Douglas DC-3 Queen of the Skies

Douglas DC-3: Queen of the Skies

J.M. Syken

Course Outline

In this course, we will examine in depth and detail the development of the DC-3 – one of the most successful commercial transport aircraft ever produced. Our review will include the evolution of the design of the DC-3 which includes its predecessors; the DC-1 and DC-2, and their direct influence on the design of the DC-3 in its initial configuration as the “Douglas Sleeper Transport” (DST) and reconfiguration as a 21-passenger commercial transport (DC-3). As well, we will discuss the evolution of the commercial airliner, starting in the immediate post-WWI years and its evolution, resulting in designs such as the Ford Trimotor and Boeing 247. We will also highlight the major advances in aviation science and technology; both in the interwar and post-WWII years (i.e. the development of wind tunnel test facilities), and government oversight of the fledgling commercial aviation industry.

Our review will also include the background of Donald Douglas as an aeronautical engineer and the history of the company he founded in 1921, the Douglas Aircraft Company. This will include a history of the many types of military aircraft the company produced for the U.S. Army and Navy in the 1920s and 1930s, leading up to WWII, and the company’s entry into the competitive commercial transport market in the early 1930s. The Douglas Aircraft Company’s significant contributions to the war effort, exemplified with the C-47 (a cargo version of the DC-3), which saw service in all theaters-of-operation during WWII, and supplementary service in Vietnam (as a gunship) will also be reviewed. The development of successor “Douglas Commercial” aircraft will also be discussed, in particular the DC-4, which introduced the “Four-Engined Era” to commercial aviation along with many other innovations. The on-going use of the DC-3 in its original and/or modified versions and its lasting legacy to commercial aviation will be of special interest.

This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of the course materials.

Learning Objective

At the conclusion of this course, the student will:

Understand/appreciate the grueling ordeal transcontinental air travel was prior to the introduction of the DC-3;
Understand/appreciate how the introduction of the DC-3 in 1935 represented a “Quantum Leap” forward for commercial air travel;
Understand/appreciate the comfort, safety and luxury the DC-3 introduced to commercial air travel;
Understand/appreciate how the DC-2 was forerunner of the DC-3, incorporating many of the same features as the DC-3;
Understand/appreciate the success of the KLM DC-2 “Uiver” in the 1934 London-to-Melbourne MacRobertson Air Race;
Understand/appreciate the evolution of Air Traffic Control (ATC) and the protocols of taking-off and landing at commercial airports in the pre and post-WWII years;
Understand/appreciate how WWI “Aces of Aces”- Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker, was a major proponent and progenitor of commercial air travel;
Understand/appreciate the growing problem of congestion at airports as air travel increased immediately before and after WWII;
Understand/appreciate the creation of federal agencies such as the “Bureau of Air Commerce” (BAC) to regulate the fledgling airline industry;
Understand/appreciate the evolution of airports in the continental U.S.;
Understand/appreciate the creation of Air Routes for commercial aircraft;
Understand/appreciate how/why the DC-3 was widely considered to be the first airliner capable of making money just by carrying passengers;
Understand/appreciate how the DC-3 captured America’s imagination and made flying an adventure;
Understand/appreciate how the DC-3 combined reliability, performance and safety as no commercial transport plane before it;
Understand/appreciate that, because its cabin was unpressurized, the DC-3 never suffered from the kind of metal fatigue caused by “pressurization” whereby fuselages are forced to expand and contract with every take-off/landing cycle;
Understand/appreciate that the DC-3 was designed and built by a Douglas Aircraft Company team led by Arthur E. Raymond, Douglas’ Chief Engineer;
Understand/appreciate why, with the DC-3, the journey became the destination;
Understand/appreciate how the Douglas Sleeper Transport (DST) – the first version of what would become the DC-3 built for American Airlines, offered transcontinental sleeper flights with curtained berths;
Understand/appreciate how Douglas DST transcontinental flights from Los Angeles to New York could be made in about 15 hours (17 hours from NY to LA);
Understand/appreciate that, in 1940, more than two million Americans made trips by air;
Understand/appreciate that cost-per-mile for the air traveler had decreased from 5.7 cents in 1935 to .05 cents by 1940;
Understand/appreciate why, though expensive, business travelers were the main customers for coast-to-coast flights given the savings in time over road/rail travel;
Understand/appreciate how aviation pioneer Orville Wright thoroughly approved of the DC-3;
Understand/appreciate how, with the onset of WWII, the last civilian DC-3s built in early 1943 and most civilian DC-3s were pressed into military service;
Understand/appreciate how the USAAF C-47 (USN R4D) cargo/troop transport rolled-off Douglas’ Long Beach, Calif., assembly line in vast numbers;
Understand/appreciate how the C-47; easy-to-fly, simple to maintain and able to take-off and/or land in short distances from dirt strips and/or grass runways, made for a versatile military transport, serving in every theater-of-operations;
Understand/appreciate how the C-47 was used to ferry paratroopers and to pull gliders during WWII;
Understand/appreciate how, during the Vietnam war, C-47s were adapted for use as very effective gunships (a/k/a AC-47);
Understand/appreciate how the AC-130 Spectre replaced the AC-47 in the later stages of the Vietnam war;
Understand/appreciate the development of airports in the 1920s and ‘30s;
Understand/appreciate how air travel was reducing the size of the continental U.S. by reducing travel time between destinations;
Understand/appreciate why Ford’s Dearborn Airport was considered to be a “Model Airport”;
Understand/appreciate the facilities at the Ford Dearborn Airport for engineering research and production of Ford Trimotor aircraft;
Understand/appreciate how/why the development of aviation in the early 20th century was akin to the development of railroads in the 19th century;
Understand/appreciate the development of “Air-Rail” services in the late 1920s for transcontinental travel;
Understand/appreciate that, in July 1929, Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT) launched the first coast-to-coast commercial passenger flights in the U.S.;
Understand/appreciate aviator Charles Lindbergh’s service as Chairman of the TAT Technical Committee, which designed the coast-to-coast air route;
Understand/appreciate Lindbergh’s selection of the Ford Trimotor for TAT;
Understand/appreciate the evolution of the development of the Ford Trimotor (a/k/a Model 4-AT);
Understand/appreciate the evolution of the dirigible airship as a viable means of air travel;
Understand/appreciate how the “Idea of Flying” was gaining traction by the late 1920s;
Understand/appreciate how airplanes were extending the “Social Radii,” as did the car and truck before;
Understand/appreciate how Charles Lindbergh’s 1927 transatlantic flight triggered the “Lindbergh Effect” in the public imagination whereby air travel was seen as a viable means of travel more and more;
Understand/appreciate the use of steam as a power source for aviation engines;
Understand/appreciate Henry Ford’s belief that the diesel engine held much promise for aviation engines;
Understand/appreciate the use of “Junkers Jumo” diesel engines in pre-WWII German land and sea-based aircraft;
Understand/appreciate the advantages and disadvantages of diesel aircraft engines;
Understand/appreciate the use of six tandem-mounted engines on the Dornier Do-X flying boat;
Understand/appreciate the opinions on the future prospects of aviation by aviation pioneer Major H.H. (“Hap”) Arnold of the U.S. Army Air Corps (USAAC) in the pre-WWII era;
Understand/appreciate how, Boeing Air Transport (BAT) was founded late in 1926 to bid for the Chicago-San Francisco section of the transcontinental mail route and, upon winning the contract, began service in July 1927 with new aircraft produced by its owners; the Boeing Airplane Company;
Understand/appreciate how/why United Aircraft and Transport Corporation (UATC) was created by Boeing as a holding company in February 1929;
Understand/appreciate that, among the UATC companies were Sikorsky Aviation Corpor-ation and Stearman Aircraft Company, as well as engine producer Pratt & Whitney;
Understand/appreciate how the “Boeing System” (as the operating airlines of UATC became known) were augmented with further acquisitions; Stout Air Lines, in June 1929; Varney Air Lines, in mid-1930 (flying mail between Seattle and Salt Lake City) and National Air Transport (NAT);
Understand/appreciate why, during the spring of 1931, the Boeing System became known as “United Air Lines” (from July 1931 onward, it was also the new name of the holding company);
Understand/appreciate that after the cancellation of the mail contracts in 1934, United Air Lines (UAL) was reorganized as an operating company, merging all the divisions;
Understand/appreciate why BAT was based at the Cheyenne Municipal Airport, which played a significant role in the early development of aviation in the U.S.;
Understand/appreciate non-realized schemes for towed glider aircraft;
Understand/appreciate the development of “All-Metal” aircraft, starting with the Ford Trimotor;
Understand/appreciate the development and use of “Duralumin” on lighter and heavier-than-air aircraft;
Understand/appreciate the aerodynamic inefficiencies of corrugated Duralumin as applied to the Ford Trimotor;
Understand/appreciate the role of William B. Stout in the development of the Ford Trimotor and other aircraft;
Understand/appreciate the impact of a Fokker transport winning the “Ford Air Reliability Tour” in late 1925;
Understand/appreciate how he deepening of the Great Depression by the early 1930s and the appearance of new and faster types of airplanes signaled the decline of the Ford Trimotor;
Understand/appreciate the influences of the U.S. Air Mail Service, established in 1918, on the evolution of aviation;
Understand/appreciate the exponential development of aviation in the period between 1920 and 1930;
Understand/appreciate schemes to use parachutes for both passengers and aircraft;
Understand/appreciate various safety devices introduced into aircraft design in the early 1930s;
Understand/appreciate the development of the autogiro in the 1930s;
Understand/appreciate the contributions of aviation pioneer Alfred W. Lawson; considered to be the “Father of the Airliner”;
Understand/appreciate the 1929 round-the-world flight of the Graf Zeppelin;
Understand/appreciate the various transport aircraft developed by Alfred W. Lawson;
Understand/appreciate the establishment of the “Lawson Air Line”;
Understand/appreciate the rise and fall of the Model T od airplanes - the “Ford Flivver”;
Understand/appreciate the various unrealized schemes to use “Seadromes” for transatlantic flights in the late 1920s/early 1930s;
Understand/appreciate the various unrealized designs for aircraft – both land and sea-based – during the interwar years for commercial transport aircraft;
Understand/appreciate successful flights of flying boats for transoceanic flights in the interwar years;
Understand/appreciate the advantages of lighter-than-air dirigible airships over heavier-than-air aircraft for transoceanic flights;
Understand/appreciate the use of dirigibles as “Mother Ships” for aircraft;
Understand/appreciate the development of “Flying Wing” aircraft;
Understand/appreciate the development of stainless steel and its applications for aircraft;
Understand/appreciate aviation pioneer Alan Lockheed’s mid-1930s proposal for stratospheric airliners;
Understand/appreciate the advantages and disadvantages of stratospheric flight;
Understand/appreciate problems encountered and needed to be overcome for successful stratospheric commercial airliner flights;
Understand/appreciate early schemes for in-flight refueling of transport aircraft;
Understand/appreciate the evolution of “Four-Engined” military and civilian transport aircraft;
Understand/appreciate the principle of “Wing Loading”;
Understand/appreciate how the increase in aviation engine horsepower led to a decrease in the number of engines needed for large aircraft;
Understand/appreciate the evolution of four-engine flying boats;
Understand/appreciate the development of the four-engine Boeing “Model 299” evolved into the B-17 “Flying Fortress” heavy bomber;
Understand/appreciate the development of the four-engine Boeing Model 307 “Stratoliner” commercial transport as tangential to the development of the B-17;
Understand/appreciate that the Boeing Model 307 was the first fully pressurized airliner to enter commercial airline service;
Understand/appreciate why only ten Stratoliners were ever built;
Understand/appreciate the history of the development of “Tricycle” landing gear;
Understand/appreciate the problem of “ground looping” associated with conventional (tailwheel) landing gear;
Understand/appreciate the first use of tricycle landing gear on a commercial transport (DC-4);
Understand/appreciate the use of tricycle landing gear on military aircraft before and during WWII;
Understand/appreciate the advantages of tricycle landing gear over tailwheels;
Understand/appreciate the history of the DC-5 (a/k/a “The Forgotten Douglas”);
Understand/appreciate the Boeing “Clipper” flying boats (a/k/a “Ocean Liners of the Sky”);
Understand/appreciate the development of “Sub-Stratosphere” flight/aircraft;
Understand/appreciate the development of four-engine long-range transports by Germany prior to WWII;
Understand/appreciate the development of the Douglas DC-1 - the first model of the famous DC (Douglas Commercial) commercial transport aircraft series;
Understand/appreciate the development of the Boeing 247 Transport;
Understand/appreciate the development of the Martin B-10 bomber;
Understand/appreciate the significant contributions to the advancement of aviation in the by the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA);
Understand/appreciate how NACA was the predecessor to NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration);
Understand/appreciate the limitations of flight testing to the science of flight;
Understand/appreciate the use of wind tunnels by NACA for aerodynamic testing of aircraft designs;
Understand/appreciate the various size and types of wind tunnels used by NACA at the Langley facility;
Understand/appreciate the use of model and full-scale wind tunnels;
Understand/appreciate the application of the results of wind tunnel testing to aircraft designs (i.e. engine cowlings, fillets, etc.):
Understand/appreciate how wind tunnel testing led to the efficient placing of engines on wings;
Understand/appreciate why decreasing drag meant increased speed of aircraft;
Understand/appreciate the various apparatus used in wind tunnel testing of aircraft;
Understand/appreciate the “Flapping Wing” Principle;
Understand/appreciate how/why inducing more lift reduces drag;
Understand/appreciate the “Magnus Effect”;
Understand/appreciate how NACA engineers discovered learned that size has little, and shape much, to do with resistance in the air;
Understand/appreciate the results of tunnel testing the DC-3;
Understand/appreciate the development and introduction into revenue service of revolutionary Boeing 247 twin-engine, all-metal transport;
Understand/appreciate the use of “mock-ups” in the design/manufacturing process of the Boeing 247;
Understand/appreciate pros and cons of “Big” vs. “Small” commercial transports in the early 1930s;
Understand/appreciate how/why the introduction of the Boeing 247 marked the birth of the “All-Metal Era”;
Understand/appreciate the participation of a Boeing 247D in the 1934 MacRobertson London-to Melbourne Air Race;
Understand/appreciate maintenance/repair and overhaul operations for UAL Boeing 247s at their Cheyenne, Wyoming facilities;
Understand/appreciate the variety of nicknames pilots assigned to the DC-3;
Understand/appreciate the DC-3s place in aviation history;
Understand/appreciate the praise heaped upon the DC-3, in both war and peace, for its ruggedness and reliability;
Understand/appreciate the DC-3’s miraculous survival in accidents and war service;
Understand/appreciate the DC-3s service as commercial transports with fledgling airlines around the world as surplus aircraft in the post-WWII years;
Understand/appreciate the use of C-47s as cargo transport and/or conversion to passenger aircraft in the post-WWII years;
Understand/appreciate why the DC-3 would come to be known as “the machine that taught the world to fly”;
Understand/appreciate how the DC-3 entered service at the time of the first big expansion of commercial airline passenger service;
Understand/appreciate how/why he DC-3 began its career as an airliner as the DST; a luxurious airborne “Pullman Car” purpose-built for American Airlines;
Understand/appreciate how it became apparent that by removing the berths, a DST could carry 21 passengers (in three rows of seven seats); a significant increase in seating capacity over other airliners then in service;
Understand/appreciate how the DC-3 freed the airlines from dependence on income from mail service;
Understand/appreciate how, by the outbreak of WWII, 90% of the world’s air travel was on DC-3s;
Understand/appreciate that, in all (exclusive of an indeterminate number of copies made by the Russians during WWII), nearly 11K DC-3s, in various versions, were produced;
Understand/appreciate that the last DC-3 rolled-off Douglas’ assembly line in 1946;
Understand/appreciate the experience of flight crews with the DC-3;
Understand/appreciate Douglas; introducing real-world, usable performance charts with the DC-3; an innovation that not only added to safety but also allowed pilots to most efficiently operate the plane and made the DC-3 more profitable to airlines operating them;
Understand/appreciate why the “Super DC-3” (DC-3S) of the late 1940s met with little airline sales success, though it was used by the USN and USMC as the R4D-8/C-117D;
Understand/appreciate how the DC-3/C-47 was used very effectively as a blockade buster during the Berlin Airlift;
Understand/appreciate how the DC-3/C-47 was used in Air-Sea Rescue operations;
Understand/appreciate the on-going use of DC-3s/C-47 in third-world countries;
Understand/appreciate the DC-3 operated by Appalachian Flying Service (AFS) in the mid-1980s for a luxury air charter service known as “Sentimental Journeys”;
Understand/appreciate DC-3s donated to aviation museums;
Understand/appreciate the adaptive reuse of derelict DC-3s;
Understand/appreciate the reconfiguring of DC-3s as trimotor turboprop aircraft;
Understand/appreciate the evolution of the Wright R-1820 Cyclone engine which powered most early production DC-3s;
Understand/appreciate the work of Basler Flight Service in modifying DC-3 interiors, restoring airframes and overhauling engines;
Understand/appreciate the major modifications necessary to convert a DC-3 to turbine power (a/k/a “Basler BT-67”);
Understand/appreciate why the BT-67 is recognized as a “zero accumulated fatigue” (new) aircraft when completed
Understand/appreciate the various configurations available for a BT-67;
Understand/appreciate why Basler Turbo Conversions has one of the largest inventories of DC-3 parts in the world;
Understand/appreciate how Basler Flight Service grew quickly and soon spun-off the Basler Airlines division, flying passengers and cargo in DC-3s and other twin-engine aircraft;
Understand/appreciate H.R. Ekins mid-1930s “Around the World by Air” experiences in both lighter and heavier-than air aircraft;
Understand/appreciate the development of the “F” and “G” series Wright Cyclone engines;
Understand/appreciate the work of Frank W. Caldwell and the Hamilton Standard Propeller Corp. in developing the variable pitch propeller;
Understand/appreciate the operating principles of propellers (a/k/a “Air Screw”);
Understand/appreciate the contributions of Hamilton Standard to the war effort in producing +500K propellers during WWII;
Understand/appreciate the “Nitriding” of the interior of aviation engine cylinders;
Understand/appreciate the use of “Magnafluxing” to detect surface cracks in steel;
Understand/appreciate the early life of Donald Douglas;
Understand/appreciate that, in July, 1936, President Roosevelt officially awarded Donald Douglas the Collier Trophy for 1935 in recognition of his outstanding work in the development of twin-engine commercial transport planes;
Understand/appreciate Donald Douglas’ fascination with airplanes as a young man;
Understand/appreciate work as an aeronautical engineer;
Understand/appreciate the formation of the Davis-Douglas Company in July 1920;
Understand/appreciate the development of the Davis-Douglas “Cloudster” and its significance as the first plane capable of carrying aloft a useful load equal to or greater than its own weight;
Understand/appreciate the failed transcontinental flight of the Cloudster in 1921 and subsequent dissolution of the Davis-Douglas Company;
Understand/appreciate the formation of the Douglas Aircraft Company in July 1921;
Understand/appreciate the fate of the Cloudster and its serving as the basis for a USN torpedo plane;
Understand/appreciate the Douglas Aircraft Company’s winning of military contracts for a variety of aircraft types in the 1920s and ‘30s;
Understand/appreciate the successful “Around the World Flight” of the Doulas World Cruiser (DWC) in 1924 which established Douglas a s world-class aviation company;
Understand/appreciate the Douglas motto: ‘First Around the World,” established as a result of the DWC flight;
Understand/appreciate Douglas’s air-mail aircraft;
Understand/appreciate both land and sea-based Douglas aircraft of the interwar years;
Understand/appreciate Douglas’ entry into the bombardment field in 1930 with the gull-winged B-7;
Understand/appreciate the “Douglas B-18 Bolo” bomber, which was based on the Douglas DC-2, in most aspects;
Understand/appreciate the saturation of the commercial transport market by the late 1920s/early 1930s;
Understand/appreciate Douglas’ entry into the commercial transport market in 1932;
Understand/appreciate the many well-publicized accidents involving commercial transports in the late 1920s/early 1930s and why flying, in general, was considered dangerous and unpredictable;
Understand/appreciate why airplanes had to fly below all types of weather and would frequently run out of gas, resulting in crashes and highlighted by the crash, in bad weather, of a TWA Ford Trimotor in 1931, resulting in the death of Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne;
Understand/appreciate the passing of the Air Commerce Act in 1926 and the establishment of a new “Aeronautics Branch” in the Department of Commerce (DOC) which assumed primary responsibility for aviation oversight;
Understand/appreciate the appointment of William P. MacCracken, Jr., as the first director of the Aeronautics Branch of the DOC;
Understand/appreciate why, in 1934, the DOC renamed the Aeronautics Branch the “Bu-reau of Air Commerce” (BAC), to reflect the growing importance of aviation to the nation;
Understand/appreciate how, in one of its first acts, the BAC encouraged a group of airlines to establish the first Air Traffic Control (ATC) centers and why, in 1936, the BAC took over these centers;
Understand/appreciate that, although en route ATC became a federal responsibility, local government authorities continued to operate airport towers;
Understand/appreciate that, although the DOC worked to improve aviation safety, a number of high profile accidents called the department’s oversight responsibilities into question;
Understand/appreciate how, early in 1932, Transcontinental and Western Air Express decided to purchase some new transports and invitations for bids were extended to various aircraft builders, including Douglas;
Understand/appreciate that the Douglas DC-1, created by a team led by Chief Engineer Arthur E. Raymond, can be considered to be the first scientifically U.S.-designed airplane;
Understand/appreciate how the 12-passenger, twin-engine DC-1 blended advanced aerodynamics, payload-enhancing wing flaps, refined engine cowling placement, higher-strength aluminum alloys, a retractable landing gear, controllable pitch propellers and a lightweight monocoque fuselage structure;
Understand/appreciate the DC-1’s superiority over its rival – the Boeing 247;
Understand/appreciate how the DC-1 spawned the DC-2 and DC-3 and an entire “DC” generation of aircraft;
Understand/appreciate how the DC-1 was soon improved, appearing as the DC-2; a 14-seat, twin-engine airliner produced by Douglas starting in 1934;
Understand/appreciate how the design of the DC-2 impressed a number of American and European airlines, resulting in orders;
Understand/appreciate that, although it was overshadowed by its successor, the DC-3, it was the DC-2 which first demonstrated that passenger air travel could be comfortable, safe and reliable;
Understand/appreciate why there were no prototypes of the Douglas DST/DC-3 produced;
Understand/appreciate that the wider, circular fuselage of the DST was designed to hold seven upper and seven lower berths for passengers on overnight transcontinental flights and could fly across the U.S. with three refueling stops;
Understand/appreciate the layout of both the DST and its derivative; the DC-3;
Understand/appreciate why the Douglas DC-4 was built to the order of United Air Lines, Transcontinental and Western Air, American Airlines, Pan American Airways and Eastern Air Lines;
Understand/appreciate the Douglas Dolphin amphibian, which was a commercial market failure but a success in the military and private owner market;
Understand/appreciate that the Douglas DF flying boat was originally designed with Pan American Airways (PAA) in mind, but when they showed no interest, two were sold to Japan Air Lines (JAL) in 1936;
Understand/appreciate why, by the late 1930s, U.S.-made air-cooled aviation engines were considered to be military secrets and were not allowed to be exported abroad;
Understand/appreciate the development of twin-row radial aviation engines which developed one-horsepower for every pound-and-a-quarter of weight;
Understand/appreciate how the DC-4 was assembled akin to a ship; with scaffolding which formed a sort of dry dock;
Understand/appreciate the use of four, twin-row Pratt & Whitney, 14-cylinder air-cooled “Hornet” engines;
Understand/appreciate why the design formula for propeller-driven aircraft recommended by the NACA in 1939 looked very much like the later configuration of the Douglas DC-4E;
Understand/appreciate trends in aviation engine designs by the late 1930s;
Understand/appreciate the Wright “Cyclone” engines used on a variety of civil and military aircraft immediately before, during and after WWII;
Understand/appreciate the specifications of the DC-4;
Understand/appreciate the purpose of a “Triple Tail” on the DC-4E;
Understand/appreciate the reasons why the triple-tail was abandoned for production models of the DC-4;
Understand/appreciate the “share-the-risk” arrangement that allowed Douglas to design and manufacture the DC-4;
Understand/appreciate the design details that made the DC-4 “State-of-the-Art” when it was introduced;
Understand/appreciate the use of flush rivets in the DC-4s surfaces for aerodynamic efficiency;
Understand/appreciate the use of auxiliary engines on the DC-4;
Understand/appreciate the cabin configuration of the DC-4;
Understand/appreciate the flight deck arrangement/layout of the DC-4;
Understand/appreciate the placement of all of the DC-4s fuel tanks in the wings – none in the fuselage as with the DC-2 and DC-3;
Understand/appreciate how the DC-4’s engine control system and the new fuel-feed technique brought about a major innovation in aircraft design: the flight engineer’s station;
Understand/appreciate the investment in time, money and engineering hours the DC-4E represented;
Understand/appreciate the commercial failure of the DC-4 but success during WWII as the C-54 “Skymaster” (USN designation “R5D”) during WWII;
Understand/appreciate the use of a single tailfin in all subsequent “DC-series” models;
Understand/appreciate why, given amenities such as air-conditioning, hot and cold water, an electrically operated galley, curling irons for ladies, electric shavers for men and telephone service while the plane was in port or airborne, the DC-4 was considered by many to be a “A Grand Hotel with wings”;
Understand/appreciate the extensive ground and flight testing of the DC-4;
Understand/appreciate the scientific instruments and protocols used in flight and ground testing the DC-4;
Understand/appreciate the role of the test pilot in flight testing of new aircraft;
Understand/appreciate how the Japanese, after purchasing the DC-4E from Douglas, used the prototype to fashion their own version of a four-engine bomber and transport; the G5N-2 and the G5N-L respectively;
Understand/appreciate the use of a C-54 dubbed “The Sacred Cow,” which won fame as the first airplane designated for the service of the POTUS;
Understand/appreciate how, by the late 1930s, engineers were transforming the art of flying into a science;
Understand/appreciate developments in aircraft design, engine performance/efficiency, flight controls, aerodynamic streamlining;
Understand/appreciate how tricycle landing gear made; instrument landings easier, reducing the bounce of a hard landing, allowing more immediate braking and permitting planes to land across the wind;
Understand/appreciate the development of radio-based technologies for aviation applications;
Understand/appreciate the evolution of radio beacon towers to guide aircraft;
Understand/appreciate the development of aerial sonar and radio telephony for aircraft;
Understand/appreciate the ability of variable-pitch propellers to be “feathered” in order to avoid “Windmilling”:
Understand/appreciate the background of propeller development;
Understand/appreciate the use of ergonomics in designing the flight decks of transport aircraft;
Understand/appreciate how the hazard of dumping fuel in flight was eliminated;
Understand/appreciate efforts to make transport aircraft safer;
Understand/appreciate efforts to reduce fatalities in airplane crashes;
Understand/appreciate aircraft design features that reduce aircraft crash injuries/fatalities;
Understand/appreciate the crash of a DC-3 in August 1940 that broke a 17-month “Fatality Free” period and killed U.S. Senator Ernest Lundeen;
Understand/appreciate the crash of an EAL DC-3 in February 1941 that nearly killed Eddie Rickenbacker;
Understand/appreciate the danger of plane crashes involving wood-framed aircraft;
Understand/appreciate aircraft design that lessen the danger of crashes;
Understand/appreciate the Douglas Aircraft Company’s significant contributions to the was effort during WWII;
Understand/appreciate the development of the Douglas XB-19; an experimental long-range heavy bomber;
Understand/appreciate design features and specifications of the XB-19;
Understand/appreciate the various manufacturing facilities operated by Douglas during WWII to produce their own and other aircraft under license;
Understand/appreciate the role pf women workers in Douglas plants;
Understand/appreciate Donald Douglas’ involvement with the design of the USN’s first lighter-than-air dirigible;
Understand/appreciate Douglas experiments involving stratospheric flight;
Understand/appreciate how military aircraft used during WWII became the basis for civilian passenger transports postwar (i.e. Boeing B-29 / Boeing 377 “Stratocruiser”);
Understand/appreciate why Douglas Aircraft Co. was considered to be “The Cornerstone of American Air Power” during WWII;
Understand/appreciate the personal life of Donald Douglas;
Understand/appreciate the evolution of airports;
Understand/appreciate the problems facing aircraft manufacturers as WWII drew to a close;
Understand/appreciate the corporate structure of Douglas Aircraft Co.;
Understand/appreciate the growth of the commercial airline industry in the immediate postwar years;
Understand/appreciate how the Douglas DC-8 brought the company into the Jet Age and in direct competition with Boeing’s 707;
Understand/appreciate why cargo transport by air was a vital part of the war effort;
Understand/appreciate the role and organization of the “Contract Air Cargo Division” and the air-cargo fleet during WWII;
Understand/appreciate that the “Air Service Command” (ASC) was organized as the “Air Corps Provisional Maintenance Command” on March 15, 1941, with its headquarters at Patterson Field (Ohio);
Understand/appreciate that, upon America’s entry into WWII, the ASC became “Air Technical Service Command” (ATSC), with considerably expanded functions;
Understand/appreciate the role of the “Ferrying Command” during WWII;
Understand/appreciate the various two-engine cargo aircraft used by the USAAF during WWII;
Understand/appreciate the use of the DC-4/C-54 by the USAAF as a four-engine cargo aircraft during WWII;
Understand/appreciate the ratio of payload to gross weight for cargo aircraft;
Understand/appreciate alternate materials to critical war materials such as aluminum for cargo aircraft;
Understand/appreciate the potential use of low-carbon steel in lieu of aluminum for cargo aircraft airframes;
Understand/appreciate the two types of steel suitable for aircraft construction; stainless and/or low-carbon;
Understand/appreciate the properties of low-carbon steel;
Understand/appreciate the multi-role use of cargo aircraft during WWII;
Understand/appreciate the exponential expansion of commercial air travel in the immediate postwar years and the multiple problems encountered;
Understand/appreciate the practice of “stacking” aircraft in holding patterns;
Understand/appreciate the various design of postwar commercial transports;
Understand/appreciate the on-going use of both DC-3s and DC-4s in the immediate postwar years;
Understand/appreciate the “War Dividend” whereby aviation science and technology was significantly advanced during WWII due to wartime exigencies;
Understand/appreciate the development of turbine and jet-powered aircraft in the immediate postwar years;
Understand/appreciate the fate of surplus WWII aircraft;
Understand/appreciate the development of Washington D.C.’s “Washington National Airport” (now “Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport”);
Understand/appreciate the DC-3s still flying in various parts of the world;
Understand/appreciate why the DC-3 was considered to be the “Workhorse of the Skies”;
Understand/appreciate the decommissioning of DC-3 commercial transports in the UK due to health and safety regulations;
Understand/appreciate that the British term “Dakota” for the C-47 was an acronym for “Douglas Aircraft Company Transport Aircraft” (DACTA);
Understand/appreciate how DC-3s serve as “Buses of the Jungle” in South America;
Understand/appreciate how DC-3s still serve as commercial transports in many parts of the world (i.e. Northwest Territories of Canada);
Understand/appreciate the copies of the DC-3 made by other countries, and;
Understand/appreciate the lasting legacy of the DC-3 to the aviation and commercial airline industry.

Intended Audience

This course is intended for architects, engineers and other design professionals.

Benefit to Attendees

The attendee/s will gain an intimate knowledge and insight into the development of the DC-3; one of the most iconic and significant aircraft of the 20th century.

Course Introduction

The course includes an in-depth slideshow (PowerPoint) presentation and the viewing of one or more documentary films.

Course Content

In this course, you are required to view/study the following slideshow and the materials contained in the web pages:

Douglas DC-3: Queen of the Skies (printable handout in PDF, 34 MB, see Note A below for downloading instruction)
Douglas DC-3: Queen of the Skies (non-printable slideshow for screen-viewing only, 88 MB, see Note A below for downloading instruction)

Archival/Documentary Film:

TITLE: History of the Douglas Aircraft Company
LINK: https://archive.org/details/23324aWorldCruiser
DURATION: 20:40
TITLE: Flagships of the Air
LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqRmAEJbM7s
DURATION: 25:05
TITLE: Planes That Changed the World: Douglas DC-3
LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wexLhuDLZGw
DURATION: 45:04

Note A: Please click on the above underlined hypertext to view, download or print the document for your study. Because of the large file size, we recommend that you first save the file to your computer by right-clicking the mouse and choosing "Save Target As ...", and then open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader from your computer.

Course Summary

Perhaps providence played a role in the creation of the DC-3 more than we realize. As a young man, Donald Douglas had a keen interest in the then fledgling, but rapidly evolving, aviation industry; even having witnessed a Wright Brothers’ flight, in 1909 – the same year he entered the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, MD. Fond of building model airplanes in his spare time, in his Junior (third) year at the academy, he built a model plane and, to test its flight characteristics, he launched it from the roof of his dormitory. Fly it did - right into the cap of an admiral walking by on the sidewalk below, knocking it off his head. Suffice it to say, the admiral was not amused and the young Donald Douglas’ future as an "officer and gentleman" in the Unites States Navy came to an abrupt end. Thereafter, he enrolled in MIT’s Aeronautical Engineering program, graduating just two years later. The rest, as they say, is history.

Related Links

For additional technical information related to this subject, please visit the following websites:

Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_DC-3

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_DC-4

Films

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=8&v=gtVFBqzjkiA&feature=emb_logo
(The Founding of the Ames Aeronautical Laboratory – 03:47)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bP2MH3LqvI
(The Propeller Explained – 24:04)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0vs2AMJDas
(The Four Left Turning Tendencies – 05:29)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vBPlcquAD8
(WWII Piston Aircraft Engine Types – 35:19)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBfFpcdyd5Q
(Curtiss-Wright Aircraft Engines [1942] – 25:32)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ9f206YnyU&feature=emb_logo
(Coast-to-Coast in a Ford Trimotor – 03:11)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVcaKJvGbPM&feature=emb_logo
(Trimotor Heritage Foundation – 08:38)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCnWLR28pfE
(Fly American [1933] – 21:40)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKz2-9Dwed0&feature=emb_logo
(Pioneers of Flight: The First Global Flight and the Douglas World Cruiser Chicago – 13:22)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp3nRHdLneI
(The Douglas DC-1 Story – 13:43)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fFolNwS2nY&feature=emb_logo
(Douglas DC-4E – 02:28)

https://archive.org/details/1946-02-21_New_Airliner
(New Airliner, Feb. 1946 [DC-6] – 01:41)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiA6K4ZU1b8
(UAL DC-6 Promotional Film [1950] – 31:25)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8Z-p9F96yk
(AA DC-7 “NY to LA” [1954] – 28:46)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsfGoxW7Xyk
(Passenger Planes [1958] – 22:27)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvh3o4U5jnw
(The DC-3: The Plane That Changed the World – 57:08)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9t6o-1JmXE
(The Beautiful Douglas DC-3 – 19:31)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeikTiQgylQ
(How to Fly the Douglas DC-3 – 24:37)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkQMpBFwd9A&feature=emb_logo
(Douglas DC-3 Colombia – 02:48)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsUyzoUTKCU
(Air Tec Basler BT-67 – 05:26)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAHcAbxuu00
(Giving the Venerable DC-3 New Life - 11:52)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfgC5DROP-M
(Turbine DC-3 vs. Regular DC-3 - 08:14)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxMPU1kvM8s
(D-Day C-47 "That's All Brother - Commerative Air Force - 03:15)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9WeGctlZTc
(Douglas SBD Dauntless Dive Bomber - 14:21)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqlDMyvnz20
(Wings Over Vietnam: Spookies, Spectres and Shadows – 51:23)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHdUNvtUDXs
(Douglas C-47 Dakota Squadron – 08:36)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1hUzFxErhI
(Airplane Propellers – 17:08)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHMYcw1DPpA
(Colombia: Pilots of the Amazon - 52:18)

Quiz

Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.

DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDH Center or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered architect and/or professional engineer/surveyor. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.