List of original DC-3 operators explained

The List of original Douglas DC-3 operators lists only the original customers who purchased new aircraft.

With the availability of large numbers of surplus military C-47 Skytrains or Dakotas after the Second World War, nearly every airline and military force in the 1940s and 1950s operated the aircraft at some point. More than eighty years after the type's first flight, in the second decade of the 21st century the Douglas DC-3 is still in commercial operation.

Commercial operators

Australia

• Australian National Airways (ANA)^[1]

Belgium

• Sabena

Brazil

• • • Real Transportes Aéreos Varig VASP

Czechoslovakia

• (ČLS)^[2]

France

• Air France^[3]

Hong Kong

• Cathay Pacific

India

• Indian Airlines^[4]
• Deccan Airways

Indonesia

• Garuda Indonesia

Ireland

• Aer Lingus^[5]

Kenya

• Speedbird Airways

Netherlands

• KLM

Japan

• Far East Fur Trading
• Great Northern Airways^[6]
  • Imperial Japanese Airways Japan Air Transport ^[7]

Pakistan

• Pakistan International Airlines

Peru

• PANAGRA^[8]

Romania

• LARES^[9]

Russia

• Mongolian Transport Company^[10]
• Northeast

Sweden

• AB Aerotransport

Switzerland

• Swissair

United States

• American Airlines^[11]
• Braniff Airways^[12]
• Capital Airlines - the only purchaser of the DC-3S Super DC-3 post-war variant^[13]
• Chicago and Southern Air Lines^[14]
• Canadian Colonial Airlines
• Delta Air Lines^[15]
• Eastern Air Lines
• Hawaiian Airlines^[16]
• Northeast
• Northwest Airlines^[17]
• Pan American-Grace Airways
• Pan American World Airways^[18]
• Pennsylvania Central Airlines^[19]
• Transcontinental & Western Air^[20]
• United Airlines^[21]
• Western Air Express^[22]

Business and Executive operators

United States

• Civil Aeronautics Authority^[23]
• Swiftflite Inc^[15]

Military operators

Nicaragua

• Nicaraguan Air Force

Sweden

• Royal Swedish Air Force

The RSwAF operated two second-hand ex-AB Aerotransport DC-3 aircraft forSIGINT purposes. One was shot down on June 13 1952 on a secret mission outside the Baltic coast by Soviet fighters.All eight in the crew perished.

In 2003, the wreck was located and salvaged. It now resides in the Air Force Museum.

United States

• United States Army Air Corps/United States Army Air Forces
  • Includes aircraft built for the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Air Force but taken over before delivery following the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies^[24]
• United States Navy^[25]

See also

• List of Douglas C-47 Skytrain operators

References

Bibliography

• Book: The Douglas Commercial Story. Peter Barry. Air-Britain Historians. 1971.
• Best . Martin S. . The Development of Commercial Aviation in China: Part 5A: Japanese Airlines in Occupied China and Manchuria . Air-Britain Archive . Spring 2008 . 17–31 . 0262-4923.
• Book: O'Leary, Michael . DC-3 and C-47 Gooney Birds . 1992 . Motorbooks International . Osceola, Wisconsin . 0-87938-543-X .
• Book: Pearcy, Arthur . Douglas DC-3 Survivors . 1987 . Aston Publications . Bourne End, Buckinghamshire . 0-946627-13-4 .
• Book: Forman . Peter . Wings of Paradise . 2005 . Barnstormer Books . 978-0-9701594-4-1 .

Notes and References

1. Berry 1971, p.28
2. Berry 1971, p.22
3. Berry 1971, p.30
4. Web site: Case Study the Indian Scene, circa 1975. 20 August 2018.
5. Berry 1971, p.32
6. Berry 1971, p.29
7. Best Air-Britain Archive Spring 2008, pp. 25–26
8. Pearcy (1987), p.29
9. Berry 1971, p.27
10. Berry 1971, p.27
11. Berry 1971, p.23
12. Berry 1971, p.34
13. O'Leary (1992), p.69
14. Berry 1971, p.33
15. Berry 1971, p.37
16. Forman 2005 p.69
17. Berry 1971, p.31
18. Berry 1971, p.27
19. Berry 1971, p.35
20. Berry 1971, p.25
21. Berry 1971, p.24
22. Berry 1971, p.26
23. Berry 1971, p.38
24. Pearcy (1987), pp. 101-105
25. Berry 1971, p. 43