Fifty Glorious Years

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{detailed description}Fifty Glorious Years: A Pictorial Tribute to the Douglas DC-3 1935-1985

An aircraft is a mechanical creation that is as a rule obsolescent. In most cases it simply wears out and breaks down. The ubiquitous Douglas DC-3, however, has proved to be an exception to this general rule. The ageing but apparently ageless DC-3 is today, 50 years on, still a consistent and reliable performer, and its durability and versatility keeps it in demand.
The DC-3 was an outstanding advance in transport design. It brought the major airlines of the day, both in the US and later in Europe, out of the perennial red to profit in 1936 and 1937.
During World War Two over 10,000 of the military version of the DC-3 were manufactured by the Douglas Aircraft Company, and the aircraft was absolutely indispensable to the Allied war effort. It was General Dwight D. Eisenhower who listed four pieces of equipment that most senior officers came to regard as amongst the most vital to success in Africa and Europe. These items being the bulldozer, the jeep, the 2-1/2 ton truck, and the Douglas C-47 transport. Curiously, none of these were designed for combat.
It was still available for the Korean conflict, and it was the controversial air war in Southeast Asia which gave the 'Gooney Bird' a new lease of life. The tactical requirements of the war in Vietnam spawned the AC-47. Many initially 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 apparent endlessness of the DC-3 carries on. Today she is being stretched, rebuilt and fitted out with turbo-props for a new lease of life in the transport world. Many World War Two models are still involved in hostilities and bush wars in odd corners of the globe, equipping many military air arms.
It has become involved in modern society in drug smuggling, gun running, oil pollution control, survey work, sky diving, and not too long ago a wedding ceremony took place aloft in a DC-3. In many remote parts of the world it is still carrying out the task it was designed for just 50 years ago, that of carrying fare-paying passengers and freight.
There is no doubt at all that 'the only replacement for a DC-3 is another DC-3'.

***signed and inscribed by the author***
{Author / Publisher / Date}by Arthur Pearcy
Published by Airlife 1985 1st edition. 168pp profusely illustrated in b&w and colour. 22x27
{condition}fine including d/j.
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