The Immortal 3

When Kipling wrote, “. . . The shouting and the tumult dies, the captains and the kings depart . . . “, he could have been thinking of the DC-3 some 40 years after it was first conceived by Donald W. Douglas.

No other aircraft fought in so many theatres of war, pioneered commercial aviation as we know it today, carried on in conditions which would have grounded many other aircraft, and is still providing valuable service to airlines throughout the world.

The DC line pioneered many of the features now standard on most aircraft we know today. Engine nacelles, retractable undercarriage, the reliable twin-engine combination, wing planform, and a comfortable range of over 1000 miles, although these features were really the honour carried by the DC-1.

Aviation grew rather haphazardly in the years from 1913 when the St Peterburg-Tampa Airboat line commenced operations as the first US airline; through 1918 when the US Post Office Air Mail Service commenced operations.

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