I took a whack at some non-fiction but it feels really rough to me.
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Glinting like the star it would one day become the glittering aluminum bird effortlessly lifted into the cool and sunny sky. It was on December 17th, 1935 (the 32nd anniversary of the Wright Brothers flight at Kitty Hawk) that the DC-3 took to the sky for the first time. Few of the spectators gathered at the small airfield in Santa Monica, CA knew that they were watching the birth of legend, which continues to live in the skies even today.
The DC-3 was born out of necessity and crafted with innovation. Its origin can be traced to a phone call between Donald Douglas, president of Douglas Aircraft and Cyrus R. Smith, the president of American Airlines. In a call that lasted for 2 hours and that cost over $300 in long distance charges, Mr. Smith tried to convince Donald Douglas of the need to modify the DC-2.
American Airlines needed a bigger, faster and more comfortable plane to meet the needs of the rapidly evolving cross country air market. Little did Mr. Smith know just how much he would get for his $300 in long distance charges.
While the country was held firmly in the grips of the Great Depression and most companies struggled just to keep their doors open Douglas Aircraft, now known as McDonald-Douglas, began designing something completely new. Having no idea if the new plane would be purchased in any real quantity during these hard times the production tools for the fuselage was designed for the creation of twenty five aircraft. Before that equipment was taken out of service more than 300 aircraft would be produced. In the end it would take several factories to ultimately produce the more than 10,600 planes which would take to the skies.
During the DC-3’s march into aviation it would collect more nicknames (both affectionate and some not so kind) than characters in a gangster movie. These would include “Gooney Bird”, “Flying Vagabond”, “Dakota”, “Puff the Magic Dragon” and for a brief time “Biscuit Bomber”. This last came from the Battle of the Bulge in WWII when DC-3’s would drop over 5,000 cases of food to the troops.
With today’s modern airliners it is hard for us to fathom that a cross country flight in 1934 took 25 hours. During that time you would change airlines once and change planes twice.
There were also fifteen stops for fuel and passengers along the way. With a range of over 1000 miles and a maximum speed that was greater than 200 mph the new DC-3 would cut that time to 15 hours but this service came at a cost. A round trip ticket cost $279 (that is over $2000 after inflation).
Another innovation that the DC-3 brought to air travel in this country was the serving of hot meals while in flight. This idea did not originate with either Douglas or American Airlines but was borrowed from Lufthansa who had started serving warm meals in 1928. This was hugely popular with air travelers and they had their choice of three menus for breakfast and dinner. Some examples of meals were Chicken Kiev, Filet Mignon and Long Island Duckling, with the meal being served on real china and accompanied with actual silverware.
The innovations of the DC-3 would usher in a new age for civilian air travel in this country and lay the ground work for the modern airline industry. American, United and Continental Airlines were not the only ones to notice the DC-3 capabilities. The U.S. Military would also fall in love the DC-3 and before the end of World War II it would be viewed as the airborne equivalent to the jeep.
General Henry “Hap” Arnold, Chief of the Army Air Corp, would look to his long time friend Donald Douglas for help in finding a new long range, heavy transport for the Army Air Corp. The DC-3 looked to be that plane and before long the plans were on the boards for the C-47, the military version of the DC-3. Most of the DC-3’s that would be produced would be for the military, seeing action from the arctic to the equator. When the United States entered WWII a woefully unprepared Army Air Corp “drafted” a good number (almost 1/3 of the commercial fleet) of the civilian DC-3’s into service. These planes would become part of either Army Air Transport Command or the Naval Air Transport Service. The military DC’s would serve many roles during the war. Besides transporting men and materials between airfields they would also drop paratroopers or tow gliders into battles, such as the D-Day Landing at Normandy. In the Pacific Theater of the war they would form an air bridge between islands moving men and supplies as the Allied Forces island hopped their way to victory. During the fight for Guadalcanal, DC-3’s made air drops of supplies to the Marines fighting for Henderson Field. During these drops the planes had to fly over the enemy lines and though none were shot down, many suffered damage.
Another key role was there use as air ambulances, flying more than 750,000 wounded troops out of the field by war’s end. Their mercy flights were not limited to soldiers alone as they flew refugees out of harms way as well. One badly overloaded DC-3 flew 76 people out of war torn China. Besides the flight crew there 21 fully equipped soldiers, 15 women, 22 children, 15 men and Colonel Jimmy Doolittle returning from famous raid on Tokyo. The seats had been removed to allow for an extra 550 pounds of weight on the flight. This would not be the DC-3’s last involvement in war. The U.S. Military would use it heavily in both Korea and Vietnam. It would also be used by Air Forces around the world in smaller regional conflicts.
In both peacetime and war the DC-3 has proven itself time and again. Whether it was as the cutting edge technology for civilian flight or a military workhorse, a kind of flying jeep, it has performed beyond expectation and bested all rivals. The few hundred DC-3’s still flying are a visible and elegant reminder of how the past has shaped the present and the future.
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