Douglas DC-3
1935 airliner family
The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner that was manufactured by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It had a lasting effect on the airline industry from the 1930s through World War II.
It was developed as a larger, improved, 14-bed sleeper version of the Douglas DC-2.
It is a low-wing metal monoplane with conventional landing gear, powered by two radial piston engines of 1,000–1,200 hp (750–890 kW). Although the DC-3s originally built for civil service had the Wright R-1820 Cyclone, later civilian DC-3s used the Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp engine.
The DC-3 has a cruising speed of 207 mph (333 km/h), a capacity of 21 to 32 passengers or 6,000 lb (2,700 kg) of cargo, and a range of 1,500 mi (2,400 km); it can operate from short runways.
The DC-3 had many exceptional qualities compared to previous aircraft. It was fast, had a good range, was more reliable, and carried passengers in greater comfort. Before World War II, it pioneered many air travel routes. It was able to cross the continental United States from New York to Los Angeles in 18 hours, with only three stops.
It is one of the first airliners that could profitably carry only passengers without relying on mail subsidies.
“Douglas DC-3” enters the record as 1935 airliner family. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Douglas, DC-3 and airliner can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q190211. The Library of Congress control number is sh85039197. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1820 and 1830.
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