Sixty glorious years

by Arthur Pearcy

In 1935, six decades ago, Donald W. Douglas set out to build a fast, comfortable airliner designed for carrying passengers on coast-to-coast routes in the USA. Little did he and his team envision that this ubiquitous workhorse would battle in at least three major conflicts, fly to the ends of the earth, landing at both North and South Poles, and become the standard transport of the world's airlines. The DC-3 was indeed ahead of its time. Yet, when it took off on its maiden flight on 17 December 1935, it was not even a front page event. After World War II the surplus aircraft market was flooded by C-47 Skytrains. This market was ripe for those who had earnest desires to establish new airlines. The 'local service airline system' in the USA was born of the determination of men with foresight and a real understanding of the need for air transportation to support small and intermediate-size townships. Production of the DC-3 ceased in 1946, and as early as 1942 the civil aviation agency in t