Dec. 17 – the 103rd anniversary of the Wright brothers’ first flight – also was the 70th anniversary of another first flight that changed aviation.
That was the day in 1935 that the Douglas DC-3 first took to the air.
Donald Douglas apparently saw nothing remarkable in the event, although he did schedule it for the 17th quite deliberately. The basic design had been proven by the prototype DC-1 and production DC-2s, so Douglas didn’t even have a photographer on hand. There are no pictures of the DC-3’s first flight. Had Douglas only known what the future held in store for that remarkable airplane, he might have left us with a snapshot, at least.