It has been a while...
I haven't been near a DC-3 since 1981 and I wasn't an expert then. From what I remember, though, the prop feathering system used this ginormous electric motor that must have been designed for some sort of light truck driving an oil pump, all of this improvisation living in the dim and greasy recesses of the gear well, times two. It sure did look agricultural, designed when full-feathering propellers were state-of-the-art along with metal main spars. Too there is that idea of MTBF that makes me prefer new bits to old bits.
I have been lucky to work, for the most part, flying people who had no alternative to that. Air travel in Africa is often non-discretionary shall we say? The idea of flying people who are there just to take a flight seems strange to me, sort of like standing there on the platform with group of train-spotters when I just want to get someplace on the damned thing, not see that it is Engine Number 3486.
That said, I hope this latest fight goes well for those who want to operate the DC-3. If they need someone who still remembers which handle is which back behind my back, I am up for a trip in the right seat, I guess... Nice to think of a machine older than I am!