The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner
manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II.
It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version of the Douglas DC-2.
It is a low-wing metal monoplane with conventional landing gear, powered by two radial piston engines of 1,000–1,200 hp (750–890 kW). Although the DC-3s originally built for civil service had the Wright R-1820 Cyclone, later civilian DC-3s used the Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp engine.
The DC-3 has a cruising speed of 207 mph (333 km/h), a capacity of 21 to 32 passengers or 6,000 lbs (2,700 kg) of cargo, and a range of 1,500 mi (2,400 km), and can operate from short runways.
Douglas DC-3
DC-3 airliner cabin
Douglas Sleeper Transport (DST) showing the second row of windows for the upper bunk beds, above the airline titles
Wright R-1820 Cyclone 9 engine of American Airlines "Flagship Knoxville"
An airliner is a type of airplane for transporting passengers and air cargo. Such aircraft are most often operated by airlines. The modern and most common variant of the airliner is a long, tube shaped, and jet powered aircraft. The largest of them are wide-body jets which are also called twin-aisle because they generally have two separate aisles running from the front to the back of the passenger cabin. These are usually used for long-haul flights between airline hubs and major cities. A smaller, more common class of airliners is the narrow-body or single-aisle. These are generally used for short to medium-distance flights with fewer passengers than their wide-body counterparts.
A United Airlines Boeing 737 (foreground) and a Virgin America Airbus A320 (background), two of the world's most widely used airliners
Sikorsky Ilya Muromets
The Douglas DC-3 appeared in 1935
Prototype of the de Havilland Comet in 1949, the first jet airliner in the world