A CELEBRATION OF THE DC3
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Characteristics
| ISBN-13 | 9781856482455 |
| ISBN-10 | 1856482456 |
| Book cover finish(es) | Hardcover ( rounded spine binding ) |
| Special Features | Dust jacket |
| Condition | Like NEW |
| Author(s) | Arthur Pearcy |
| Publisher | Airlife Publishing Ltd |
| Number of pages | 168 |
| Published date | 1985 |
| Language(s) | English |
| Size | 22.1 x 27.1 x 1.8 cm |
| Categorie(s) | • APPAREILS - CONSTRUCTEURS • AVIATION CIVILE • AVIATION MILITAIRE |
Description
An aircraft is a mechanical creation that is as a rule obsolescent. Most simply wear out and break down. The ubiquitous Douglas DC-3, however, has proved to be an exception to the rule. The ageing but apparently ageless DC-3 is still today, sixty-odd years after its creation, a consistent and reliable performer, and its durability and versatility keep it in demand.
The DC-3 was an outstanding advance in transport design. It brought the major airline companies of the day out of the perennial red ink to profit in 1936 and 1937.
During World War Two more than 10,000 DC-3s were manufactured by the Douglas Aircraft Company, and the aircraft was indispensable to the war effort. General Dwight D. Eisenhower listed four pieces of equipment as among the most vital to Allied success in Africa and Europe. These were the bulldozer, the jeep, the two-and-a-half-ton truck, and the Douglas C-47 transport (the military version of the DC-3). Curiously, none of these were designed for combat.
The DC-3 was still available for the Korean conflict, and it was the air war in Southeast Asia that gave the 'Gooney Bird' a new lease of life. The tactical requirements of the war in Vietnam spawned the AC-47. Many doubted the effectiveness of the ancient transport as an interdictor, but the C-47 was to prove most worthy of the new prefix in its designation.
The DC-3 carries on. Today it is being stretched, rebuilt, and fitted out with turboprops for a career in the transport world.
It has become involved in modern society in drug smuggling, gun running, oil pollution control, survey work, sky diving and once even a wedding ceremony took place aloft in a DC-3. In remote parts of the world it still performs the task it was designed for more than sixty years ago, that of carrying fare-paying passengers and freight.
There is no doubt that 'the only replacement for a DC-3 is another DC-3.'