This is my all time favourite airplane. Oddly enough, so is the SR-71. :)) Such a contrast between the two. However I've never seen an SR-71 up close. The DC-3, on the other hand, is something I see almost every weekend, I've flown in one a few times (once to an airshow just otuside of London), and the sound of those P&W's hits me every time! The Dakota is probably the prettiest aircraft to still grace the skies. She's made a remarkable contribution to the freedom of Europeans, she still services many people on different continents today, and she is virtually indestructable. Long may she reign!
If there was a landing gear failure nothing will happen as the tyres are not retracted fully inside so that’s one safe feature in the remarkable C-47 skytrain or (Dakota) and there is one parked in old Jeddah inside a roundabout 🤗 Greetings from Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦
I admit that I cried a little when I watched the Chicago & Southern Airlines ground crew painting over that beautiful airline livery with olive drab, but the needs of the Army justified it.
As far as I know, the DC-3/C-47 is the oldest aircraft to be fitted with turboprop engines. Some aircraft modification company obtained an STC (supplemental type certificate) for a turboprop conversion kit in the 1980s. I recall seeing the Northwest Airlines DC-3 flying a daily short-haul route from Minneapolis-St. Paul to Mankato, MN and Sioux Falls, SD back in the 1970s. It was replaced with a Convair 580. Today the MSP-SFD route is flown by a variety of Delta Airlines regional commuter jets.
I like the part about the medevac mission (starting 19:37) best of all -- the way I see it, there's no other DC-3 mission that's more important! (Good choice of music, too -- fits the mood very well!)
Used to hear the sound of those rumbling engines rumbling over the bay a few miles from me at night on their way from Melbourne to Tasmania in the 1970s. (Cargo planes)
Can't believe they left out the C-47 is the only non-combatant aircraft in history to be awarded an official combat "Kill". During WWII in the Pacific a Zero repeatedly strafed a C-47 and, when it ran out of ammo, it rammed it. The Zero crashed, but the C-47 continued on with massive damage and landed safely.
Don F What about during the Gulf War? An EF-111 which was being intercepted by an Iraqi aircraft achieved a kill by getting its opponent to maneuver itself into the ground
EF-111 was a military aircraft for electronic warfare, based on the F-111, so military design. The C-47 was based on a civilian design, but I see your point, as it had no weapons (non electronic). Can't believe a F1 pilot could be forced to fly into the ground b some as clumsy as a EF-111 (compared to an F1), but it did happen.
+Sean Bad Well the EF-111 is designed for low altitiude use whereas the F1 is not. Particularly if the EF-111 has higher wing loading it would have a calmer ride near the ground. More importantly the pilots were probably marginally trained
After flying the EC-47 in Vietnam, I became convinced we could do MUCH more damage to the enemy, from the air, than by sending TENS of THOUSANDS of ground troops against them. It has been stated that 90% of the B-52 strikes stemmed from information provided by the EC-47. And the service the AC-47 did was outstanding. It is claimed that NO American fire base was EVER overrun by opposing forces while there was an AC-47 overhead. What an amazing aircraft...doing Electronic warfare,...fire missions and propaganda drops against an enemy..20-30 years after it was built!
Say, does anyone happen to know who was (or is) the beautiful and highly competent nurse in this video? (The name of the a/c to which she was assigned was "Angel in Blue", number 334, as shown at 21:46).
What's that tune starting at 34:14 and ending at 38:56? It sounds vaguely familiar (and not just from the DSC Wings series), but I can't place it. Was it an original piece for this soundtrack, or was it a highly jazzed-up version of some well-known song as I suspect it was?
Thanks! To my tone-deaf ears, it actually sounded in a couple of places like "Yablochko" (yes, the Russian sailors' dance), but I listened to that song and found that it sounds nothing like this one. By "Great Planes theme", do you mean the one at the beginning (starting at 0:21)?
The first commercial DC-3 stil exists today. After the war and airliners services it ended in VARIG's fleet and years latter placed in its museum located in Porto Alegre-Brazil. With Varig bankrupcy there are plans to moved it to PUC University at the same city. Sadly this was not done yet and this historical plane is rottening on open air
Good news: The plane was restored and will be placed in a aviation museum. Looks like new. It was the first DC-3 that came out of the factory in 1936 and first flew with American Airliners . Was retired in 1971 and placed in Varig's museum. Several buying proposals were refused and after the bankrupy was abandoned but the histoy of this unique plane is having a happy end.
+zeek g I think it was an original piece for the "Great Planes" soundtrack. Goes really well with the clip of the nurse tending the wounded, doesn't it?
5:42 so sad seeing them without masks I mean you would think they would know that the chemical smells bad you know it can't be good I know how it is though you're the one that wants to take care of yourself and everybody's going to stand there and make fun of you all look at him he's different
