Facts about The Douglas DC-3
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Unpressurized cabins limited the DC-3 to cruising altitudes around 10,000 feet, forcing pilots to fly below most weather systems rather than over them during transcontinental routes.
- 07
Pressurized cabin variants of the DC-3 called the XC-32 were tested in 1939, allowing the aircraft to cruise at 20,000 feet and bypass severe weather systems below.
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Two Douglas DC-3s famously collided mid-air near Charing Cross in London on March 31, 1948, killing all 20 passengers and crew aboard both aircraft.
- 05
In 1939, the Douglas DC-3 reduced transatlantic flight time from 15 hours to 13.5 hours, making it the fastest commercial airliner of its era.
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A single Douglas DC-3 could carry 21 passengers in 1935, revolutionizing air travel economics by making commercial aviation profitable without relying on government mail contracts.
- 03
During World War II, the military variant C-47 Skytrain delivered supplies over the Hump route between India and China, flying roughly 650,000 tons of cargo across the Himalayan mountains.
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Approximately 200 Douglas DC-3 aircraft remained in commercial service worldwide as of 2020, nearly 85 years after the prototype first flew in 1935.
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Over 10,000 Douglas DC-3 aircraft were built between 1935 and 1945, making it the most produced aircraft of the 1930s and 1940s.