Douglas DC-3 / C-47 Dakota Transport Aircraft Family
The Douglas DC-3 family transformed scheduled air transport with a reliable, all-metal twin-engine design that could carry passengers profitably without mail subsidy. First flown in 1935, it developed from the DST sleeper transport into the 21-seat DC-3 and a large military and license-built derivative line including the C-47 Skytrain, RAF Dakota, Soviet Li-2, and Japanese L2D; more than 13,000 civil and military examples were produced and many remain in flightworthy service.
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Identity
- Aliases
- Douglas DSTDouglas Sleeper TransportDouglas Commercial 3DC-3C-47 SkytrainDakotaR4DLisunov Li-2Showa L2D
- Family Name
- Douglas DC-3
- Full Name
- Douglas DC-3 / C-47 Dakota Transport Aircraft Family
- Roles
- airlinercargomilitaryutility
- Status
- active
- Type
- aircraft
Details
- Aircraft Specs
- Configuration
- fixed_wing
- Max Takeoff Mass Kg
- 11,431
- Operating Modes
- land
- Takeoff Landing Capabilities
- conventional
- Description
- The Douglas DC-3 family transformed scheduled air transport with a reliable, all-metal twin-engine design that could carry passengers profitably without mail subsidy. First flown in 1935, it developed from the DST sleeper transport into the 21-seat DC-3 and a large military and license-built derivative line including the C-47 Skytrain, RAF Dakota, Soviet Li-2, and Japanese L2D; more than 13,000 civil and military examples were produced and many remain in flightworthy service.
- Dimensions
- Height M
- 5.16
- Wingspan M
- 29
- First Flight Year
- 1,935
- Manufacturer
- Propulsion Configurations
- Entries
- Count
- 2
- Placement
- wing
- Propulsion System
- Role
- main
- Variant Notes
- Canonical family-level Wright R-1820 Cyclone 9 relationship; the Smithsonian identifies two cowled Wright SGR-1820 engines on the original DC-3 design.
- Name
- Civil Wright Cyclone configuration
- Notes
- The original DST/DC-3 civil family used two Wright Cyclone radial engines; exact SGR-1820 suffixes vary by production block.
- Entries
- Count
- 2
- Placement
- wing
- Propulsion System
- Role
- main
- Variant Notes
- Canonical family-level Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp relationship; suffixes and license-built installations vary across C-47/Dakota and overseas derivatives.
- Name
- Military and license-built Twin Wasp configuration
- Notes
- C-47, Li-2, L2D, and other production blocks used Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp variants.
Links
- Wikipedia Url
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_DC-3
Assets & Meta
- Creation Time
- April 26, 2026 at 14:27:38 UTC
- Updated Time
- July 30, 2026 at 21:52:00 UTC
- Image
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