Photo: Krazations
The DC-3 taught the world to fly - but she had an extraordinary, almost uncaring birth: The man who wanted her couldn’t afford her, the man who built her was reluctant to build her and the men who first flew her on December 17th, 1935, didn’t bother to arrange a photographer to capture one of aviation’s greatest moments.
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Legendary American Airlines’ President Cyrus Smith who wanted the DC-3 as a sleeper transport was in “a cold sweat because he just didn’t have the money to pay for them,” according to Donald Douglas Sr., famed founder of Douglas Aircraft Company in a 1965 interview.
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But Mr. Smith was persuasive and ordered 20 of the larger DC-3s that would have 50 percent more capacity than its smaller sibling, so Mr. Douglas gave in. As Mr. Smith did not have the money, he flew to Washington to successfully beg a colleague who ran President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Reconstruction Finance Corporation for a $4.5 million loan.
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Read the whole story here and watch the video:
https://www.airlineratings.com/news/love-flying-will-love-dc-3-video/
https://www.airlineratings.com/news/love-flying-will-love-dc-3-video/
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