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The airplanes that would'nt die: first in a new series on the classics.

Article Excerpt
With the advent of the Douglas DC-3's 70th Anniversary this past December 17th, much has been written in all the world's aviation publications in great detail about the genesis and operational history of this classic and timeless flying machine. With that in mind, we here at WINGS & AIRPOWER would like to try something different for a change, bringing a new slant to a familiar story, and focusing on not just what the DC-3 did in its airline and military careers, but why it has lasted all these years and why it is seemingly irreplaceable to this day.

The Great Race

To set the stage, we must look at the relationship of two great aircraft manufacturers throughout aviation history. While it is highly ironic that Boeing and Douglas have been so closely intertwined since the humble beginnings of each company, there is no mistaking the fact that Boeing has emerged victorious as the sole aircraft manufacturer left in the U.S. building commercial airliners. To put this undisputable fact into perspective, we must remember that it wasn't always so. In the heady years of the 'Golden Age' for instance, no less than ten companies in the United States built airliners. From Fokker to Curtiss, and Stinson to Sikorsky, airliner manufacturers strove to build new improved machines that could fly higher, farther, and faster than the previous best airplane on the market.

In the early-1930s, boxkite-like Curtiss Condors and the last of the corrugated metal Ford Tri-Motors were still plying the nation's primitive airways system. Hazardous risks such as bad-weather or nighttime operations in mountainous terrain not withstanding, these machines were indeed capable of getting the burgeoning traveling public from point A to point B in relative comfort and with ample speed for that time period. However, one bad highly-publicized airline crash with resultant loss of life did more to set back all that hard-earned progress than anyone could have ever imagined.

Lockheed came on the scene with its brilliant laminated-wood...

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