The Fabulous DC-3 (C-47)
Seasons Greetings to all the esteemed contributors (and also to the silent majority who follow all that is revealed) on this - the doyen of threads.
Danny, your last:
I think our Daks were "plated" at 5500 lb max payload. Wiki gives the gross weight as 25,199 lb (DC-3 - which I think is the same thing). I seem to remember someone on this Thread saying that we operated them at 31,000 lb AUW, which (if true) would be an enormous overload. But I can't find the quotation now.
One of my great Pilot/Writer heroes is the late, great, Captain Len Morgan who many readers will remember for his "Famous Aircraft Series". In his Douglas DC-3 Book Len tells us that when he flew the C-47 in wartime it was a case of:
"If it would fit through a C-47's cargo doors and didn't bring the gross weight to more than 27,500 pounds, we hauled it. If it ran the weight up an extra 500 or 1000 or so pounds, we falsified the load sheets and went anyway".
Post-war when he was flying the DC-3 for Brannif he was to find that the gross load was limited to 25,200 pounds which he says was "hardly half a load".
I have before me a reprint of the WW2 Army Air Force (Foreword by General H.A.P. Arnold) 'Pilot Training Manual for the C-47' (95 pages). On page 11 (Weights) I read the following:
Empty
C-47......17,087 lbs
C-47A....17,257 lbs
Recommended takeoff, maximum gross
29,300 lbs
Restricted takeoff, maximum gross
31,000 lbs
Recommended landing, maximum gross
26,000 lbs
So the USAAF would let you land one at a higher weight than the Airlines would let you takeoff with!
Truly one of the greatest flying machines ever made.
Mother reminds me that my first airline trip (aged 3) was by Aer Lingus Dakota (C-47) from Ringway (Manchester) to the Isle of Man, and thus I was hooked for life!
Now, lovely aromas are floating my way from the kitchen, so Gents. (and Ladies, of course) I raise my glass to you - Peace and goodwill to all.
Ian B-B