The Douglas DC-3 and Its Predecessors

The Douglas DC-3 or Dakota has probably had more written about it than any other airliner. However, this is the first time that the lives of all DC-3s built have been covered in one volume. The early part of the book covers the development and specifications of the many variants built, starting with the DC-1 and DC-2. There follow sections covering military and commercial usage, their units and airlines. There are indeed so many of the latter that the list has had to be limited to those that have operated scheduled services and charter operations. These sections act as indices for the many DC-3s built, as there is no way in which an alphabetical or numerical index could be anything but cumbersome. The last and largest section is the production list itself in which each aircraft built is traced from the factory to its final fate - so far as presently available records will allow forty years after the aircraft left the line. As will be obvious here, there is still scope for research, and this volume is, above all, a research document. Smaller sections cover preserved aircraft and a bibliography. Over 300 photographs and line drawings, many of them never before published, complete the work.