Brian Perkins

Drop Zone

Workhorse.

The subject here isn&apos;t paratroopers but the DC-3 or, in Army Air Force lingo, the C-47. The original version was the DC-2, which appeared in the 1930s. As an airliner it was relatively small and slow. The DC-3 appeared in 1935, a larger version of the DC-2 converted into a kind of flying bus or railroad car. It carried more passengers, at first in fourteen sleeping berths. then in seats. Adopted by American Airlines, it was converted to a 21-seat day plane and traveled from New York City to Chicago in four hours, compared to the railroad&apos;s eighteen.

With America&apos;s entry into the war in 1941, many of the airplanes were drafted into the Armed Forces and called the C-47. The sleek and gleaming airplanes were stripped of their seats, painted olive drab, and fitted out as cargo or troop carriers. They proved to be easy to fly (a &quot;forgiving&quot; airplane in pilot-talk), cheap to build, easy to maintain, rugged, and comfortable. I flew in one from Edwards Air Force Base in California to Griffiss AFB in Rome, New York. My seat mate was a pretty young Air Force enlisted woman, with whom I was happy to share an oxygen mask as we flew over the Rocky Mountains.

It was a highly respected airplane. Some of them are still in service around the world.

The subject here isn't paratroopers but the DC-3 or, in Army Air Force lingo, the C-47. The original version was the DC-2, which appeared in the 1930s. As an airliner it was relatively small and slow. The DC-3 appeared in 1935, a larger version of the DC-2 converted into a kind of flying bus or railroad car. It carried more passengers, at first in fourteen sleeping berths. then in seats. Adopted by American Airlines, it was converted to a 21-seat day plane and traveled from New York City to Chicago in four hours, compared to the railroad's eighteen.

With America's entry into the war in 1941, many of the airplanes were drafted into the Armed Forces and called the C-47. The sleek and gleaming airplanes were stripped of their seats, painted olive drab, and fitted out as cargo or troop carriers. They proved to be easy to fly (a "forgiving" airplane in pilot-talk), cheap to build, easy to maintain, rugged, and comfortable. I flew in one from Edwards Air Force Base in California to Griffiss AFB in Rome, New York. My seat mate was a pretty young Air Force enlisted woman, with whom I was happy to share an oxygen mask as we flew over the Rocky Mountains.

It was a highly respected airplane. Some of them are still in service around the world.

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