He was there doing his two weeks of active duty, and had to stop and ask someone where it was. Once we got to the Reception Center, we completed the night by starting our processing in. Only sleep we got that night was while en route.
An epic example of airplane magic, the DC3 was exceptional in so many ways that it continues to help mankind. Amazing documentary film! Thank you Friðrik Friðriksson for sharing it! Cheers to those who love aerospace like I do. Science & Technology makes life way more interesting for more people more of the time. Now we need to make aircraft eco-friendly with lower emissions & full electrification. Renewable nuclear electric energy storage technology fusion + advanced fission & wind & solar & geothermal & new hydro & wave & more. We will forge a brighter future united as people!
fantastic, fantastic design, probably the best airplane ever built and flown..... the longest career which spans OVER 70 years and still going today. there are many types of older aircraft that continue to be rebuilt and flown but none in the numbers of the dc3 and still being flown for revenue today. what a great airplane, a legend really.
Absolutely--the DC-3 (almost all of those called DC-3s are actually C-47s) is not limited by airframe fatigue fatigue life as so many other aircraft are. It will live forever.
Catalina Flying just recently gave up their DC-3's. Someone was willing to invest several millions to refit and update them and the offer was just too good to resist. They are now delivering cargo in Africa. "So Long. So long, you ancient pelican." -The High and the Mighty (novel), a novel by Ernest K. Gann
The very first flight I ever took was on a Southern Airways DC-3. I fell in love with that plane and I still love it over five decades later! I no longer fly for any reason but I'll always have a warm spot in my heart for those old planes.
When I was 8 yrs old (in 1954) I flew in a DC-3 (Frontier Airlines) from Grand Junction, CO to Pueblo, CO and (believe it or not) the flight attendant (stewardess) took me into the cockpit to see the flightdeck and to meet the pilot and copilot . . ., Something that's unheard of today.
Yup. thats because it's made in America. It if were made in China, the plastic yolk would break off and the pilot would be holding it in his hand after one year.
@@SuperBaick I don't have to know a dam thing about aerospace engineering or engineering. I have no idea what you are talking about, nor do I have any interesting in what you are clicking and clacking about. We made superior products decades ago. My comment still stands. Chinese made ANYTHING is shit. We should have learned and frankly, We the People never learned from History. Period. End of story, and by the way? End of conversation.
Arthur Raymond had a BA in aeronautical engineering from Harvard and a masters from MIT. He came from a rich family yet started at Douglas as a metal fitter.
I flew in a DC-3 Boston to Provincetown (same as the airline's name) in about 1966. My grandmother took me to visit her sister and brother. We flew from Detroit to Boston on a DC-9, the pilot was a bit of a hot rodder, the G-forces upset my grandmother. But when we flew to Provincetown in the DC-3 we flew low altitude, and the old Douglas just kind of bounced along--- just like my grandmother's 1948 Plymouth. (So people younger than me, meaning just about everybody, I hope you appreciate that I'm using one experience you never had to explain another experience you never had. But try to experience some of these things if you can. It empowers your imagination. The southern California train museum in Perris, CA, has one or two big events every year. You can ride almost a hundred years of trolley cars in one day. It's like a time machine. They all ride differently. Go to a car show and ask for a ride in a 1940s car, 1930s, an old Model-T.
Fabulous program. My dad's oldest sister was an air hostess aboard an Australian DC2 Kyeema, which crashed into a mountain near Melbourne in1938. All were killed. It wasn't an aircraft fault but lack of navigational aids which caused the fatality. Only the wealthy could fly then and we lost politicians, CEO,s and the crew.
When I was a little girl. Midway Airport in Chicago IL. had an observation deck on top of the terminal. It stretched the whole length of the terminal. A plain would taxi up front and load passengers. As we watched a plane loaded and traveled North to the runway. It must have gotten instructions to go the the South end. It turned around a distance away. As it procceded pass us again. The brakes must have locked up. Directly in front of me. The DC3 went up on its nose. It stood there for a few seconds and dropped back onto its landing gear. A minute later the door opened. The stewardess calmly stepped out and helped all the passengers down the steps. Everyone acted like it was just and ordinary happening.
In 1957 I was flown in a DC3 from McCord AFB, Washington state, to Fairbanks, Alaska with my US Army duffle bag and a wonderment for the future. This was the beginning of an 18 month duty at Allan Army Airfield, Ft. Greely, Alaska. Interesting flight at night. No attendants, no food, no cocktails ... A Blanket. But I remember the trip.
The low, gutteral engine grumble is unmistakable! Love it! Occasionally I have seen and heard them flying over my home. The outline of the plane in the sky is readily recognizable, and it is cool that an 70 to 80 year old plane is still flying, serviceable and relevant in 2019!
Though Hitler caused chaos against America in WWII, only 3 yrs later, Americans help the Germans in Berlin. It really touched me where the lady said, "These planes came to feed us and to be good to us. We never forget what was done to us by the Americans. It was so beautiful and it's still is..."
@@BoopShooBee That's not entirely fair. The Berlin Airlift, the Marshall Plan, both remain firmly rooted in the collective memory of Germans of all ages to this day. I confess I was a bit surprised by this during my years of living there as history is not exactly our strong suit here in the U.S. Both Germany and France have altered their regard to our country as a reaction to our current leadership, not out of ingratitude regarding the past. And it would be difficult to even imagine current leadership responding to a crisis as we did in the '40s.
@@Raz82000 Your grateful? Then fly us in plane loads of 2nd rate skank (or better) for a year. The feminists have created the biggest pussy drought in history,.............we're starving and need relief
@@BlueBaron3339 - You are a piece of work and one stupid sh*t. Germany and France along with the rest of Europe are learning very, very quickly their countries will be one big socialist nightmare in 10, nay 5 years if they don't take President Trump's vision of nationalism and independent governing systems to hart. The 'nazi' fascist are going to win if the EU isn't smashed NOW. The fact the worlds Auto Makers can come to America and employ workers without UAW and its smothering costs proves President Trump is needed in the world. You sound like a migrated European. We have had enough of you clowns. The Party is Over, let the hangover begin. The BIG question is; Are you Christian or not?
Cargo door, beef up the floor for heavy loads,, AND redesign the landing gear for rough fields. The landing gear today is the easy way, the quick way to identify a DC-3 vs a C-47
I grew up with the sound of DC-3s droning slowly overhead, like tramp steamers. I really miss that daily soothing sound. The first runway overshot I ever saw was a Dak on its nose by the traffic lights on the wrong side of the airfield boundary main road, at Bovingdon, UK, in the fog c.1950.
I flew on one with the Captain's band coming back from a show, from Corpus Christi to Pensacola. We stuffed it with passengers and instruments. Took forever to go thru the checklist., three pages long. Phew, we made it
I flew in one of those with air Manitoba in 1982 or 1983 in Winnipeg a real beauty! Was flying back from Island Lake St teresa point I.r. Drove a 1981 Ford 1/2 ton on the winter road and flew back to Winnipeg.
Good History and Memories! I flew in WWII vintage Air Vietnam's DC-3 in the summer of 1958. We even buzzed the Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia at about 200 feet, Frog pilots who had flown in and out of Dien Bien Phu in Goonies previously. OOOOOOEEEE, they were a wild! ;-0
Bethany Bloomfield...I remember hearing it in the early 80's when I was a kid on a flight to Chicago on an MD-11...the whole back part of the plane was considered the "smoking section"...
I got out of college 1970 and took a Road Warrior job. which required a lot of Airline Travel. Back then, guys wore suits and ladies worn very nice silk dresses and heels. Seems the mid-80's it started to go tacky--guys in sweat suits and ladies in just about anything off the Clearance Rack at Macy's. By 2005 when I retired, I was pretty done with air travel. Now I drive almost everywhere.
“One day Donald Douglas went to a meeting and looked around the table and all of them were accountants and lawyers. There were no engineers, no scientists, no visionaries”
Excellent documentaire sur un avion d'exception. Il reste dans toutes les mémoires de ceux que l'histoire intéresse. Il a donné forme aux avions d'aujourd'hui. Il a contribué à sauver la mise d'une France vaincue et écrasée, même si les Français l'ont oublié. Mon plus beau souvenir : un vol commercial en DC 3 entre LIMA et CUZCO, entre les montagnes de la Cordillère. Vol paisible et sûr.
This was a really good documentary. No weird recreations, and the history of the plane is also the history of the people that flew and used the plane. The Berlin Airlift was probably that largest humanitarian operation ever mounted by the Allies, and it couldn't have been done without the C-47 and C-54. It is a great story, and the layout of the events in the life of the DC-3/C-47 was just the right mix between the war and subsequent events.
The DC3 is a prime example of the beauty of form following function. They are often still in service. They join the Model T, A, and VW Beetle etal in this trait.
Ten thousand years from now when an amnesiac society "invents" flight for "the first time", they will come up with something amazingly similar. Form follows function. It's a classic.
The DC-3 (C-47) may have played an even BIGGER role in the Vietnam War than it did during WWII and Korea. It was a multi-purpose aircraft that provided fire support...Electronic Warfare...and...Psychological warfare capabilities. It is said that 90% of the B-52 bombing mission were due to information provided by EC-47's. Also, NO ground bases were ever overrun by the enemy while an AC-47 gunship was supplying fire support over the base. The C-47 may just be the MOST important aircraft (other than the B-52) in pursuing that war.
@@soulsphere9242 True..there were many more C-47's involved in WWII than Vietnam. BUT...Those aircraft were used to haul cargo and people. And not to down play the importance of those functions in winning the war. But...I don't believe any of those aircraft fulfilled direct combat missions like the C-47 did in Vietnam...both the AC and EC versions. To that extent, the C-47's in Vietnam played an even bigger role in war by playing a bigger role in the fighting.
@@soulsphere9242 True...Logistics and supply is part of war....but in WWII... it was ONE "role". The C-47 in Vietnam had THAT "role"...But it also had an expanded role as a gunship, an electronic warfare aircraft...and (although I didn't mention it above) a Psyop aircraft. That's why I said it had a bigger role (actually multiple roles, plural) than the C-47 as used in WWII. And you're right that other aircraft could, and some did, the same functions in Vietnam. But we are talking about the C-47 and what it did in Vietnam in contrast to what it did in WWII.
I commanded a DC3 in the 1980's all over the caribbean that was in Lebanon in the 1950's, according to the airplane records..probable your fathers in that era. It was crashed by a rookie pilot in i think in around 2003.
We need to give the DC-2 a lot more credit I feel. It came before the DC-3 and the DC-3 just borrowed most of the stuff from it. Its not that we should not give the DC-3 credit, because it did all the things, but the DC-2 showed the way and its really sad that its not recognized for what it truly is.
DC history: (Yes this is his real name) Walter Buchterkirchen of San Marino CA was the parts manager for Maddox Lincoln car dealership in Los Angeles. Walter's boss had him purchase some Ford Tri-Motors. (I think Walter told me 3 Tri-Motors) Mr. Maddox called this fledgling company Trans World Airlines. Later Walter Buchterkirchen was the first purchasing agent for the Douglas DC aircraft. (I think he told me 33 DC's) for TWA. Later Walter was based in TWA's New York office. Occupying the office next to him was Charles Lindbergh. For years TWA advertised on their planes: "The Lindbergh Line." In his nineties, Walter would always wear fine suits and the best silk ties. Casual dress for him was unthinkable. This was my ex-father in laws dad. Both are gone now.
Our World owes Douglas so much and it's a crime that his input is known by so few. He did more than the allies did combined and this has shone a new light and many new angles that it cannot be expressed as it does it no justice. All the great speeches and of all the sacrifices Douglas allowed the World to live on the alter of freedom.
My father was the first flight instructor for Ethiopian Airlines - 1957. At that time they had 2 Convair 240s, about a dozen DC-3s/C-47s and all but two of their pilots were Americans. Dad's job was to train Ethiopian nationals to take over. Weather, mountainous terrain and poor outlying field conditions were major challenges. Those DC's overcame it all and served until 1991.
I few in some of them in Brazil when I was 5 or 6 years old.... they were doing regional short trips to the south. I will never forget it... Now ther are 3 of them making pleasure flight in Europe, on in Finland... Is smells of leather inside...
I loved the comment about Douglas' meeting with the airlines that had bean counters and lawyers instead of engineers and dreamers. Get engineering based computer companies like DEC and HP have been totally ruined when the seizure of control by bean counters and lawyers happened. I admire Douglas for saying "basta". Even his own company was ruined by bean counters and lawyers. These people have no vision, no way forward and little development sense. High tech companies must always be looking at the next step and not just the bottom line if they are to succeed. We are losing that! A bean counter or lawyer should NEVER be allowed to head any tech company. They are lucky to be able to tie their shoes and they certainly can't determine the risks for the future. We did have some great visionary/engineers that founded our aerospace industry.
+Erich Stocker. Very well spoken. The bean counters are fleeting annoyances, but the visionaries will never be forgotten. Just a comment from one seriously hardcore aviation buff to another.
You sound like a very professional person and I think you are absolutely right about lawyers and bean counters but they are very good at creating unemployment
wow, she was Purdue Airlines employee and that was only around for two years between 1969 and 1971....that airline handled Hugh Heffner's (Playboy Magazine) DC-3.
The DC-3 is such a gorgeous aircraft, I am not lucky not to fly with It. Ethiopian airlines have mounted one of its first DC-3 on the gate of its hub at Bole International Airport. Whenever I drive around that path I always feel a deep affection to that plane. I was also delighted to look at one of the Ethiopian airlines DC-3 flying across the roughed Ethiopian terrain at the 36:06 minute of this video. Thank you for bringing back memories.
I love the look of the DC-3's snout stuck up in air when they're on the ground, as if it's taking on the challenge of flight on with bravery & a little arrogance to boot.
It's interesting that the Wright Brothers created a wind tunnel to test their designs before their first flight and wind tunnel tests conducted in 1918 demonstrated control problems aircraft would encounter as airflow approached the speed of sound. But the book I have that contained these studies was last checked out of the Fairchild Aviation library in 1930. Although it's difficult to imagine with our information technology today, important knowledge was acquired and lost several times in several fields over the years.
Another AMAZING thing about the DC-3, if the aircraft had to be ditched...it would FLOAT. There was at least one instance, I believe off the coast of California, where a ditched DC-3 was TOWED back to port!
And if landed gear up, due hydraulic gear lines hit by bullets, for example, the brakes still work. And props, if put the right way by pilot, wont be hit. Funny...
That's awesome indeed. I'd like to see some old silent archival WWII footage of a DC-3 ditching in the Pacific, from the point of view of a navy ship and someone with a movie camera. The plane ditches, and it just sits there on the water. The men on the naval ship run down and get into smaller rescue boats and get ready to rescue the crew! Then the door opens on the DC-3, someone comes out with an outboard engine, and hooks it to the tail of the plane, and they drive off.. in the water..
in the1970s. north central airlines still flew a milk route, pond jumping route from omaha to sioux city to yankton to sioux falls to watertown to aberdeen to jamestown, grand forks and bismarck. it may have stopped in lake wobegon as well.
Strangest story of a DC-3 to me is the death of Ricky Nelson in 1985 crash of his personal DC-3. The first finding of the FAA was pilot error. Then that was changed to a problem with the DC-3. Eventually using eyewitness accounts of people who the plane actually flew over in east Dallas, the findings were changed to none to do with the airplane. Turned out that Nelsons DC-3 had a modification of the heating system. The heater for the cabin was located in the back. It caught fire and burned away all the control cables / equipment in the tail section. Tragic but nothing to do with the pilots flying or the construction of the DC-3. The mystery was solved because a farmer in east Dallas County which was on the flight path into Dallas, testified that he could see large fire and much smoke coming from the back of the airplane as it passed over him.
I think DC-3s greatest legacy is in technological innovation. They made pipe with wings with engines in them. That is the form every airplane has taken then. I also think Berlin Airlift is truly Finest Hour of air transport. They had carried bombs, but instead of death they were filled with hope.
My town houses the oldest DC-2 as a Uiver memorial. On 20 October 1934 the Uiver took off from England in the London to Melbourne air race 23 October the plane takes off from Queensland Australia 24 October the plane lands at Albury in the middle of the night, later in the day it took off for Melbourne. The Uiver received the handicapped award
My Dad loved flying the C47 in WW2, but he also flew the Lockheed Lodestar, which he said was also a great workhorse, and historians, he said, seem to have ignored that fact. Both were great workhorses over New Guinea, where he did many a load of biscuit bombing. It was just that the C47/DC3 was a lot stronger built plane that has kept it the longest serving.
Yes, in Nepal, this aircraft was known as Dakota and if there still are some old timers living today, they would recognize Dakota over DC-3 as its name. This craft may have served Nepal until 1972 at the public sector. Nepal army had some, where one crashed with paratroopers in Panchkhaal killing many. The year may have been 1972
My adopted father was head of the patent department of Douglas (later to become McDonnell Douglas). This latte rmerger had screwed him out of his pension from $2000 monthly to a mere $120! That was still worth more money than today (2019)!
Not much brings me to tears.....this brought me to tears. Thanks soooo much for such a wonderful story, so beautifully told. You all restored a beautiful old bird, and in doing so, you restored my faith in humanity. True Story
I am in my 70s and the DC3 has always been my favourite aircraft. In 1958 I and my family flew to Malta, My father was to take up a new naval posting, and decided to take his family with him. We flew out by Eagle Airways and the flight took seven and a half hours with a fuel stop at Nice. Our flight took us though very bad weather until Nice and everyone on board was air sick, we did not fly over the Alps, we flew through them, then from Nice to Malta we had a wonderful flight, blue skies and sunshine.
In the 1990s my new wife and I went back to Malta in an airbus, a 3 hour flight and while there we went to the malta air museum in the main hall was a DC3 being rebuilt, The wife and I were permitted to go inside and look around. she was not Eagle Airways, but she could have been, she was beautiful. Whe we left I was given a photo of the aircraft which is still on my shelf in the bedroom, when I look at it I am reminded of my first flying experience some 60 years ago, and today with all these modern aircraft in the air, I still feel that the DC3 is a safer aircraft than anything flying today. Mike Palmer.
Entering the United States Navy in May 1965, sent off to Air Traffic Control school learning all about airplanes and we learned anything Douglas was solid and with little or no failures. Flew a couple of times while stationed in Japan from Atsugi Naval Air Station where we had two DC-3s'and two DC-5. After two years in Japan, reassigned to Naval Air Station Key West where there were two C-47. The one constant for the ATC community was you knew it would leave and come back in one piece. A beautiful airplane and a superb video.
My first flight from Bombay to Mangalore was on DC3 in 1963. Unforgettable. Great people who designed it.
At the age of four in 1965 first flew DC3. Every trip till 1978 are etched in my memory. Enjoyment, I had in good old Dakotas have not been replaced any other aircraft.
The BEAUTY of the DC-3: It could land and takeoff from very short, unimproved airfields. In fact the rear tail wheel provided a rudder like effect that made takeoffs, from even grass fields...very controllable and very stable. THAT is probably the MAIN reason DC-3's have lasted so long in service. There are very few aircraft, with the cargo carrying capacity of the DC-3, that can do that!
The first time I ever flew in an airplane, when I was 7 years old in 1952 and that airplane was a DC-3 , it sure was an experience that to this day have not forgotten.
the DC 3 will go in history as the only plane that will still flying along jet liners of the future 100 years after getting design and build,so far got the world record for flying hours around the world and by continuing flying in more than 14 countries
In addition to the DC-3 being one of the most influential and versatile airplanes in history, in my opinion, it is also an absolutely beautiful aircraft.
Agreed -- beautiful curves.
Yep, next the the DC-10 and the L10-11
This plane has to be the best plane of all time. The legendary DC3 .
I flew on a DC-3 in June 1962 from Dallas, Texas to Fort Leonard Wood, MO when I entered the US Army. The Army had a contract with the operators of the DC-3 to take new recruits to various training installations. We left Love Field in Dallas at about 8 PM with the plane about 3/4 full and landed in Fort Smith, AR where we picked up other recruits before flying and landing at the Air Field at Ft Leonard Wood about 3 AM in the morning. After landing we were picked up in an Army bus driven by a National Guardsman who drove around the post for a while before finally admitting that he did not know where the Reception Center was. He was there doing his two weeks of active duty, and had to stop and ask someone where it was. Once we got to the Reception Center, we completed the night by starting our processing in. Only sleep we got that night was while en route.
DC 3 excellent performance perfect super amazing god bless you
An epic example of airplane magic, the DC3 was exceptional in so many ways that it continues to help mankind. Amazing documentary film! Thank you
Friðrik Friðriksson for sharing it! Cheers to those who love aerospace like I do. Science & Technology makes life way more interesting for more people more of the time. Now we need to make aircraft eco-friendly with lower emissions & full electrification. Renewable nuclear electric energy storage technology fusion + advanced fission & wind & solar & geothermal & new hydro & wave & more. We will forge a brighter future united as people!
68/69 spent a year in Pleiku on the gunship version of this old bird. Almost 1,000 hrs and she brought us home every night!
Fuck yeahh!!!
Airplanes come and airplanes go, but the DC-3 flies forever
fantastic, fantastic design, probably the best airplane ever built and flown..... the longest career which spans OVER 70 years and still going today. there are many types of older aircraft that continue to be rebuilt and flown but none in the numbers of the dc3 and still being flown for revenue today. what a great airplane, a legend really.
We have 2 flying in Brazil.TAM museum São PAulo, and VARIG MUseum Rio Grande do Sul. I fly one this in PROJETO JARI, DC-3 pp-cdt
Did one of those have green trim and the name "Rose" on the nose?
Connor McLernon one of those planes the come and ago was the md11
Absolutely--the DC-3 (almost all of those called DC-3s are actually C-47s) is not limited by airframe fatigue fatigue life as so many other aircraft are. It will live forever.
It flew nearly the distance to the Sun from earth just during the Berlin Airlift. That’s amazing!!!
Greta Whatshersernane would not be impressed.
Catalina Flying just recently gave up their DC-3's. Someone was willing to invest several millions to refit and update them and the offer was just too good to resist. They are now delivering cargo in Africa. "So Long. So long, you ancient pelican." -The High and the Mighty (novel), a novel by Ernest K. Gann
Sad to see them go, but glad they live on.
The very first flight I ever took was on a Southern Airways DC-3. I fell in love with that plane and I still love it over five decades later! I no longer fly for any reason but I'll always have a warm spot in my heart for those old planes.
Richard Cline ....no longer fly for any reason? Why's that? Flying is so fun and relaxing, especially on Bombardier Turbo-Prop aircraft...
When I was 8 yrs old (in 1954) I flew in a DC-3 (Frontier Airlines) from Grand Junction, CO to Pueblo, CO and (believe it or not) the flight attendant (stewardess) took me into the cockpit to see the flightdeck and to meet the pilot and copilot . . ., Something that's unheard of today.
Been there and done that as well in about 1960. Though the pilot was a family friend.
That shine on propeller,, looks like DC -3 smiling on modern airliners
It's beautiful plane to this day, and 73 years after WW2 some are still flying today. That's what you call good quality.
Yup. thats because it's made in America. It if were made in China, the plastic yolk would break off and the pilot would be holding it in his hand after one year.
@@styldsteel1 Your comment shows you know nothing about aerospace engineering, nor about engineering at all.
@@SuperBaick I don't have to know a dam thing about aerospace engineering or engineering. I have no idea what you are talking about, nor do I have any interesting in what you are clicking and clacking about. We made superior products decades ago. My comment still stands. Chinese made ANYTHING is shit. We should have learned and frankly, We the People never learned from History.
Period. End of story, and by the way? End of conversation.
@@styldsteel1 Same can be said about your trains! Built 100 years ago and still in use today while the Chinese are already using HSTs. LOL
Arthur Raymond had a BA in aeronautical engineering from Harvard and a masters from MIT. He came from a rich family yet started at Douglas as a metal fitter.
Lots of credit should go to Pratt and Whitney for making a great engine for the DC-3.
You need good pratrs to make whitney happy
best quote but i don't know who. "the best replacement for a dc-3 is another dc-3.
I flew in a DC-3 Boston to Provincetown (same as the airline's name) in about 1966. My grandmother took me to visit her sister and brother. We flew from Detroit to Boston on a DC-9, the pilot was a bit of a hot rodder, the G-forces upset my grandmother. But when we flew to Provincetown in the DC-3 we flew low altitude, and the old Douglas just kind of bounced along--- just like my grandmother's 1948 Plymouth. (So people younger than me, meaning just about everybody, I hope you appreciate that I'm using one experience you never had to explain another experience you never had. But try to experience some of these things if you can. It empowers your imagination. The southern California train museum in Perris, CA, has one or two big events every year. You can ride almost a hundred years of trolley cars in one day. It's like a time machine. They all ride differently. Go to a car show and ask for a ride in a 1940s car, 1930s, an old Model-T.
Fabulous program. My dad's oldest sister was an air hostess aboard an Australian DC2 Kyeema, which crashed into a mountain near Melbourne in1938. All were killed. It wasn't an aircraft fault but lack of navigational aids which caused the fatality. Only the wealthy could fly then and we lost politicians, CEO,s and the crew.
When I was a little girl. Midway Airport in Chicago IL. had an observation deck on top of the terminal. It stretched the whole length of the terminal. A plain would taxi up front and load passengers. As we watched a plane loaded and traveled North to the runway. It must have gotten instructions to go the the South end. It turned around a distance away. As it procceded pass us again. The brakes must have locked up. Directly in front of me. The DC3 went up on its nose. It stood there for a few seconds and dropped back onto its landing gear. A minute later the door opened. The stewardess calmly stepped out and helped all the passengers down the steps. Everyone acted like it was just and ordinary happening.
Wow thats some badass altitute towards a grave situation. Today everyone would be scared and sueing everyone. Greetings dear madam!
In 1957 I was flown in a DC3 from McCord AFB, Washington state, to Fairbanks, Alaska with my US Army duffle bag and a wonderment for the future. This was the beginning of an 18 month duty at Allan Army Airfield, Ft. Greely, Alaska. Interesting flight at night. No attendants, no food, no cocktails ... A Blanket. But I remember the trip.
The Marines are the same way! No cocktails on our flights...not even a humble can of Miller Lite
GREAT Must See Doc. on DC3 & C47...Who Knew how awesome they are ?
No other single aircraft....save the Wright flyer......has had such a massive impact in aviation history....still being written....D.D.
but but but what about Dumonts 14bis?! Sorry I couldn't help but mock the Brazilians.
Whenever I think of a plane, the image of a DC3 comes to mind.
The low, gutteral engine grumble is unmistakable! Love it! Occasionally I have seen and heard them flying over my home. The outline of the plane in the sky is readily recognizable, and it is cool that an 70 to 80 year old plane is still flying, serviceable and relevant in 2019!
Though Hitler caused chaos against America in WWII, only 3 yrs later, Americans help the Germans in Berlin. It really touched me where the lady said, "These planes came to feed us and to be good to us. We never forget what was done to us by the Americans. It was so beautiful and it's still is..."
We got DC-3 here in russia too. still flying. Im grateful for americans for helping us defeat the nazis.
Jerome ---- Merkel and Macron have forgotten and now want an EU army and look at the USA as an enemy.
@@BoopShooBee That's not entirely fair. The Berlin Airlift, the Marshall Plan, both remain firmly rooted in the collective memory of Germans of all ages to this day. I confess I was a bit surprised by this during my years of living there as history is not exactly our strong suit here in the U.S. Both Germany and France have altered their regard to our country as a reaction to our current leadership, not out of ingratitude regarding the past. And it would be difficult to even imagine current leadership responding to a crisis as we did in the '40s.
@@Raz82000 Your grateful? Then fly us in plane loads of 2nd rate skank (or better) for a year.
The feminists have created the biggest pussy drought in history,.............we're starving and need relief
@@BlueBaron3339 - You are a piece of work and one stupid sh*t. Germany and France along with the rest of Europe are learning very, very quickly their countries will be one big socialist nightmare in 10, nay 5 years if they don't take President Trump's vision of nationalism and independent governing systems to hart. The 'nazi' fascist are going to win if the EU isn't smashed NOW.
The fact the worlds Auto Makers can come to America and employ workers without UAW and its smothering costs proves President Trump is needed in the world. You sound like a migrated European. We have had enough of you clowns.
The Party is Over, let the hangover begin. The BIG question is; Are you Christian or not?
Cargo door, beef up the floor for heavy loads,, AND redesign the landing gear for rough fields. The landing gear today is the easy way, the quick way to identify a DC-3 vs a C-47
I grew up with the sound of DC-3s droning slowly overhead, like tramp steamers. I really miss that daily soothing sound. The first runway overshot I ever saw was a Dak on its nose by the traffic lights on the wrong side of the airfield boundary main road, at Bovingdon, UK, in the fog c.1950.
I flew on one with the Captain's band coming back from a show, from Corpus Christi to Pensacola. We stuffed it with passengers and instruments. Took forever to go thru the checklist., three pages long. Phew, we made it
I flew in one of those with air Manitoba in 1982 or 1983 in Winnipeg a real beauty! Was flying back from Island Lake St teresa point I.r. Drove a 1981 Ford 1/2 ton on the winter road and flew back to Winnipeg.
Gooneybird, the A 10 Warthog and the Whispering Death B 52. amazing.
There are so many great workhorses. DC3, DC9, F27, B747, Saab340
My first flight was aboard Douglas C-47 of Brazilian Air Force, in 1977. Unforgetable.
Good History and Memories! I flew in WWII vintage Air Vietnam's DC-3 in the summer of 1958. We even buzzed the Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia at about 200 feet, Frog pilots who had flown in and out of Dien Bien Phu in Goonies previously. OOOOOOEEEE, they were a wild! ;-0
23:49 "would you like a cigarette, sir?" LOL imagine hearing that on a plane today
Bethany Bloomfield...I remember hearing it in the early 80's when I was a kid on a flight to Chicago on an MD-11...the whole back part of the plane was considered the "smoking section"...
24:29 “Coffee, Tea, or Me...”.
I got out of college 1970 and took a Road Warrior job. which required a lot of Airline Travel. Back then, guys wore suits and ladies worn very nice silk dresses and heels. Seems the mid-80's it started to go tacky--guys in sweat suits and ladies in just about anything off the Clearance Rack at Macy's. By 2005 when I retired, I was pretty done with air travel. Now I drive almost everywhere.
Or a free beer and cigar, as on Mohawk Airlines' DC-3 , "Gaslight service", in 1962.
Naturally, the beer would be Utica Club.
Hats off to Donald Douglas and Arthur Raymond for bringing us such an endearing piece of aviation history.
Huge respect to these Visionary plane maker who fed ppl when they are in need of food
Great documentary about the world's greatest airplane.
I have about 9.5 hours logged as co-pilot in my USAF official DD form-whatever in the Goon. Hell of an airplane.
how many you up to now?????
It is Sir.
“One day Donald Douglas went to a meeting and looked around the table and all of them were accountants and lawyers. There were no engineers, no scientists, no visionaries”
He was attending a funeral
And now Boeing is just like that RIP
Excellent documentaire sur un avion d'exception. Il reste dans toutes les mémoires de ceux que l'histoire intéresse.
Il a donné forme aux avions d'aujourd'hui.
Il a contribué à sauver la mise d'une France vaincue et écrasée, même si les Français l'ont oublié.
Mon plus beau souvenir : un vol commercial en DC 3 entre LIMA et CUZCO, entre les montagnes de la Cordillère. Vol paisible et sûr.
This was a really good documentary. No weird recreations, and the history of the plane is also the history of the people that flew and used the plane. The Berlin Airlift was probably that largest humanitarian operation ever mounted by the Allies, and it couldn't have been done without the C-47 and C-54. It is a great story, and the layout of the events in the life of the DC-3/C-47 was just the right mix between the war and subsequent events.
Sar Jim agreed
There is a lot of DC-3 flying today with....Terbojet prop engines on them....Thanks very much...!
a true beauty of marvelous design.. i miss the sound of its radial engines. i really do.
There is another documentary of a company in the midwest that restores these, and they have replaced the Radial Engines with Turbo-Props now.
the “Super” DC-3s
That was an outstanding documentary
The DC3 is a prime example of the beauty of form following function. They are often still in service. They join the Model T, A, and VW Beetle etal in this trait.
Great emotion ! This movie is wonderfully documented and the comment tends to lead me where it belongs. THX to all.
Ten thousand years from now when an amnesiac society "invents" flight for "the first time", they will come up with something amazingly similar. Form follows function. It's a classic.
The DC-3 (C-47) may have played an even BIGGER role in the Vietnam War than it did during WWII and Korea. It was a multi-purpose aircraft that provided fire support...Electronic Warfare...and...Psychological warfare capabilities. It is said that 90% of the B-52 bombing mission were due to information provided by EC-47's. Also, NO ground bases were ever overrun by the enemy while an AC-47 gunship was supplying fire support over the base. The C-47 may just be the MOST important aircraft (other than the B-52) in pursuing that war.
@@soulsphere9242 True..there were many more C-47's involved in WWII than Vietnam. BUT...Those aircraft were used to haul cargo and people. And not to down play the importance of those functions in winning the war. But...I don't believe any of those aircraft fulfilled direct combat missions like the C-47 did in Vietnam...both the AC and EC versions. To that extent, the C-47's in Vietnam played an even bigger role in war by playing a bigger role in the fighting.
@@soulsphere9242 True...Logistics and supply is part of war....but in WWII... it was ONE "role". The C-47 in Vietnam had THAT "role"...But it also had an expanded role as a gunship, an electronic warfare aircraft...and (although I didn't mention it above) a Psyop aircraft. That's why I said it had a bigger role (actually multiple roles, plural) than the C-47 as used in WWII. And you're right that other aircraft could, and some did, the same functions in Vietnam. But we are talking about the C-47 and what it did in Vietnam in contrast to what it did in WWII.
Basler Bt 67(DC 3 w/PT6 engine) good for start up cargo feeder lines and cary 30 pax, more cheaper than EMB 120 . WoW
I like this video because my father was the first Lebanon's captain and he got his command on DC3 in 1952 alas he died this year in august 16
My condolences.
@@randykelso4079 thank you Randy it meant a lot to me
I commanded a DC3 in the 1980's all over the caribbean that was in Lebanon in the 1950's, according to the airplane records..probable your fathers in that era. It was crashed by a rookie pilot in i think in around 2003.
@@CFITOMAHAWK2 thank you very much for sharing this information probably my father flew the same aircraft
We need to give the DC-2 a lot more credit I feel. It came before the DC-3 and the DC-3 just borrowed most of the stuff from it. Its not that we should not give the DC-3 credit, because it did all the things, but the DC-2 showed the way and its really sad that its not recognized for what it truly is.
DC 3 outstanding performance perfect
DC history: (Yes this is his real name) Walter Buchterkirchen of San Marino CA was the parts manager for Maddox Lincoln car dealership in Los Angeles. Walter's boss had him purchase some Ford Tri-Motors. (I think Walter told me 3 Tri-Motors) Mr. Maddox called this fledgling company Trans World Airlines. Later Walter Buchterkirchen was the first purchasing agent for the Douglas DC aircraft. (I think he told me 33 DC's) for TWA. Later Walter was based in TWA's New York office. Occupying the office next to him was Charles Lindbergh. For years TWA advertised on their planes: "The Lindbergh Line." In his nineties, Walter would always wear fine suits and the best silk ties. Casual dress for him was unthinkable. This was my ex-father in laws dad. Both are gone now.
Whenever I hear the word "airplane", what comes to mind isn't the 777 or A380 or F-22.. It's the DC-3!
Wonderful plane, my elder sister flew in it. Saw them till I was about 10, and I'm now nearing sixty!
I was lucky enough to fly commercially in a DC3 and it was the best flight I ever had.
Really? In an unpressurized, loud, airplane, below 10,000 feet, at 180 mph? Apparenlty, it was a serenely calm weather day on your route.
Beautiful wingform , right up there with the skyhawk and spitfire .
In 2019 it still looks mavellous. Beautiful plane.
I flew on a Swissair DC-3 from BSL to ZHR back in the 60s. Noisy plane but a joy to fly.
81-85 flew 800hrs in the DC 3 with the IAF. 5 engine failures but all forgiving.
5 engine failures in 800 hrs. There's a reason that commercial aviation uses turbines for almost everything.......
my grand dad flew them and said they were the best aircraft ever. he had flown everything from jenny's to jets.
Our World owes Douglas so much and it's a crime that his input is known by so few. He did more than the allies did combined and this has shone a new light and many new angles that it cannot be expressed as it does it no justice. All the great speeches and of all the sacrifices Douglas allowed the World to live on the alter of freedom.
A brilliant documentary. Thanks for the video.
My father was the first flight instructor for Ethiopian Airlines - 1957. At that time they had 2 Convair 240s, about a dozen DC-3s/C-47s and all but two of their pilots were Americans. Dad's job was to train Ethiopian nationals to take over. Weather, mountainous terrain and poor outlying field conditions were major challenges. Those DC's overcame it all and served until 1991.
I few in some of them in Brazil when I was 5 or 6 years old.... they were doing regional short trips to the south. I will never forget it... Now ther are 3 of them making pleasure flight in Europe, on in Finland... Is smells of leather inside...
Fantastic video, thank you so much for posting!
I loved the comment about Douglas' meeting with the airlines that had bean counters and lawyers instead of engineers and dreamers. Get engineering based computer companies like DEC and HP have been totally ruined when the seizure of control by bean counters and lawyers happened. I admire Douglas for saying "basta". Even his own company was ruined by bean counters and lawyers. These people have no vision, no way forward and little development sense. High tech companies must always be looking at the next step and not just the bottom line if they are to succeed. We are losing that! A bean counter or lawyer should NEVER be allowed to head any tech company. They are lucky to be able to tie their shoes and they certainly can't determine the risks for the future. We did have some great visionary/engineers that founded our aerospace industry.
+Erich Stocker. Very well spoken. The bean counters are fleeting annoyances, but the visionaries will never be forgotten. Just a comment from one seriously hardcore aviation buff to another.
You sound like a very professional person and I think you are absolutely right about lawyers and bean counters but they are very good at creating unemployment
Agree with you, start by banning the word 'nerd'. Scientists and engineers are cool!
Lawyers should also be banned from entering politics. That used to be the law, but no more!
I agree. All MBAs should just be jailed. That's where a lot of them end up anyway.
17:42 - Triangle & three-leaf clover symbol: Cities Service Oil Co., predecessor of Citgo.
wow, she was Purdue Airlines employee and that was only around for two years between 1969 and 1971....that airline handled Hugh Heffner's (Playboy Magazine) DC-3.
The DC-3 is such a gorgeous aircraft, I am not lucky not to fly with It. Ethiopian airlines have mounted one of its first DC-3 on the gate of its hub at Bole International Airport. Whenever I drive around that path I always feel a deep affection to that plane. I was also delighted to look at one of the Ethiopian airlines DC-3 flying across the roughed Ethiopian terrain at the 36:06 minute of this video. Thank you for bringing back memories.
One of the best documentaries I have seen. I can't wait to do the flight on my flight sim. Thank you!! Definite a like!!!
She is a beauty.amazing great excellent wonderful.lovely
The most beautiful plane that ever flew
I love the look of the DC-3's snout stuck up in air when they're on the ground, as if it's taking on the challenge of flight on with bravery & a little arrogance to boot.
It's interesting that the Wright Brothers created a wind tunnel to test their designs before their first flight and wind tunnel tests conducted in 1918 demonstrated control problems aircraft would encounter as airflow approached the speed of sound. But the book I have that contained these studies was last checked out of the Fairchild Aviation library in 1930. Although it's difficult to imagine with our information technology today, important knowledge was acquired and lost several times in several fields over the years.
In '64, I loaded coffee onto Mohawk Airline DC3s
I've flown in "Flabob Express"! The airport she's taking iff from is Flabob Airport, in Roubidioux, CA. I used to hang out there on a regular basis.
Another AMAZING thing about the DC-3, if the aircraft had to be ditched...it would FLOAT. There was at least one instance, I believe off the coast of California, where a ditched DC-3 was TOWED back to port!
And if landed gear up, due hydraulic gear lines hit by bullets, for example, the brakes still work. And props, if put the right way by pilot, wont be hit. Funny...
That's awesome indeed. I'd like to see some old silent archival WWII footage of a DC-3 ditching in the Pacific, from the point of view of a navy ship and someone with a movie camera. The plane ditches, and it just sits there on the water. The men on the naval ship run down and get into smaller rescue boats and get ready to rescue the crew! Then the door opens on the DC-3, someone comes out with an outboard engine, and hooks it to the tail of the plane, and they drive off.. in the water..
I love this era in aerospace so much
in the1970s. north central airlines still flew a milk route, pond jumping route from omaha to sioux city to yankton to sioux falls to watertown to aberdeen to jamestown, grand forks and bismarck. it may have stopped in lake wobegon as well.
Strangest story of a DC-3 to me is the death of Ricky Nelson in 1985 crash of his personal DC-3. The first finding of the FAA was pilot error. Then that was changed to a problem with the DC-3. Eventually using eyewitness accounts of people who the plane actually flew over in east Dallas, the findings were changed to none to do with the airplane. Turned out that Nelsons DC-3 had a modification of the heating system. The heater for the cabin was located in the back. It caught fire and burned away all the control cables / equipment in the tail section. Tragic but nothing to do with the pilots flying or the construction of the DC-3. The mystery was solved because a farmer in east Dallas County which was on the flight path into Dallas, testified that he could see large fire and much smoke coming from the back of the airplane as it passed over him.
I think DC-3s greatest legacy is in technological innovation. They made pipe with wings with engines in them. That is the form every airplane has taken then. I also think Berlin Airlift is truly Finest Hour of air transport. They had carried bombs, but instead of death they were filled with hope.
I jumped out of one in Jun 94', it was a US Forest Svc plane at Ft Bragg, NC...good jump !
My town houses the oldest DC-2 as a Uiver memorial.
On 20 October 1934 the Uiver took off from England in the London to Melbourne air race
23 October the plane takes off from Queensland Australia
24 October the plane lands at Albury in the middle of the night, later in the day it took off for Melbourne.
The Uiver received the handicapped award
Excellent documentary!
My Dad loved flying the C47 in WW2, but he also flew the Lockheed Lodestar, which he said was also a great workhorse, and historians, he said, seem to have ignored that fact. Both were great workhorses over New Guinea, where he did many a load of biscuit bombing. It was just that the C47/DC3 was a lot stronger built plane that has kept it the longest serving.
My dad was a Load Master on C-47s during WW2 flying in the 9th Air Force out at England.
Yes, in Nepal, this aircraft was known as Dakota and if there still are some old timers living today, they would recognize Dakota over DC-3 as its name. This craft may have served Nepal until 1972 at the public sector. Nepal army had some, where one crashed with paratroopers in Panchkhaal killing many. The year may have been 1972
the British are the ones that called it the Dakota. in the US it was the C-47 sky train. (military versions)
The 1937
Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor way a modern looking 4 engine airliner that was ahead of it's time as well.
Long live the queen of the skies
The first Indonesian Airlines was using DC-3 Dakota in 1948 during Dutch military aggression.
My adopted father was head of the patent department of Douglas (later to become McDonnell Douglas). This latte rmerger had screwed him out of his pension from $2000 monthly to a mere $120! That was still worth more money than today (2019)!