The DC-3 Genesis of The Legend

"We

made the DC-3 without a computer to test it. There was plenty of data from the DC-1 and DC-2 to formulate the design. Often we got down on the floor and worked things out ourselves. There was personal ingenuity, and application, and we made things happen overnight." Ivar Shogran ; Chief Power Plant Engineer "; Douglas Aircraft Company

DC-3

Cyrus Rowlett Smith, President of American Airlines and William Littlewood, American Airlines. Vice president of engineering, had both flown in the DC-2 and did not like some of its performance characteristics, although it was a marked improvement over the Boeing 247. It had the highest rated engines in use at the time, but they felt it lacked power. It carried 14 passengers, two more than the DC-1. Moreover, it could not make New York to Chicago, non-stop, although it was faster than any other airliner on that route. They also had reports that, at times, it was difficult to land, with heavy aileron and rudder control. Additional reports of directional instability, propeller, and fin icing problems and yawing excessively in turbulence also concerned them...

Soon after C. R. Smith read the report he telephoned Donald Douglas with a proposal. Smith had decided what kind of airplane American needed. He was looking for a larger and more comfortable airplane than his Condors or Fords, and better than the Boeing 247. He also wanted something bigger than the DC-2. Smith wanted to give his customers safe, comfortable, and reliable transportation, and his Curtiss Condor "Sleepers" and Ford Tri-Motors simply did not measure up to these standards. The airplane Smith was looking for had been described in Raymond's report... Copyright Henry M. Holden

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At first, Douglas did not react strongly or positively to Smith's proposal. He was reluctant to take on a new design and the associated headaches. The DC-2 was in full production with 102 machines already manufactured, and another 90 orders on the assembly line.2 A new model would mean new tooling and starting over another gamble.

Smith spent over $300 on a two-hour long distance call before he finally convinced Douglas to modify a DC-2 to American's sleeper requirements. Some have said if Smith had not persisted and made an offer, Douglas would never have built the DC-3. Douglas nevertheless was skeptical. Night flying was about as popular as the plague, and he wondered about Smith's business sense. Where would Smith get the millions of dollars needed to finance this venture and who would want to sleep in an airplane? After all, the Fords were noisy and the Condors were cramped... After there was general agreement among the airlines on the potential, a detailed evaluation process began. The airline's total needs, from the number of aircraft, to passenger accommodations, facility requirements, and total economic impact was part of the evaluation. The Great Depression had created hard times for many of America's industries and the government had formed the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to loan money to the private

sector. Cyrus Smith took advantage of this agency and obtained a loan to fund the development of the new design. On July 8, 1935, Smith sent a telegram to Douglas ordering ten transports costing $795,000. The actual specifications for Smith's proposed airplane arrived at Douglas Aircraft on November 14, 1935 (long after construction had begun). Before the first flight of the DC-3, American doubled their initial order to include eight DSTs and 12 DC-3s. By the time the actual contract was signed on April 8, 1936, American Airlines and Donald Douglas both had a heavy financial commitment.3 In today's business environment the contract always precedes work, but in 1935, American Airlines had such faith in Douglas' dependability and integrity that the order came first and the contract after delivery.Copyright Henry M. Holden

DC-3 DC-3 ON PAPER The plan called for using the DC-2 design as a starting point. Widening. and rounding the fuselage would allow enough space for the berths, and increasing the power would help lift the larger plane. Littlewood had discussed the design with engineers at Curtis -Wright, and they told him they could modify the 855 hp engines on the DC-2 to deliver ..." THE FIRST FLIGHT December 17, 1935, was a sunny but cool afternoon in Santa Monica, California. The DST sat at the edge of the runway for about five minutes, its engines running at full throttle. Then it began to move, slowly at first but within 1,000 feet it lifted off, effortlessly. The lives of millions of people throughout the world were about to change. The cockpit instrument panel was a far cry from the Ford Tri-Motor. In the original DST panel shown here there were 115 flight, navigation electrical and radio control instruments. This cockpit has an almost antiseptic look about it. Photograph courtesy McDonnell Douglas. In contrast to maiden flights of today's aircraft, covered extensively by the media, this flight, like the maiden flight of the DC-1 went unnoticed by the Press. But the event on a runway in Santa Monica, California, would be one of the |most significant events of the twentieth century. The DST remained airborne from 3:00 p.m. ..."" AMERICAN AIRLINES It is fitting that as the co-creator of the DC-3 that American Airlines also be the airline that used the most machines over the years. They used 114 DC-3s/DSTs and it all started with the

acceptance of the first DST on April 29, 1936..."

DC-3

DC-3 SELLS ITSELF

The DC-3 overwhelmed the industry. It was the first plane that could fly from New York to Chicago non-stop. It made the trip in three hours fifty-five minutes westbound, and returned in ..."

TRANS WORLD AIRLINES

TWA was the third airline to put the new DST in service. They accepted the first eight in April, 1937. On June 1, 1937, they put their "Super Sky liner Sleeper" DSTs outfitted with eight berths up front and nine divan chairs in the rear, in service between New York and Los Angeles. TWA called this flight the "Sun Racer," although it never quite won the race. It chased the sun across the country, leaving New York at 8:30 a.m., and arriving in Los Angeles at 11:30 p.m. the same day. The entire aviation industry praised the DC-3...

DC-3 EVOLUTION
In the evolution of the Douglas Commercial transports, the DST occupied only a slightly better position than the DC-1. Like the DC-1, progress quickly replaced its younger sister, the DST. Contrary to popular belief, the DC-3 day plane seating of 21 was not an accident. An engineer noticed that removing the berths made room for a third row of seats, two on one side of the aisle, and ..." Copyright Henry M. Holden

C-47

ECONOMY AND SAFETY

The accident rate in the early days of the DC-3 was comparatively low. As the DC-3 became more universal, the number of fatal accidents even decreased. In 1936 for example, domestic airlines flew 63,000,000 miles, and had eight fatal accidents; in 1941 there were only four fatal accidents for 133,000,000 miles flown...

DC-3 IN FOREIGN MANUFACTURE

To relieve the pressure on the factory, Douglas sold the licenses to manufacture the DC-3 to three countries; Holland, Japan, and Russia. A royalty paid to Douglas for each aircraft manufactured was part of the license agreement. Tony Fokker never manufactured any DC-3s for Holland, but he distributed 63 before the war in Europe ended his operation. Fokker died of pneumonia complicated by meningitis a week before Germany invaded Holland.

RUSSIA
Russia built as many as 20,000 Li-2s. Russia has never paid Douglas a cent in license fees. The PS-84 used the 900 hp Shvetsov M-62 engine (developed from the licensed Wright SGR-1820F which powered the DC-2) and the engine configuration gave the nacelles a narrower chord. Even after they upgraded the engines to 1200 hp ASH-62, the nacelle shape remained close to the first models...

THE JAPANESE DC-3

When the DC-3 came along, the Japanese immediately recognized its potential, especially since they had such great success with the DC-2. Great Northern Airways and the Far East Fur Trading Company (another Japanese military front company) purchased at least 21 DC-3s from Douglas between 1937 and 1939. The first intended for KLM as PH-ARA, but canceled, arrived in Japan on December 6, 1937. These transports were operated by Dai Nippon Koku and impressed into Imperial service during the war. The surviving transports were scrapped at the end of the war. On February 24, 1938, a Japanese manufacturer, Mitsui (a subsidiary of Nakajima Hikoki), purchased the production rights and technical data to the DC-3 for $90,000. Unknown to the United States at the time, the sale was directed behind the scenes by the Imperial Japanese Navy (who was planning on using the type in the invasion of the East Indies). Copyright Henry M. Holden