RadioBanter - View Single Post

DhiaDuit · August 20th 13, 10:59 PM posted to rec.radio.shortwave

On Tuesday, August 20, 2013 4:37:20 PM UTC-5, DhiaDuit wrote:
On Tuesday, August 20, 2013 4:29:12 PM UTC-5, matt weber wrote:

On Tue, 20 Aug 2013 00:33:57 -0500, "D. Peter Maus"

wrote:

On 8/18/13 14:10 , wrote:

C-47(actually a DC-3) must be the most reliable plane in existence. They are still being used today in several countries . It is an amazing piece of machinery.

Many of the radial engines used for C-47's are no longer serviceable

for civilian use, and are limited to public use, which does not require

the stringent standards of civilian service maintenance schedules.

A good number of the C-47's still flying have been converted to turbo

prop engines. They are eerily quiet when flying overhead.

My experience with that aircraft came in the late 60's when Northwest

was flying DC-3's and I was a passenger from Minneapolis to Huron

South Dakota. Those twin 9 cylinder Wright Cyclones were astonishingly

loud in the cabin, and the aircraft was very rough flying. I didn't stop

hurling until two hours after we landed. Like early V-tail Bonanza's,

the DC-3 would fishtail in straight and level flight. It was like riding

in the back of a 63 Galaxy on the interstate.

Finger lickin' unpleasant.

But still, one of the most historically significant aircraft ever built.

My recollection is NW retired their DC-3 well before the late 1960's

(I was living in Madison at the time).By the late 1960's they were

operating L-188's and 707's and 727's.

I suspect the aircraft you were on was actually North Central

Airlines, who did operate DC3 into the late 1960's in may of the same

places NW flew. In fact if you went to Huron, I'd bet it was North

Central rather than NW.

Google,,, Nazi Concentration Camp Footage Warning Graphic Images Youtube Google,,, Dwight David Eisenhower on the Jeep, Dakota, and Landing Craft (Dakota... Douglas DC 3, Bulldozers too)

Google,,, Restored WWII Dakota