Douglas DC-3
![](/web/20061029140040im_/http://www.aviation.technomuses.ca/images/collections/aircraft/dc3-1.gif)
![](/web/20061029140040im_/http://www.aviation.technomuses.ca/images/collections/aircraft/dc3-2.gif)
- Period: Interwar (1919-1938)
- Uses: Corporate
- First Flight: July 2, 1933
- Display Status: On the Museum Floor
The DC series of aircraft was developed in response to the challenge posed by the Boeing 247 and culminated in the magnificent DC-3, the most successful air transport of all time. The DC-3 met with immediate enthusiasm as the first airliner in the United States able to work at a profit without government subsidy. By 1939 the DC-3 accounted for 90% of world airline trade. Almost indestructible, large numbers of DC-3s continued to fly in the 1990s, carrying passengers and cargo.
The DC-3 came into being almost by default. Douglas built a larger version of the DC-2 to contain berths for night flights. The result, called the Douglas Sleeper Transport, had a longer, wider fuselage. The DST was a limited success, but when its big fuselage was filled with passenger seats instead of berths, the DC-3 was born. A combined total of about 3000 DC-3s were built under licence in Japan and Russia.
Even with a full crew and a few passengers the DC-3’s predecessor, the DC-2, came second to a racing airplane in the MacRobertson London-to-Melbourne (Australia) Air Race in October 1934.
Museum Example
- Registration #: C-FTDJ
- Manufacturer: Douglas Aircraft Company Inc., United States
- Manufacture Date: 1942
- Construction #: 6261
- Acquisition Date: 1983
- Provenance: Donation from Goodyear Corporation
The Museum specimen was on civil order as a DC-3 prior to the attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941, when it was impressed into the U.S. Army Air Forces as a C-49J-DO. It was sold to Trans-Canada Air Lines, its first DC-3 acquisition, in 1945. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company bought the aircraft in 1948 and flew it until 1983, when the company presented it to the Museum.
Specifications
- Wing Span:
- 29.1 m (95 ft 6 in)
- Length:
- 19.6 m (64 ft 5 in)
- Height:
- 5.2 m (16 ft 11 in)
- Weight, Empty:
- 8,300 kg (18,300 lb)
- Weight, Gross:
- 11,430 kg (25,200 lb)
- Cruising Speed:
- 274 km/h (170 mph)
- Max Speed:
- 381 km/h (237 mph)
- Rate of Climb:
- 335 m (1,100 ft) /min
- Service Ceiling:
- 7,010 m (23,000 ft)
- Range:
- 1,650 km (1,025 mi)
- Power Plant:
- two Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp, 1,200 hp, engines
Additional Photographs
The Canada Aviation Museum’s Image Bank contains additional photographs of this aircraft. Images are provided for non-commercial study or research purposes only and may not be reproduced or published without the prior consent of the Canada Aviation Museum.
Find out more about our Image bank here.