These are real machines.

"MountainCommand" (MountainCommand) 09/04/2013 at 20:39 • Filed to: planelopnik

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Heres one from my personal collection. A shot i took from a few years ago at a small airshow.

Jayhawk Jake > MountainCommand 09/04/2013 at 21:53

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Love the C-47. Greatest aircraft ever made, no argument.

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > Jayhawk Jake 09/05/2013 at 09:54

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Challenge accepted.

Jayhawk Jake > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much 09/05/2013 at 12:00

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Not even close. Not that the P-51 is a bad plane, but it's nowhere near the DC-3 when it comes to usefulness, reliability, and just plain being a great aircraft.

The DC-3, I would argue, is the single most influential aircraft in the history of aviation so far. Before the DC-3, the idea of an airline that carried just passengers was absurd, you had to carry freight or mail to make money. Airlines were very limited until the DC-3 came along. It revolutionized air transport, helped the allies win the war, and continued to do its job for years after most airplanes would be retired. Heck, the DC-3 is still the best at what it does and many are still being used for work today, 78 years after the airplane first flew.

As the saying goes, the only replacement for a DC-3 is another DC-3.

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > Jayhawk Jake 09/05/2013 at 12:09

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You said greatest, not most influential or important. The P-51D is the epitome of piston powered aircraft. It is beautiful, powerful and sounds incredible. It was one of, if not, the first fighter designed for truly long range escort. Not to mention played a not insignificant role in the winning of WWII. Besides the fighter escort role which aided in the success of our long range strategic bombing doctrine it was also pressed into ground attack / CAS role with great success once D-day rolled around. It even saw service in Korea in the ground attack / CAS role.

The DC-3 is a great workhorse and amazingly long lived transport. I won't even argue that it isn't a great plane, but IMO the P-51 is greater even if it wasn't as influential.

Jayhawk Jake > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much 09/05/2013 at 12:22

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Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, personally I've never found the P-51D model to be all that attractive. It looked much better as a razorback.

I think we can both agree that a lot of great aircraft came out of that time period, but I still give the crown to the Gooney Bird.