Dakota

[Greybeard]

I made a kit of this lovely airplane when I was a boy.

In 1966 my future wife, her sister and brother flew from Lydd Airport to Paris in one of these aircraft.


On this date, July 1, 1933: The Douglas DC-1 made its first flight, flown by Carl Cover. The DC-1 was the first model of the famous American DC (Douglas Commercial) commercial transport aircraft series. Development of the DC-1 can be traced back to the 1931 crash of a TWA airliner, a Fokker F.10 Trimotor in which a wing failed, probably because water had seeped between the layers of the wood laminate and dissolved the glue holding the layers together.
Following the accident, the Aeronautics Branch of the U.S. Department of Commerce placed stringent restrictions on the use of wooden wings on passenger airliners. Boeing developed an answer, the 247, a twin-engine all-metal monoplane with a retractable undercarriage, but their production capacity was reserved to meet the needs of United Airlines, part of United Aircraft and Transport Corporation which also owned Boeing.
TWA needed a similar aircraft to respond to competition from the Boeing 247 and they asked five manufacturers to bid for construction of a three-engine, 12-seat aircraft of all-metal construction, capable of flying 1,080 miles at 150 mph. The most demanding part of the specification was that the airliner would have to be capable of safely taking off from any airport on TWA's main routes (particularly Albuquerque, N.M., at high altitude and with severe summer temperatures) with one engine non-functioning.
Donald Douglas was initially reluctant to participate in the invitation from TWA. He doubted the market for 100 aircraft, the number of sales necessary to cover development costs. Nevertheless, he submitted a design consisting of an all-metal, low-wing, twin-engine aircraft seating 12 passengers, a crew of two and a flight attendant. The aircraft exceeded the specifications of TWA even with only two engines, principally using controllable pitch propellers.
It was insulated against noise, heated, and fully capable of both flying and performing a controlled takeoff or landing on one engine. Douglas stated in a 1935 article on the DC-2 that the first DC-1 cost $325,000 to design and build. Although only one example of the DC-1 was produced, the design was the basis for the DC-2 and DC-3, the latter of which being one of the most successful aircraft in the history of aviation. During a half-year of testing, it performed more than 200 test flights and demonstrated its superiority over the most-used airliners at that time, the Ford Trimotor and Fokker Trimotor.
It was flown across the United States on Feb. 19, 1934, making the journey in the record time of 13 hours five minutes. TWA accepted the aircraft on Sept. 15, 1933, with a few modifications (increasing seating to 14 passengers and adding more powerful engines) and subsequently ordered 20 examples of the developed production model, which was named the Douglas DC-2.
For more military and aviation milestones, visit https://bit.ly/otd-july-1-7

[groily]

Pleasure trips still available in them GB - one Dutch reg one, the Prinses Amalia was doing roaring trade here this year as part the D Day 79th anniversary programme. I wasn't tempted - but a mate swapped playing with his Matchless at ground level for a zoom over the landing beaches. Said it was brilliant.
Saw a good few of them (still in military service there they were) when I lived in South Africa in the '80s - great machines. A few probably still out there - they celebrated the plane's 80th birthday in a biggish way back in 2015  . . .https://www.dc-3.co.za/dc-3-80th-anniversary.html has some good pics.

[Topdad]

My Father in law was airlifted out in one from Burma to india after being invalided home after fighting at kohima , when ever he saw one his eyes lit up RIP Bert.

[Greybeard]

https://www.dc-3.co.za/dc-3-80th-anniversary.html has some good pics.

Wow, some great photos. I didn't know there was a turboprop version 

[chaterlea25]

Hi All,
Back in 1991, I took my 6 year old Son on a pleasure flight in a Dakota from Cork airport,
It was there due to the "Tall ships" event that was on at the same time
I was working "staggered shifts" at another power station so was on overnight expenses as well as shift pay, although I used a bike to travel the 40 odd miles each way every day. The extra pay meant I could "splash out" and pay almost £100 for the tickets.
The sensation was much different to modern jet flight, it rumbled down the runaway and floated into the air
The noise of the 1200hp engines was awesome!
The flight was meant to be 30 minutes long, but commercial traffic at the airport meant we got almost a full hour in the air 
Most passengers got time to go to the cockpit during the flight and it was a big thrill for my 6 year old to chat with the Lady pilot

John

[Greybeard]

My Janet remembers the slope to get into the seats.

[Rex]

There used to be a firm called "Warbirds" in Florida who offered flights in (as the name would suggest) war planes of various sorts.
They had a Dakota and had I been able to afford the trip, that would have been my choice of plane.