FlightSim.Com Celebrates The Centennial of Flight
History's most important airliner: The Douglas DC-3
By Cap Mason
No discussion of the Centennial of Flight would
be complete without honoring the Douglas DC-3. One of the very best payware
models is the DC-3 in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight.
Plus, we have hundreds of other freeware examples of this aircraft for every
flavor of flight simulator from FS5 to FS2004, including CFS 1, 2, and 3.
Wonderful childhood memories of the Gooney Bird
I personally love to fly the FS2004 DC-3 with the Eastern Airlines freeware
livery because some of my earliest and most pleasurable childhood memories of
flight involve the “Gooney Bird”. My father was an airline mechanic and my
older brother was an Air Force F-100 fighter jet RIO career officer. So I grew
up around airplanes and have avgas in my blood. My dad used to work for a small
local airline in Florida called Mackey Airlines. Mackey flew around Florida and
to the Bahamas. They were eventually acquired by Eastern Airline in 1967 as part
of that company’s expansion into the Bahamas and Caribbean.
Mackey flew these old World War II vintage Gooney Birds
and my dad was among the many busy mechanics who worked hard to keep those
ancient buckets in the air. They did a damn good job too, because Mackey never
lost an aircraft or ever declared an in-flight emergency due to mechanical
failure.
Bonehead blunder gets me into big trouble
I remember one ground level emergency, of sorts. It happened 40 years ago. I
must have been about 11 years old. Whenever my dad had to put in weekend
overtime overhauling Mackey’s DC-3 fleet, I would beg him to let me tag along.
The supervisors got to know me and I could freely roam the aircraft in the
hangars under repair. I was a kid in a candy shop pretending to fly to the
Bahamas while sitting in the cockpit of the planes parked in the hangar. I would
go through the entire checklist, take off, cruise to Nassau, make my VFR
approach, touch down, taxi to the terminal and disgorge my passengers. I knew it
all by heart right down to making cabin calls describing the scenery to my
passengers along the way. Those Gooney Birds were my first flight simulators as
I let my childhood fantasies soar.
I learned from the pilots and mechanics what I could safely do and what NOT to
do in the cockpit. Normally, I would just gently touch the controls and not
actually flip the switches or move the levers, trim wheels, yoke and rudder
pedals.
Well, one weekend, I got frisky. I was with my buddy, Robin Pittock, whose
father flew Viscounts for Capital Airlines. I wanted to show off for my pal how
cool I could be as we played flight crew on a Gooney Bird. Of course, I got to
play the Captain. I started going through the start-up check list but this time,
I actually flipped switches, moved levers, turned on the magnetos, and started
to light up the aircraft. I knew just enough to be dangerous! I also knew to stop
short of actually firing up the engines and turning the props, which would have
been catastrophic in the hangar with mechanics all over the place. Please! I was
just a stupid kid showing off, not crazy.
I did indulge myself one bonehead luxury, however. As we pretended to lift off,
I pulled back on the yoke. Suddenly, I heard a loud thump followed by a torrent
of eloquent cursing in both English and Spanish. Seems my dad and another
mechanic were working on the elevators! When I pulled back the yoke, they both
got smacked on the chin as the elevator unexpectedly flipped up. The mechanics
were not amused. I was lucky I didn’t get smacked on my bottom for that little
stunt. My ignominious career as a “virtual” DC-3 pilot came to an abrupt end
that day as I was banned from the hangar.
Now,
back to the Gooney Bird history.
The Douglas DC-3 is the most successful
passenger plane ever flown. Designed by the legendary aeronautical engineer
Arthur Raymond, the DC-3 featured innovative approaches to retractable landing
gear, wing flaps, variable-pitch propellers, stressed-skin structure and flush
riveting. Legend has it that the cantilevered wing was so strong that even
steamrollers driven over them could not cause significant damage. The DC-3 could
fly above most bad weather at its altitude ceiling of over 20,000 feet. Its
range of nearly 1500 miles more than doubled that of its rival airliner, the
Boeing 247.
The DC-3 came about when Douglas (creator of the DC-1 and DC-2 airliners)
fulfilled a requirement from American Airlines. American operated sleeper berth
on its trans-continental flights and asked Douglas to build a suitable airliner.
The answer was the DC-3, a direct but slightly larger development of the DC-2.
The prototype first flew on 17 December 1935.
During flight, passengers enjoyed such amenities as an on-board dining service
and plush, soft seats. The roomy cabin offered space for up to 24 passenger
seats or 14 sleeping berths. Engine noise was significantly softened by the use
of noise-absorbing fabric, as well as carpet on the cabin floor. To reduce noise
even further, the engines were mounted on rubber insulators.
The first DC-3 built was the DST (Douglas Sleeper Transport) with 14 berths for travelers wanting the luxury of slumber during long trips. |
During a time when government air mail subsidies were required just to keep
planes in the air, the DC-3 proved that passenger travel alone could sustain the
airline industry. The DC-3 was the first plane to turn a profit exclusively from
passenger fares. When President Franklin Roosevelt cancelled all government air
mail contracts in 1934, TWA's Jack Frye took to the sky to demonstrate the
commercial industry's advancements. Frye flew the Douglas transport across the
country - loaded with both mail and passengers - in a record-setting 13 hours
and 4 minutes.
When the world was plunged into war, the most important
airliner in history quickly established its reputation as a fighting machine.
During World War II, the DC-3 (named Dakota by Britain) was mass produced as a
utility transport in C-47, C-53, and other versions. Known also as Skytrains and
Skytroopers, it was built in large numbers in Russia as the Lisunou Li-2. Used
in all imaginable roles, from freight and personnel transport to glider tug and
ambulance, the DC-3 in all its variants was active in all theaters of war.
Dakotas served with distinction during the D-Day landings in Normandy and
subsequent assaults by Allied airborne forces.
After the war the military flying continued, while production of the civil
version restarted. DC-3s became the mainstay of worldwide passenger and freight
services for many years, although as larger capacity piston engine airliners and
then jet airliners became available, DC-3s were gradually turned over to smaller
operators.
By the time production came to an end in 1944, over 10,000 DC-3s had been
produced by Douglas Aircraft, accounting for over 90% of the world's commercial
aircraft. An additional 8,000 were produced around the world under license
agreements. The legacy of the DC-3 lives on. The plane is so reliable that an
estimated 2000 are still flying to this day, many in commercial service.
Now you can fly the DC-3. With the world’s largest library of flightsim
add-ons over 65,000 files strong, we have 548 DC-3 files. Log in and grab your
favorite Gooney.
The
photorealistic texture of this Eastern Airlines DC-3 illuminated by the
setting sun is an impressive sight as it climbs away from Nassau
International Airport. Get yours by downloading the file named
TXTEALD3.ZIP
from our file library.
|
My personal favorite by far is the DC-3 in FS2004: A Century Of Flight. While I
could not find a Mackey Airlines livery, the Eastern Airlines photorealistic
livery by William C. Schulz is close enough for me. My dad worked for Eastern a
lot longer than he did for Mackey so flying that DC-3 is a trip down memory lane
for me.
Cap Mason
CapMason@FlightSim.Com
|
Buy
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight now, get $10 back
with a mail-in rebate from Microsoft for those who upgrade from Flight
Simulator 2002.
|
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