The Douglas DC-3 (Dakota,"Gooney Bird",C-47 'Skytrain") was one of the most popular aircraft ever built. Over 10,000 were built and many are still flying 80 years on. However, there was only ever ONE DC-1 built. This is that story.
The Ford Trimotor was all metal. I'd never heard before that it was subject to the same periodic testing that essentially grounded the wooden Fokkers. The Experimental Aircraft Association or an affiliate still flies two Ford Trimotors today. It was slow, with a poor range, only carried 10 passengers, was not commercially viable for these reasons.
Would you please re-do this vid and either get much closer to the microphone or have someone narrate it who has some experience in narrating. Thank you for digging up all this wonderful information but I can barely understand anything you are saying.
The Boeing 247 was a revolutionary plane, but its fuselage was too small, so the main wing spars protruded through the passenger compartment, meaning the floor had a step in it. Douglas enlarged the fuselage enough so the main spars could be run under the floor resulting in a flat floor, from tail to cockpit. That was difference that froze Boeing out of the airliner market.
