Remove Before Flight
We spotted this rather well-preserved Douglas DC-2 at the airport in Lido, California. What struck me where the number of rivets and sections of aluminum that made the skin this superb aircraft. This is a view from the rear of the aircraft. Give its immense size and where it was parked, it was impossible to get the entire plane in view.
The Douglas DC-2 was a 12-seat, twin-propeller airliner produced by the American company Douglas Aircraft Corporation starting in 1934. It competed with the Boeing 247. In 1935 Douglas produced a larger version called the DC-3, which became one of the most successful aeroplanes in history.
In the early 1930s, fears about the safety of wooden aircraft structures (responsible for the crash of a Fokker Trimotor compelled the American aviation industry to develop all-metal types. With United Airlines having a monopoly on the Boeing 247, rival Transcontinental and Wester Air issued a specification for an all-metal .
The response of Douglas was more radical. When it flew on July 1, 1933, the prototype, DC-1 had a highly robust tapered wing, a retractable undercarriage, and only two 690 hp (515 kW) radial engines driving variable-pitch propellers! www.kerstenbeck.com
Nice use of color selection and detail. By the looks of it though, it was not removed and thus pretty battered.
April 17, 2011 at 9:29 pm
I like aviation images almost as much as I like train images. Great image.
April 20, 2011 at 9:58 pm