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Buried
for months in snow on a glacier in Iceland,
a C-47 was abandoned by the Air Force as hopelessly
unsalvageable. But the owners of Icelandic
Airlines dug it out and flew it home - on
engines and batteries still able to operate
after the long freeze.
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Military
DC-3's (C-47's) were a hardy lot. In World
War II, a Japanese kamikaze pilot tried to
shoot one down, then, unable to do so, rammed
it. The kamikaze crashed; the undaunted C-47,
with a gaping hole in the mid upper fuselage,
shorn of much of its cabin, merely shrugged
and staggered on home, a bit drafty but safe.
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In
another wartime skirmish, a Japanese Zero
collided with a C-47, slicing off most of
its rudder. The Zero plunged to earth, while
the tailless C-47 managed to wallow back to
base, being officially credited with an enemy
"kill" by downing the hapless Zero.
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A
mid-air collision clipped five feet from one
wing of a Capital Airlines DC-3, yet its pilot
brought it down reasonably intact, its passengers
and crew safe.
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A
C-47 ran out of fuel with all its crew bailing
out, only to learn later that the aircraft
had landed gently all by itself in a meadow
several miles from where the crew had deserted
her.
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A
Chinese DC-3 grounded because of engine trouble,
was strafed by five Japanese fighters that
shot more than 3,000 bullet holes in its wings
and fuselage. Its engines more or less repaired
and the bullet holes patched with canvas and
improvised glue, the plane took off and ran
into a heavy rainstorm. The engines were running
roughly, belching out huge streaks of blue
and orange flame. The rain-washed away the
cobbled up bullet hole patches, setting up
a load eerie whistling noise as the aircraft
staggered homeward. A patrol of six enemy
fighters jumped the stricken transport, but
suddenly broke off the attack without firing
a single shot. Safely down, the planes crew
monitored a Tokyo broadcast that described
a new Allied secret weapon that "spouts
of steam of flame and screeches in horrible
tones as it flies."
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Designed
to carry a maximum of no more than 30 passengers,
one C-47 in Burma during the war somehow managed
to board a total of 74, including the then-Lt.
Col. Jimmy Doolittle, who was enroute home
from his famous bombing raid on Tokyo.
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In
Brazil, a DC-3 once wallowed into the air
with 93 flood victims aboard, a feat that
effectively contradicts aerodynamic principles
as basic as two and two equals four.
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500,000
rivets were used in the DC-3. If the rivets
were laid end to end, they would cover more
than three miles long.
¢ 3,600 blueprints were used for the
making of the DC-3 and if laid on the floor,
they would cover approximately 28,000 square
feet.
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The
total length of control cables for a DC-3
is over half a mile long.
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The
lighting system of each DC-3 plane was sufficient
to light an eight-room house. More than 90
lights were used in each plane. 1,517 watts
are required. To light an ordinary room in
those days only 100 watts was required.
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Approximately
6,000 men and women were employed in building
a DC-3.
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Material
used for sound insulation in the DC-3 and
the DST "Sleeper" weighed 240 pounds.
Blankets and mattresses weighed another 195
pounds.
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3,900
feet of tubing, 8,000 feet of wire and approximately
13,300 square feet of sheet metal were used
in the construction of each DC-3.
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The
heating and ventilation used in the DC-3 dispensed
1,000 cubic feet of air per minute on a warm
day. As it took a little more than 15 hours
to fly from Los Angeles to New York, 900,000
cubic feet of air passed through the cabin
or 60,000 to 75,000 pounds of air were utilized
on the trip, depending on the altitude flown.
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More
than 120,000 BTUs were delivered to the cabin
of a DC-3 on a cold day. On a flight to NY
from LA, 1,800,000 BTUs were delivered during
the 15 hours the plane was in the air. The
boiler weighed 17 pounds and evaporated 15
gallons of water an hour. Approximately 225
gallons of water were evaporated from LA to
NY. Only six quarts of water are carried in
the heating system where it was continuously
evaporated and condensed.
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A
radiator capable of heating air from 4 degrees
F. to 200 degrees F. was installed in every
DC-3. The air passed through the radiator
at a speed of 3,000 feet a minute and since
the radiator was only a foot long, it took
only 1/50 of a second to heat the air from
4 to 200 degrees. The radiator weighed 36
pounds.
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Heating
a DC-3 in the air was the equivalent of heating
a building in a 200-mph wind at a 35-degree
outside temperature.
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Approximately
700,000 parts were used in the construction
of the DC-3. This is exclusive of instruments
and engine parts and exclusive also of the
500,000 rivets used on each plane.
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The
engines powering the DC-3 weighed 1,275 pounds
each or a total of 2,550 pounds. This weight
alone is a striking contrast to the payload
available on some of the early airmail planes
flown which was around 250 pounds.
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At
a cruise speed of 180-mph at 10,000 feet each
engine developed 550 hp. Ninety-one gallons
of fuel were used each hour giving approximately
2 miles per gallon.
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