Douglas C-47 Skytrain Poster
1
C M Y K { } Page ID dmax 97 90 75 50 25 10 3 dmin C K M Y C K M Y A14 0220 A14 l DAYTON DAILY NEWS ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2003 THE GREAT PLANES Douglas DC-3/C-47 The vertical tail and rudder area on the DC-3 was increased to solve directional control problems encountered in the DC-2. Sources: Band of Brothers by Stephen A. Ambrose (Simon & Schuster, 1992), C-47 Skytrain In Action by Larry Davis (Squadron/Signal Publications, 1995), Aircraft and Airports, Donald Clarke, ed. (Marshall Cavendish Books Ltd.), Flight, 100 Years of Aviation by R.G. Grant (Dorling Kindersley Ltd., 2002), http://www.daveswarbirds.com/usplanes/aircraft/skytrain.htm, http://www.grunts.net A series of special pages focusing on the significant machines, events and people of powered flight’s first 100 years Dayton Daily News In the mid-1960s the Air Force built 47 AC-47 (attack/cargo) “Spooky” gunships with several .30-caliber machine guns mounted in the rear fuselage to fill the need for a low, slow, night-flying support aircraft during the Vietnam War. The rear passenger door of the DC-3 was replaced with large split cargo doors on the C-47. The doors were often removed during operations. Manufacturer: Douglas Company C-47A Number ordered: More than 10,000 Span: 95 ft. 6 in. Length: 63 ft. 9 in. Height: 17 ft. Engine: Two 1,050 hp Pratt & Whitney 1830-92 Twin Wasp air-cooled radial engines Speed: 230 mph Passengers: 4 crew, 27 troops DC-3 Engine: Either two 1,000 hp Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasps or two 1,000 hp Wright SGR-1820 Cyclones Cruising speed: 185 mph Passengers: 21 passengers, 3 crew. 14 passengers in bunks for long distance night flights. Written and designed by Ted Pitts Photography by Skip Peterson For more information contact [email protected] View this and other pages in the Great Planes series at DaytonDailyNews.com Landing gear, when retracted, left the tires partially exposed so that an emergency landing could be made without too much damage even if the gear failed to lower. The DC-3 wingspan was 10 ft. wider than the DC-2, and the tips were tapered and rounded. The increased size allowed for additional internal fuel capacity, thereby increasing range. DC-3 engines, either two 1,000 hp Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasps or two 1,000 hp Wright SGR-1820 Cyclones, were replaced with more powerful 1200 hp War Emergency Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp engines. Specs&Stats CENTURY OF FLIGHT 1903 ~ 2003 "The bazooka, the jeep, the atom bomb, and the DC-3" was how Gen. Dwight Eisenhower described the pivotal equipment of the Allied victory in World War II. The C-47 in all its variations was the military version of the DC-3. It served as a heavy cargo and paratroop carrier, a seaplane, a glider, a glider tug, and post-WWII as an electronic reconnaissance plane and a gunship. Around 13,000 were produced, and their adaptability and reliability were legendary. The most numerous variant was the C-47A with a total of 5,233 produced. The major exterior changes to the DC-3 were the replacement of the rear passenger door with a large two- piece cargo door that opened outward from the middle both to the rear and to the front. Additionally, a smaller passenger door was inset into the front half of the larger door. The doors were often removed during operations. A small astrodome observation bubble was added to the top front of the fuselage just behind the cockpit, and the wingspan of the C-47 was six inches wider than the DC-3. The Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp radial engines each developed 200 more horsepower than their civilian counterparts. Inside, the passenger seats were replaced first with folding canvas seats attached to the interior of the fuselage, then later with folding metal seats. The C-47 continued its military service in Korea and as the AC-47, a radio and radar monitoring aircraft in Cold War Europe, and the EC-47N “Electric Goons” in the Vietnam War. Additionally, the Air Force built 47 AC- 47Ds (attack/cargo) variations of the C- 47, each with several .30-caliber machine guns mounted in the rear fuselage as low, slow, night-flying gunships designed to defend villages and hamlets in South Vietnam. The converted C-47s flew 5,000 missions and are credited with inflicting 50,000 to 75,000 casualties on Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops. A product of the United States Naval Academy (he dropped out after three years) and MIT (earning a four-year degree in aeronautical engineering in just two years), Donald W. Douglas became chief engineer of the Martin Airplane Company in 1915. After service as aircraft engineer in WWI and another stint with Martin, Douglas headed west in 1920 and formed Davis-Douglas Aircraft Co. with millionaire David Davis. The company quickly distinguished itself with military and commercial aircraft: The Army’s Douglas World Cruiser made the first around-the world-flight in 1924, and the Douglas M-1 Mailplane was the Air Mail Service standard. By 1928 the company was worth $28 million and designing some of the world’s finest planes: The DC-3 is considered the most successful aircraft ever built. Douglas sold the company to McDonnell in 1967. The Douglas Commercial Transport DC-1, designed and built by the Douglas Aircraft Co. in 1933, was a direct response to the introduction of the Boeing 247, developed for and offered exclusively to United Airlines. Transcontinental and Western Airlines (TWA) needed a competitive airplane and commissioned the DC-1. The new design, and that of the subsequent DC-2s and DC-3s, combined safety, speed and reliability, and added a new concept – passenger comfort. Its smooth ride and ease of maintenance – an engine could be completely replaced in less than two hours – threw open the door to the era of modern commercial passenger flight. American Airlines wanted a larger version of the DC-2 in use at TWA, and commissioned Douglas to produce what would become the DC-3. The Douglas Sleeper Transport had a larger cabin area and was wider, longer and capable of greater range than its predecessors. It could carry either 14 passengers in sleeper berths, or up to 28 in its day coach version. The DC-3 became the dominant passenger and cargo transport plane of the era. It was the first airplane to make a profit solely on passenger operations. By 1939, four-fifths of all American commercial transport planes were DC-3s, and three out of every four American airline passengers were flying in DC-3s, with 90 percent of all American airline passengers in either a DC-2 or DC-3. The Douglas company, on the wings of the DC-2 and DC-3, became the world’s largest civil aircraft manufacturer, a position it held until the 1950s. AIRBORNE INFANTRY Donald Douglas THE PLANE THAT CHANGED THE WORLD C-47 Skytrain “They were special in their values. They put a premium on physical well-being, hierarchical authority, and being part of an elite unit. They were idealists, eager to merge themselves into a group fighting for a cause, actively seeking an outfit with which they could identify, join, be a part of, relate to as family.” ~ Band of Brothers by Stephen E. Ambrose Among the most precious cargo carried by the WWII- era C-47s were the D-Day paratroopers dropped behind enemy lines on June 6, 1944 in the long-awaited attack to liberate western Europe from German occupation. The concept of airborne infantry first proposed by Gen. Billy Mitchell following WWI was not initially embraced by the United States military. After both the British and Germans successfully demonstrated the value of paratrooper infantry at the outset of war in Europe, however, the U.S. Army in 1940 authorized the raising of 2 Airborne Infantry Divisions; the 82nd Airborne and the 101st Airborne. At 10:15 p.m. June 5, 1944, 13,400 volunteer paratroopers boarded more than 1,000 C-47s and were dropped onto the Cherbourg Peninsula on the coast of occupied France - the 101st behind the area designated Utah Beach to help secure the beach for the main ship- borne invasion force and to defend against a German attack from the east, the 82nd farther inland to secure bridges and blunt any German counterattack from the west. Many of the C-47 pilots had no combat experience, and the formation broke up when they entered a cloud bank as they reached the coast of France. In an attempt to avoid German anti-aircraft fire, the planes carrying the 101st increased speed and dropped altitude near the drop zones. Consequently, many of the paratroopers jumped from 500 ft. and lower at speeds approaching 150 mph, hitting the ground hard within seconds of their chutes opening. Despite the confusion of the initial jump – only one sixth of the men of the 101st reached their destination points – the troops regrouped on the ground and were able to help secure the beachhead for the main invasion force. The 82nd fared slightly better, but half the force was left without much of their supplies. Until the final defeat of the Germans in Europe, the airborne infantry was at the forefront of the Allied advance, (the 17th Airborne Division later joined the 82nd and 101st) dealing with the worst conditions and taking heavy casualties. From the failed September 1944 Operation Market Garden assault on Arnhem, Holland, through the full fury of the German counteroffensive in the Ardennes forest at Bastogne, Belgium in December, 1944, and on into a defeated Germany in 1945, they distinguished themselves as among the best and bravest soldiers in American military history. 101st paratroopers prepare to board a C-47 transport for the D-Day invasion on June 5, 1944. WHAT THEY CARRIED D-Day paratroopers weighed in at 90-120 pounds over their body weight. Typically a parachutist jumped from the plane with: • M-1 Garand Rifle with 8-round clip, cartridge belt with canteen, hand grenades, parachute and pack, anti-flash headgear and gloves, pocket compass, machete, .45 caliber Colt automatic rifle, flares, message book, a loaded .45 automatic pistol, medical kit, knife, escape/survival kit, toggle rope, additional personal items, emergency rations including: 4 pieces of chewing gum, 2 bouillon cubes, 2 instant coffees, 2 sugar cubes, and creamers, 4 chocolate bars, 1 pack of candy, 1 package pipe tobacco, 1 bottle of water purification (Halazone) tablets to purify water. 20,000 paratroopers of the 101st, 82nd and British 1st Division dropped into Holland in September 1944 as part of the Operation Market Garden assault on Arnhem. The first American Airlines Douglas DST (Douglas Sleeper Transport) in 1936. This plane is considered the first of the profoundly successful DC-3 series.
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Transcript of Douglas C-47 Skytrain Poster
CMYK{ }Page
ID
dmax 97 90 75 50 25 10 3 dmin
CK
MYC
K
MY
A14 0220
A14 l DAYTON DAILY NEWS ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2003
THE GREAT PLANES
Dou
glas DC
-3/C-47
The vertical tail and rudder areaon the DC-3 was increased to solvedirectional control problem
sencountered in the DC-2.
Sources: Band of Brothers by Stephen A. Ambrose (Sim
on & Schuster, 1992), C-47 Skytrain In Action by Larry Davis(Squadron/Signal Publications, 1995), A
ircraft and Airports, Donald Clarke, ed. (Marshall Cavendish Books Ltd.), Flight,
100 Years of Aviation by R.G. Grant (Dorling Kindersley Ltd., 2002), http://www.daveswarbirds.com/usplanes/aircraft/skytrain.htm,http://www.grunts.net
A series of special pages focu
sing on
the sign
ificant m
achin
es, events an
d people of powered fligh
t’s first 100 years
DaytonD
ailyNew
s
In the mid-1960s the Air Force built 47 AC-47 (attack/cargo)
“Spooky” gunships with several .30-caliber machine guns
mounted in the rear fuselage to fill the need for a low, slow,
night-flying support aircraft during the Vietnam War.
The rear passenger door of the DC-3 was replaced withlarge split cargo doors on the C-47. The doors were oftenrem
oved during operations.
Manufacturer: Douglas Company
C-47ANum
ber ordered: More than 10,000Span: 95 ft. 6 in.Length: 63 ft. 9 in.Height: 17 ft.Engine: Two 1,050 hp Pratt & Whitney1830-92 Twin Wasp air-cooled radialenginesSpeed: 230 m
phPassengers: 4 crew, 27 troops
DC-3Engine: Either two 1,000 hp Pratt &Whitney Twin Wasps or two 1,000 hpWright SGR-1820 CyclonesCruising speed: 185 m
phPassengers: 21 passengers, 3
crew. 14 passengers inbunks for long distancenight flights.
Written and designed by T
ed Pitts
Photography by S
kip PetersonFor m
ore information contact tpitts@
coxohio.comView this and other pages in the Great Planes series
at DaytonDailyNews.com
Landing gear, when retracted, left the tires partially exposedso that an em
ergency landing could be made without too
much dam
age even if the gear failed to lower.
The DC-3 wingspan was 10 ft. wider than the DC-2, and thetips were tapered and rounded. The increased size allowedfor additional internal fuel capacity, thereby increasing range.
DC-3 engines, either two1,000 hp Pratt & WhitneyTwin Wasps or two 1,000 hpWright SGR-1820 Cyclones,were replaced with m
orepowerful 1200 hp WarEm
ergency Pratt & WhitneyTwin Wasp engines.
Specs&StatsC
EN
TU
RY O
F F
LIG
HT
1903 ~
2003
"The bazooka, the jeep, the atom bom
b,and the DC-3" was how Gen. DwightEisenhower described the pivotalequipm
ent of the Allied victory in WorldWar II. The C-47 in all its variations was them
ilitary version of the DC-3. It served as aheavy cargo and paratroop carrier, a
seaplane, a glider, a glider tug, andpost-WWII as an electronic
reconnaissance planeand a gunship.
Around 13,000were produced,
and theiradaptabilityand reliabilitywerelegendary.The m
ostnum
erousvariant was the
C-47A with atotal of 5,233
produced. The m
ajor exteriorchanges to the DC-3
were the replacement of the
rear passenger door with a large two-piece cargo door that opened outwardfrom
the middle both to the rear and to
the front. Additionally, a smaller passenger
door was inset into the front half of thelarger door. The doors were often rem
ovedduring operations. A sm
all astrodome observation bubble
was added to the top front of the fuselagejust behind the cockpit, and the wingspanof the C-47 was six inches wider than theDC-3. The Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp radialengines each developed 200 m
orehorsepower than their civiliancounterparts. Inside, the passenger seats werereplaced first with folding canvas seatsattached to the interior of the fuselage,then later with folding m
etal seats. The C-47 continued its m
ilitary servicein Korea and as the AC-47, a radio andradar m
onitoring aircraft in Cold WarEurope, and the EC-47N “Electric Goons”in the Vietnam
War. Additionally, the Air Force built 47 AC-47Ds (attack/cargo) variations of the C-47, each with several .30-caliber m
achineguns m
ounted in the rear fuselage as low,slow, night-flying gunships designed todefend villages and ham
lets in SouthVietnam
. The converted C-47s flew 5,000m
issions and are credited with inflicting50,000 to 75,000 casualties on Viet Congand North Vietnam
ese troops.
A product of the United States NavalAcadem
y (he dropped out after threeyears) and MIT (earning a four-yeardegree in aeronautical engineering in justtwo years), Donald W
. Douglas became
chief engineer of the Martin AirplaneCom
pany in 1915. After service as aircraftengineer in W
WI and another stint
with Martin, Douglas headedwest in 1920 and form
edDavis-Douglas AircraftCo. with m
illionaireDavid Davis. Thecom
pany quicklydistinguished itselfwith m
ilitary andcom
mercial
aircraft: The Army’s
Douglas World
Cruiser made the
first around-theworld-flight in 1924,and the Douglas M-1Mailplane was the Air MailService standard. By 1928 thecom
pany was worth $28 million and
designing some of the world’s finest
planes: The DC-3 is considered the most
successful aircraft ever built. Douglassold the com
pany to McDonnell in 1967.
The Douglas Comm
ercial Transport DC-1,designed and built by the Douglas AircraftCo. in 1933, was a direct response to theintroduction of the Boeing 247, developedfor and offered exclusively to United Airlines.Transcontinental and W
estern Airlines (TWA)
needed a competitive airplane and
comm
issioned the DC-1. The new design, and that of the subsequentDC-2s and DC-3s, com
bined safety, speedand reliability, and added a new concept –passenger com
fort. Its smooth ride and ease
of maintenance – an engine could be
completely replaced in less than two hours
– threw open the door to the era of modern
comm
ercial passenger flight. Am
erican Airlines wanted a larger versionof the DC-2 in use at TW
A, and comm
issionedDouglas to produce what would becom
e the
DC-3. The Douglas Sleeper Transport had alarger cabin area and was wider, longer andcapable of greater range than itspredecessors. It could carry either 14passengers in sleeper berths, or up to 28 inits day coach version. The DC-3 becam
e the dominant passenger
and cargo transport plane of the era. It wasthe first airplane to m
ake a profit solely onpassenger operations. By 1939, four-fifthsof all Am
erican comm
ercial transport planeswere DC-3s, and three out of every fourAm
erican airline passengers were flying inDC-3s, with 90 percent of all Am
erican airlinepassengers in either a DC-2 or DC-3. The Douglas com
pany, on the wings ofthe DC-2 and DC-3, becam
e the world’s largestcivil aircraft m
anufacturer, a position it helduntil the 1950s.
AIRBORNE IN
FANTRY
Donald D
ouglas
TH
E P
LA
NE
TH
AT
CH
AN
GE
D T
HE
WO
RLD
C-4
7 Skytrain
“They were special in their values. They put a premium
onphysical well-being, hierarchical authority, and being partof an elite unit. They were idealists, eager to m
ergethem
selves into a group fighting for a cause, activelyseeking an outfit with which they could identify, join, bea part of, relate to as fam
ily.”~ B
and of Brothers by Stephen E. Am
brose Am
ong the most precious cargo carried by the WWII-
era C-47s were the D-Day paratroopers dropped behindenem
y lines on June 6, 1944 in the long-awaited attack toliberate western Europe from
German occupation.
The concept of airborne infantry first proposed by Gen. BillyMitchell following WWI was not initially em
braced by the UnitedStates m
ilitary. After both the British and Germans successfully
demonstrated the value of paratrooper infantry at the outset
of war in Europe, however, the U.S. Army in 1940 authorized
the raising of 2 Airborne Infantry Divisions; the 82ndAirborne and the 101st Airborne. At 10:15 p.m
. June 5, 1944, 13,400 volunteerparatroopers boarded m
ore than 1,000 C-47s and weredropped onto the Cherbourg Peninsula on the coast ofoccupied France - the 101st behind the area designatedUtah Beach to help secure the beach for the m
ain ship-borne invasion force and to defend against a Germ
anattack from
the east, the 82nd farther inland to securebridges and blunt any Germ
an counterattack from the
west. Many of the C-47 pilots had no com
bat experience,and the form
ation broke up when they entered a cloudbank as they reached the coast of France. In an attem
ptto avoid Germ
an anti-aircraft fire, the planes carrying the101st increased speed and dropped altitude near the dropzones. Consequently, m
any of the paratroopers jumped
from 500 ft. and lower at speeds approaching 150 m
ph,hitting the ground hard within seconds of their chutesopening. Despite the confusion of the initial jum
p – onlyone sixth of the m
en of the 101st reached their destinationpoints – the troops regrouped on the ground and wereable to help secure the beachhead for the m
ain invasionforce. The 82nd fared slightly better, but half the forcewas left without m
uch of their supplies. Until the final defeat of the Germ
ans in Europe, theairborne infantry was at the forefront of the Allied advance,(the 17th Airborne Division later joined the 82nd and101st) dealing with the worst conditions and taking heavycasualties. From
the failed September 1944 Operation
Market Garden assault on Arnhem, Holland, through the
full fury of the German counteroffensive in the Ardennes
forest at Bastogne, Belgium in Decem
ber, 1944, and oninto a defeated Germ
any in 1945, they distinguishedthem
selves as among the best and bravest soldiers in
American m
ilitary history.
101st paratroopers prepare to board a C-47 transportfor the D-Day invasion on June 5, 1944.
WH
AT
TH
EY
CA
RR
IED
D-D
ay paratroopers weighed in at 90
-120 pounds
over their body weight. Typically a parachutist
jumped from
the plane with:
• M-1 Garand Rifle with 8-round clip, cartridge belt
with canteen, hand grenades, parachute and pack,anti-flash headgear and gloves, pocket com
pass,m
achete, .45 caliber Colt automatic rifle, flares,
message book, a loaded .45 autom
atic pistol, medical
kit, knife, escape/survival kit, toggle rope, additionalpersonal item
s, emergency rations including: 4 pieces
of chewing gum, 2 bouillon cubes, 2 instant coffees,
2 sugar cubes, and creamers, 4 chocolate bars, 1 pack
of candy, 1 package pipe tobacco, 1 bottle of waterpurification (Halazone) tablets to purify water.
20,000 paratroopers of the 101st, 82nd and British 1st Division dropped into Holland in Septem
ber 1944 aspart of the Operation M
arket Garden assault on Arnhem.
The first American Airlines Douglas DST (Douglas Sleeper Transport) in 1936. This
plane is considered the first of the profoundly successful DC-3 series.
