Douglas DC - 3 The Douglas DC - 3 is a fixed - wing propeller - driven airliner . Its speed and range revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s . Its lasting impact on the airline industry and World War II makes it one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made . The major military version was designated the C - 47 Skytrain , of which more than 10 , 000 were produced . Many DC - 3s and converted C - 47s are still used in all parts of the world . Design and development . The designation " DC " stands for " Douglas Commercial " . The DC - 3 was the culmination of a development effort that originated out of an inquiry from Transcontinental and Western Airlines ( TWA ) to Donald Douglas . TWA ' s rival in transcontinental air service , United Airlines , was inaugurating service with the Boeing 247 and Boeing refused to sell any 247s to other airlines until United ' s order for 60 aircraft had been filled . TWA asked Douglas to design and build an aircraft that would enable TWA to compete with United . Douglas ' resulting design , the 1933 DC - 1 , was promising , and led to the DC - 2 in 1934 . While the DC - 2 was a success , there was still room for improvement . The DC - 3 was the result of a marathon telephone call from American Airlines CEO C . R . Smith to Donald Douglas , during which Smith persuaded a reluctant Douglas to design a sleeper aircraft based on the DC - 2 to replace American ' s Curtiss Condor II biplanes . Douglas agreed to go ahead with development only after Smith informed him of American ' s intention to purchase twenty aircraft . The new aircraft was engineered by a team led by chief engineer Arthur E . Raymond over the next two years , and the prototype DST ( for Douglas Sleeper Transport ) first flew on December 17 , 1935 ( the 32nd anniversary of the Wright Brothers ' flight at Kitty Hawk , North Carolina ) . A version with 21 passenger seats instead of the sleeping berths of the DST was also designed and given the designation DC - 3 . There was no prototype DC - 3 ; the first DC - 3 built followed seven DSTs off the production line and was delivered to American . The amenities of the DC - 3 and DST popularized air travel in the United States . With only three refueling stops , eastbound transcontinental flights crossing the U . S . in approximately 15 hours became possible . Westbound trips took 17 hours due to prevailing headwinds — still a significant improvement over the competing Boeing 247 . During an earlier era , such a trip would entail short hops in slower and shorter - range aircraft during the day , coupled with train travel overnight . A variety of radial engines were available for the DC - 3 throughout the course of its development . Early - production civilian aircraft used Wright R - 1820 Cyclone 9s , but later aircraft ( and most military versions ) used the Pratt & Whitney R - 1830 Twin Wasp which offered better high - altitude and single engine performance . Three DC - 3S " Super DC - 3s " with Pratt & Whitney R - 2000 Twin Wasp s were built in the late 1940s . Production . Total production of all derivatives was 16 , 079 . More than 400 remained in commercial service in 1998 . Production was as follows : Production of civil DC - 3s ceased in 1942 ; military versions were produced until the end of the war in 1945 . In 1949 , a larger , more powerful Super DC - 3 was launched to positive reviews . However , the civilian market was flooded with second - hand C - 47s , many of which were converted to passenger and cargo versions . As a result only three Super DC - 3s were built and delivered for commercial use the following year . The prototype Super DC - 3 served the US Navy with the designation YC - 129 alongside 100 R4Ds that had been upgraded to the Super DC - 3 specification . Turboprop conversions . From the early 1950s , some DC - 3s were modified to use Rolls - Royce Dart engines , as in the Conroy Turbo Three . Other conversions featured Armstrong Siddeley Mamba and Pratt & Whitney PT6 A turbines . The Dodson International Turbo Dakota DC - 3 is a conversion with an extended fuselage and with Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A - 65AR engines fitted . The Basler BT - 67 is a conversion of the DC - 3 / C - 47 . Basler refurbishes C - 47s and DC - 3s at Oshkosh , Wisconsin , fitting them with Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A - 67R turboprop engines , lengthening the fuselage by with a fuselage plug ahead of the wing and strengthening the airframe in selected areas . Braddick Specialised Air Services International PTY Ltd in South Africa is another company able to perform a Pratt & Whitney PT6 turboprop conversion of DC - 3s . Over 50 DC - 3 / C - 47s / 65ARTP / 67RTP / 67FTPs have been modified . Conroy Aircraft also made a three engine conversion with Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 called the Conroy Tri - Turbo - Three . Operational history . American Airlines inaugurated passenger service on June 26 , 1936 , with simultaneous flights from Newark , N . J . and Chicago , IL . Early U . S . airlines like American , United , TWA and Eastern ordered over 400 DC - 3s . These fleets paved the way for the modern American air travel industry , quickly replacing trains as the favored means of long - distance travel across the United States . A nonprofit group , Flagship Detroit Foundation , continues to operate the only original American Airlines Flagship DC - 3 with air show and airport visits throughout the U . S . In 1936 , KLM Royal Dutch Airlines received their first DC - 3 , which replaced the DC - 2 in service from Amsterdam via Batavia ( now Jakarta ) to Sydney , by far the longest scheduled route in the world at the time . The first airline in Latin America to use DC - 3s was Cubana de Aviación , initially placing them in service on domestic routes , and then using them to start their first scheduled international service from Havana to Miami in 1945 . This was the first scheduled service to Miami by a Latin American airline . Cubana used DC - 3s on some domestic routes well into the 1960s . Piedmont Airlines operated DC - 3 / C - 47s from 1948 to 1963 . A DC - 3 painted in the representative markings of Piedmont , operated by the Carolinas Aviation Museum , was retired from flight in March 2011 . Both Delta Air Lines and Continental Airlines once operated commemorative DC - 3s wearing period markings . During World War II , many civilian DC - 3s were drafted for the war effort and just over 10 , 000 US military versions of the DC - 3 were built , under the designations C - 47 , C - 53 , R4D , and Dakota . Peak production was reached in 1944 , with 4 , 853 being delivered . The armed forces of many countries used the DC - 3 and its military variants for the transport of troops , cargo , and wounded . Licensed copies of the DC - 3 were built in Japan as Showa L2D ( 487 aircraft ) and in the USSR as the Lisunov Li - 2 ( 4 , 937 aircraft ) Thousands of surplus C - 47s , previously operated by several air forces , were converted for civilian use after the war and became the standard equipment of almost all the world ' s airlines , remaining in front line service for many years . The ready availability of cheap , easily maintained ex - military C - 47s , both large and fast by the standards of the day , jump - started the worldwide post - war air transport industry . While aviation in pre - war Continental Europe had used the metric system , the overwhelming dominance of C - 47s and other US war - surplus types cemented the use of nautical miles , knots and feet in post - war aviation throughout the world . Douglas developed an improved version , the " Super DC - 3 " , with more engine power , greater cargo capacity and a different wing , but with all the bargain - priced surplus aircraft available , they did not sell well in the civil aviation market . Only five were delivered , three of them to Capital Airlines . The U . S . Navy had 100 of their early R4Ds converted to Super DC - 3 standard during the early 1950s as the R4D - 8 , later C - 117D . The last U . S . Navy C - 117 was retired July 12 , 1976 . The last U . S . Marine Corps C - 117 , serial 50835 , was retired from active service during June 1982 . Several remained in service with small airlines in North and South America in 2006 . A number of aircraft companies attempted to design a " DC - 3 replacement " over the next three decades ( including the very successful Fokker F27 Friendship ) , but no single type could match the versatility , rugged reliability and economy of the DC - 3 . It remained a significant part of air transport systems well into the 1970s . Douglas DC - 3 today . There are still small operators with DC - 3s in revenue service and as cargo aircraft . The common saying among aviation buffs and pilots is that " the only replacement for a DC - 3 is another DC - 3 " . The aircraft ' s legendary ruggedness is enshrined in the lighthearted description of the DC - 3 as " a collection of parts flying in loose formation . " Its ability to take off and land on grass or dirt runways makes it popular in developing countries , where runways are not always paved . Some uses of the DC - 3 include aerial spraying , freight transport , passenger service , military transport , missionary flying , and sport skydiving shuttling and sightseeing . Perhaps unique among prewar aircraft , the DC - 3 is in daily use . The very large number of civil and military operators of the DC - 3 / C - 47s and related types , means that a listing of all the airlines , air forces and other current operators is impractical . As of 2012 , DC - 3 # 10 is still used daily for flights in Colombia . Buffalo Airways , based in Canada ' s Northwest Territories , operates scheduled DC - 3 passenger service between their main base in Yellowknife and Hay River , plus some passenger charter operations , using DC - 3s . Some DC - 3s are also used by the airline for cargo operations . The oldest surviving DST is N133D , the sixth Douglas Sleeper Transport built in 1936 . This aircraft was delivered to American Airlines on July 12 , 1936 as NC16005 . The aircraft is at Shell Creek Airport ( F13 ) , Punta Gorda , Florida , where it is undergoing restoration . The aircraft will be restored back to Douglas Sleeper Transport standards , and full airworthiness . The oldest DC - 3 still flying is the original American Airlines " Flagship Detroit " ( c / n 1920 , # 34 off the Santa Monica production line ) , which can be seen at airshows around the United States and is owned and operated by the nonprofit Flagship Detroit Foundation . Basic price of a new DC - 3 in 1936 was around £18 - 23 , 000 and by 1960 used examples were available for £25 , 000 . A 1943 DC - 3 was installed as a major design element atop architectural renovations at The Roasterie in Kansas City , Missouri .