I wouldn't relegate the DC-3 to postwar accomplishments. Its prewar success shows in the order book pre-war -- 800 civil orders. This figure was not surpassed until the B-727 - sometime in the 70s.
The postwar DC-3 is the quintessential story of peacetime re-use of a surplus military machine. C-47's & C-53's were re-sold for pennies on the dollar. Spare parts were plentiful and cheap. One could argue that its very omnipresence undercut and killed off many postwar, more efficient aircraft.