DC-3/C-47 were great planes, amazing how many lasted for decades and decades. My late brother-in-law, Ray Mabrey, owned a C-47 back in the 1970's-80's. It was used in airshows with the old Confederate (now "Commemorative") Air Force, usually in re-creating a parachute drop.
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/51412332/star-tribune/
Competition for the Eastern Shuttle was provided by Northeast Airlines using Vicounts, smaller than Electras, but more economicasl to operate -and quieter inside.
AFAIK TWA never did a shuttle. It was all Eastern airlines. EAL started out with a hodge podge with Martain 404s and DC-6s as many extra sections. It quickly settled on Connies as prime sections and Connies soon became extra sections as well. Electras next became prime with Connies all extras as DC-6s and Martains were retired.
Only 2 Electra crashes in cruise were due to gyroscopic precession. The 3rd was EAL in BOS that was a take off accident reason cannot remember. For you airplane types remember lift on a wing is from the top wing that has airflow faster to give lift. The Electra got most of its lift from the prop wash over the wings. Minimun control speed with all engines operating was about 93 knots. If 2 engines on one side were dead the minimum control speed went to about 145 knots. It was a handful in that case as you had to keep the dead wing up. Do not turn into the dead engine(s)
The airline that flew the Ford Trimotor flew from Port Clinton, Ohio out to Put-In-Bay, where the Perry Monument stands. It's sorta the Ohio version of Mackinac Island, with less charm and more drunks.
Even in jet days, Douglass (and McDonnell Douglass) was known for designing the most overbuilt airliners. Check out the video of the United DC10 cartwheeling at Sioux City, Iowa and you'll get some idea of it. Many people walked away from that crash because of the structural integrity of the fuselage.
Anyone notice how those biplane airliners look like converted World War One bombers?
On the other hand those flying boats look cool!
Biplane airliners? Just to keep it in railroad interest, it features the Flying Scotsman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6CeQiXHlAU
BEAUABRE- I well recall the Lockheed Connies at Idlewild airport when I was a kid as well as the DC-6s? that flew for Pan-American Grace airlines, AKA Panagra. They were gold with a blue window stripe. Beautiful aircraft, they were. I also remember when Eastern? airlines stopped flying the Connies from New York to Chicago and the ads in magazines that said, "Kiss Connie Goodbye." I really don't recall if it was Eastern but I do recall those ads.
The first time we flew into Mingan, before the road was extended there from Sept-Iles, we used a DC-3/C47 that had been a mining-company corporate aircraft. The whole interior was pure 1948 wood design, right down to the radios built into some of the consoles.
Of course it's been nearly twice as long now as the time between when the aircraft was modified for private use and when I flew on it...
54light15 - Yes, but Dad, an engineer by trade, was thinking about how many hard takeoffs and landings and how much turbulence over forty or so years and metal fatique
Fatigue (material) - Wikipedia
I've never flown in an Electra (although I rode and even jumped from its cousin, the C-130) but Dad used to fly in them on the New York-Boston Shuttle where Eastern had banished them after regional jets became available and liked them (turbojets were smother than reciprocating engines). Of course, they did have that minor problem of the wings falling off, but that was cured VERY quickly.
"Three aircraft were lost in fatal accidents between February 1959 and March 1960. After the third crash, the FAA limited the Electra's speed until the cause could be determined.
After an extensive investigation, two of the crashes (in September 1959 and March 1960) were found to be caused by an engine mount problem. The mounting of the gearbox cracked, the reduced rigidity enabled a phenomenon called "whirl mode flutter" (analogous to the precession of a child's top as it slows down, an interaction of propellers with airflow) that affected the outboard engine nacelles. When the oscillation was transmitted to the wings and the flutter frequency decreased to a point where it was resonant with the outer wing panels (at the same frequency, or harmonically related ones), violent up-and-down oscillation increased until the wings would tear off"
Oh, the competition - TWA - was flying Lockheed Constellations to use up their useful life on the shuttle run. Dad got to fly on them also.
54light15What I find most interesting are the sailing ships looking like they are still working vessels. In 1937, yet.
Germany's Flying P Line was famous for using large sea going sailing ships (some were five masted square riggers) for hauling bulk (ie: non-time sensitive) cargos well into the 1930's. All the ships had names beginning with the letter P
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_P-Liner
(217) The Flying P-Liners - YouTube
The company still exists today, but its sailing ships are, alas, gone from the high seas.
I think the Douglas people were quite competent in building the C-47, the R4D, the DC-3 as well as the Dakota. I've never flown in one, but I have sat in one. I did fly in a Lockheed Electra that was owned by Air Canada. It was a fantastic experience but the interior was upgraded to look like a King Air or other modern aircraft. Another time I sat inside a Lear Jet- the interior looked like a badly worn 1975 Cadillac.
Back in the Eighties, Boston hosted a triple header convention, the NMRA, R&LHS and NRHS. On of the excursions I took advantage of was steam to Woods Hole, a ferry to Nantucket and a ride in a DC3 back to Logan, with a bus ride back to the Prudential Center. First and only time I've ever ridden that sort of aircraft. It was sort of an homage to my uncle who had jumped many times from C-47's as a member of the 511th Parachute Infantry of the 11th Airborne Division in World War II.
My dad used to take a major airline on business trips to Chicago and then take a North Central Airline DC3 to his destination in the back woods in the Sixties. On one trip, he wanted something to read so he went up to the magazine rack on the cockpit wall. There was a plaque there, proclaiming the ship to be the world's highest airtime (hours) airliner in the world, having been built in 1936 or 37. Dad spent the rest of the trip staring out at the wings hoping those Douglas workers in Santa Monica, the year he graduated high school, knew what they were doing.
There was an Ohio airservice that flew Ford trimotors to some islands in Lake Erie, but apparently the plane is at a museum, still airworthy.
Isn't there an airline in Michigan that uses Ford Trimotors?
Not quite. Judging by the geography and the equipment, a better analogy might be a branch or secondary main operated by light 2-8-2's.
C-47 (DC-3) and C-46 planes are still in use by Buffalo Airways as cargo planes, as well as Lockheed Electras. They are based out of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.
https://buffaloairways.com/
https://buffaloairways.com/gallery/
https://airwear.bigcartel.com/
Everyday preservation still earning its keep.
This would be akin to a railroad running steam in the 21st Century, such as a company acquiring all 9 surviving Santa Fe 4-8-4s and all 5 surviving Sante Fe 2-10-4s and running an intermodal bridge line with them.
MidlandMike 54light15 The SS Queen of Bermuda. I may have visited that ship. In the late 50s or early 60s, when I was a kid living in the New York area, we went to see off some friends of my parents on a cruse to Bermuda. I remember how small their cabin was, and the port hole. The ship had 3 funnels. The name sounds familiar.
54light15 The SS Queen of Bermuda.
The SS Queen of Bermuda.
I may have visited that ship. In the late 50s or early 60s, when I was a kid living in the New York area, we went to see off some friends of my parents on a cruse to Bermuda. I remember how small their cabin was, and the port hole. The ship had 3 funnels. The name sounds familiar.
The Queen of Bermuda was rebuilt with new boilers during the winter of 1961-62 and returned to service with a single funnel. So your recollection should be before the end of 1961.
There is an excellent book, Queen of Bermuda and the Furness Bermuda line, by Plowman and Card which lists many of the ships on the New York Bermuda service. I saw this book and bought it, even though I knew little about the ship or its owners.
Peter
Overmod In 1933 I believe the United States still primarily used biplane airliners.
In 1933 I believe the United States still primarily used biplane airliners.
The Curtis Condor was probably the only biplane "airliner" that was in wide use in the US in 1933. IIRC, the Ford Tri-motor was the most common prior to the introduction of the Boeing 247 and Douglas DC-2. Biplanes such as the Boeing 40 did have space for paying passengers, but this was more like an "air taxi" rather than an airliner. (Though a DC-3 would seem ridiculously small to the current generation of airline pax.)
Here is yet another colourised video from the 1930s.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Dbvj6-SdX0
This covers a ferry crossing from Flushing (in Holland) to Harwich and scenes of London (some of which were in the "1933" video.)
The Dutch trains have NS class 3900 4-6-0s and the "Flushing Continental" has a rebuilt LNER B12/3 4-6-0.
Check out the miniature reversing train toy at 6:31...
They tried to make the buses and trams in London red, but didn't try with the Mitropa dining car on the Dutch train.
Overmod In 1933 I believe the United States still primarily used biplane airliners. Note the locomotive chassis being shipped at about 4:15. It would be interesting to identify what that is, and where it might be going.
Note the locomotive chassis being shipped at about 4:15. It would be interesting to identify what that is, and where it might be going.
Biplane? I guess the DC-3 monoplane wasn't introduced until 1935?
Wikipedia claims the DC-3 was "fast", allowing a coast-to-coast trip in the US taking only 18 hours with only 3 stops.
There is a story about two elderly ladies who bought tickets on such a trip instead of taking a train trip. Every time they landed for one of these stops, a little blue truck would race up to refuel their plane so they could be on their way.
One lady turns to the other, "isn't it amazing how fast this airplane is?" The other replies, "That is indeed the case. But what is even more amazing is how the little blue truck is able to keep up with us!"
If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?
After a couple of views and some thought, that is the "Royal Scot" (actually 6152) being shipped for exhibition in the United States...
There is a build up of dirt at the buffer mountings indicating that it isn't a brand new locomotive. The colours and lining are correct, and just before the loco what appears to be an LMS passenger car is seen being loaded.
So it was going to the USA.
Speaking of how colors showed up on black and white film, take a look at this: https://www.icollector.com/Douglas-Croft-Robin-hero-tunic-from-Batman-the-serial_i35060805
And here it is from 1943 (scroll down, upper photo) and the later 1949 (actual red, yellow and green) production stills: https://dcmovies.fandom.com/wiki/Robin_Suit_(Batman_serials)
Same me, different spelling!
The airliner, a Handley Page H.P. 4 or H.P. 45, which also was amazing to see as it was one of the last biplane airliners.
That second London film was amazing to see. Note the half-track in front of the airliner at 1:30- it's a Citroen Kegresse.
mudchickenSeems to have had a thing about funnels.
The ship was extensively rebuilt to receive its 'last' single funnel, being lengthened at the same time. Presumably it was extensively redecorated inside. Yet less than half a decade later, the company had abandoned liner service to Bermuda entirely, and the ship was not resold to another market but scrapped outright.
Here are two similar colourised videos of London.
The first, during WWII
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLbPYQcUcgM
This includes some pre WWII coverage of Waterloo station.
Apparently made in 1933
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRAOrIfcvkU
In both of these, the colour red seems to be a problem.
London buses and trams were red with cream lining.
Even the changing of the guard produces only a weak red...
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