I was flying around Greeneville (Tennessee) Municipal Airport (KGCY) doing some pattern work this afternoon (5-5-2024) and got to see this beautiful aircraft arrive (from the air). It was an amazing and beautiful sight to see this plane land…especially from the air! 🇺🇸
So beautiful plane that as an artist, I decided to do an artwork with it. A early type with the same orange accents on nose and engine covers, typical of American Airways. I drew the DC 3 at Hobby airport (TX) with a orange and black Packard 734 roadster. Nice video. Keep up the good work !
What a perfect job of restoration they did on this like-new DC-3. This clip (where was it taken, please?) brings back memories of some of my own DC-3 flights: an Air Force flight from LAX up to Vandenberg AFB in 1959 as a cub reporter covering a space launch; a vomit-comet Aspen Airways flight in 1967, and barnstorming the 1976 Oregon Democratic presidential primary with candidate Jerry Brown (who later upgraded -- to a DC-4). DC-3s are beautiful and strongly built. Last I heard, a few years aro, thousands still were flying in many countries. I'm proud to say that I took flying lessons at Santa Monica Municipal Airport, where many of the DC-3s were built by Douglas ((which also reminds me that I once took a helicopter ride in L.A. with pilot Holly Douglas, granddaughter of aviation pioneer Donald Douglas Sr., who oversaw DC-3 design and production.))
my first airplane flight was on a DC3,,,decades ago! Man loved it and what a sound.we add to cross the St Laurence River at 30 milles during winter! it was scared . i remember as it was yesterday,Gervais
My dad started as a ramper at MDY after the war. He said he probably slung some bags into this bird back in the day. He spent 42 years at AA. Saw a lot of change.
I have more confidence in these seasoned airplanes,and those that built them, and those maintaining them out of love for aviation, then I do with the new, commercial airliners today
Not only an engineering wonder but a work of art. I flew many, many miles on DC3's as a boy and young man in New Guinea, they were our main form of transport. The seats were along the sides and made of woven straps of canvas. Years later I had the honour of jumping out of DC3's. They hold a special place in my heart.
I got a ride in the Flagship over Myrtle Beach in 2018 during an air show. Such an icon airplane and great experience. I’ve also toured the Piedmont Airlines DC-3 but it no longer flies.
I have 1,000 hours flying DC-3s and C-47s in the 1970s. Hard to believe a commercial airline did not spec out their plane with wing and tail deicer boots. American DC-3s all had the 9 cylinder Wright engines while most other airlines opted for the better 14 cylinder Pratt & Whitney R-1830 engines.
The best inflight coffee I ever had was on a NASA DC-3/C-47 out of Wallops Island. The stewardess wasn't bad either! I did a lot of space available flying between assignments and on leave back in the 60s.
76 yo here. I remember flying in a DC3 from Adelaide, South Australia to Port Lincoln as a child in the late 1950s. The sick bags were well used as it was a rough and noisy flight. Eventually replaced by Fokker F27 Friendships.
I had one memorable flight on a DC-3. I had just joined the US Air Force in Coral Gables, Fla. induction center. I was booked on a Boing 707 flight from Miami International Airport with stops at Tampa, New Orleans, and Houston going on to Los Angeles. I transferred to a flight on the DC-3 landing at San Antonio airport. Flying in the evening out of Houston towards San Antonio was the coldest flight I have ever made. I was not prepared having only a light wind breaker jacket to protect me from the cold air coming in from a nozzle right above my head. It was early October and for a Florida boy, I found it very uncomfortable.
I passed thru that same induction center in 1972. I was flown up to NAS Jax. I too wasn't prepared for chilly weather. It was in the 80s that night in Miami, but in the 40s in Jacksonville.
South African Air Force still operate at least one of these, from AFB Ysterplaat in Cape Town. It was a radial piston engined one, later converted to turboprop and the fuselage lengthened. I sometimes flew in these, aptly named Kotskoets aka Vomit Comet. One can get very green in them. SAAF used them extensively during and after WWII, also to demobilise Allied troops up to around 1947. Demobilisation took almost three years.
It was a 20 minute flight around Tulsa International Airport. Only a chance to ride a piece of history. I do not have altitude or speed. Very comfortable. Noise less than many modern airliners. Vibration also very low. Hope that helps!
I'm 83 and rode a Piedmont DC3 once when I was a kid. Now I'm a very old pilot and have to ask : Did those have to go get a tailwheel rating for their licenses before they could fly that thing?
