Here's a nice article about the DC-3 (AKA C-47), IMHO the single finest aircraft design of all time.

The plane was designed in the 1930's, and hundreds of them are still flying. Not just flying, they're working. These are not museum pieces; they are out there delivering passengers and cargo.

When I lived in Boston, PBA (a small regional airline) owned a DC-3 and flew it between Boston and Provincetown. I regret I never tried to fly in it.

But I have flown in a DC-3, the one-and-only time I tried skydiving, about 1977. It was at an airfield about 40 miles west of here, and when the time came I sat in the open door (with my static line connected) and then pushed out and turned into the prop blast. That plane belonged to the skydiving company and it was empty inside. All the furnishings had been removed. (It didn't have windows either, so it's possible it was a C-47 rather than a DC-3.)

(In case you're wondering, I hurt myself landing. About a month later when my leg had healed, I went out and tried it again, but when the time came I couldn't force myself to do it. So I knew it wasn't for me, and I never tried it again. However, I'm glad I did do it once.)

The DC-3 was, and is, an amazing aircraft. I'm hard pressed to think of any other aircraft going back that far which is still in use as a working plane, except maybe the Catalina.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Weird World at 04:46 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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