75 Years
of DC-3s in Flight

     
December 17, 2010, marks the 75th anniversary of the first flight of the
DC-3 series of air transports. It truly was the aircraft that created
practical commercial air transportation. The Ford Trimotor, the Boeing 247
and the DC-2 paved the way. However, the DC-3 series was the first to
provide commercial aviation with a financially viable aircraft on which to
build profitable operations in a broad spectrum of markets. And, it was
produced in greater numbers than any other aircraft used in commercial air
transportation. Other aircraft have eclipsed the DC-3 series in
performance, comfort and profitability. Yet, there are large numbers
operating regularly and profitably 75 years after the first flight.
     In this article we will examine how the Great
Depression, government policies, entrepreneurism and WWII came together to
bring air transportation to people in every part of the world. The focus
of this article is on the first designed, built and fl own in the DC-3
series, the Douglas Sleeper Transport, or DST. The first DST flew on
December 17, 1935, 32 years to the day after Orville and Wilbur Wright
accomplished the first powered, controlled flights. This DST was powered
by two Wright engines. The first flight of the Wright fl yer was a mere
nine feet longer than the wing span of the DST.
     The DST was a collaborative effort. As has often
been the case at Douglas Aircraft Company, a major product line was
created by a customer overcoming resistance from Douglas to pursue
development. In this case the customer was American Airlines and its
leader Cyrus R. Smith. American Airlines was a new organization that had
emerged as one of the winners in the Postmaster General Walter Folger
Brown meeting to divide airmail contracts among the four major airlines.
Smith and American had transcontinental passenger route aspirations. On
May 5, 1934, American began to operate services between Newark, N.J., and
Grand Central Terminal in Glendale, Calif., using Curtiss Condor sleeper
and DC-2 equipment. Grand Central Terminal was the major Los Angeles
commercial terminal in the late 1920s and the 1930s. American’s
Southerner Service operated the faster DC-2s on the daylight portion of
the route, from New York to Fort Worth. Passengers transferred at Fort
Worth to Curtiss Condor sleepers for the overnight flight to Grand Central
Terminal. Eastbound transcontinental flights operated with Curtiss Condor
sleepers from Grand Central to Fort Worth and DC-2s from Fort Worth to New
York. American’s transcontinental Route 1 covered 2,759 miles. Rival TWA
took delivery of its first DC-2 in May 1934. In August, TWA opened service
with their DC-2s between New York and the Grand Central Terminal following
a more direct northern route authorized in Brown’s airline
reorganization meeting. TWA’s transcontinental Route 19 covered 2,583
miles via Chicago and 2,555 miles via Columbus. TWA operated the faster
DC-2 . . .