1942 DC-3 / C-47 on eBay

("WRE" wrote)
[snip]
Was surprisingly an easy bird to fly. Not fast but once trimmed flew
straight and level. It drew a crowd where ever we went!
Oil is added by the gallons


Do you recall the fuel burn? Average cruising speeds? Average altitude? Etc.

Any more DC-3 flying info/stories would be great. Thanks.


Montblack

Montblack wrote:
("WRE" wrote)
[snip]
Was surprisingly an easy bird to fly. Not fast but once trimmed flew
straight and level. It drew a crowd where ever we went!
Oil is added by the gallons


Do you recall the fuel burn? Average cruising speeds? Average
altitude? Etc.
Any more DC-3 flying info/stories would be great. Thanks.

Yes, would love to hear them!

Montblack wrote:
Do you recall the fuel burn? Average cruising speeds? Average altitude? Etc.

Any more DC-3 flying info/stories would be great. Thanks.


I've got them if he doesn't... straight from the Saber cheat sheets. They had
two C-47s (N115SA and N74589):

Flight plan 100 gallons/hr @ 28" and 2050 RPM. It held 202 gallons of LL each
in the mains and 200 each in the aux tanks along with 29 gallons of oil each
(fill to 25 gallons). There was a 3 gallon reserve for prop feathering.

Power Settings: 45-48" @2700 for take off; 42" @2550 for METO, 36" @2350 for
climb and 28" @2050 for cruise.

Max gross T.O. weight was 26,900.

Speeds:

V1/V2/Vr 84 knots
Vx 84
Vy105
Normal Climb 110-120
Vxse 84
Vyse 94
Vmc 79
Vne 190
Vno 159
Va 122
Vs1 67 (clean)
Vso 64 (dirty)
Max Crosswind 10-13

As for flying stories, you'll have to ask Bob. I never got a chance beyond the
ground school. My dad has 1000+ hours in them though....



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN

VE

Seems someone already posted the particulars...speeds and such....but I
think the best ground speed I saw was 150kts or so.

Because we were part 135 we never went above 10,000 feet when carrying
cargo...sometimes higher if we weren't.
and it gets a bit cold up there even though the plane has heat.

The best story I have about flying in N58NA?

One of my first flights was taking what to me looked like a leading edge
slat for one of US Air's airplanes from Charlotte to the maintenance hanger
for US Air down in Tampa.
Upon landing ,the tower cleared us to taxi to the maintenance hanger. So we
pulled right up in front of the hanger and as we shut the engines down I
looked out at the hanger and everyone of the mechanics who was working had
dropped what they were doing and were making there way over to the DC-3. It
gave me goose bumps as about 20-30 guys all walked towards us....in unison
like they had seen the second coming. After about 10 minutes someone made
an announcement over the PA system for "everyone get back to work"

The best flying story...

Again this was rather early in my flying the DC-3 but we were somewhere over
the midwest and the ATC controller came over the radio and told us that
there were level 5 thunderstorms directly ahead of us and what did we want
to do. The captain asked if there was anyway around it and was told only if
we deviated about 150 miles to the east or west. Well, that would have
taken us close to 2 hours to deviate that far so the captain made the
decision to fly through them. It was one of the roughest rides I have ever
experienced and I just kept telling myself that this bird has been flying
for over 60 years.... The ride was so rough we had to request a 2000 foot
block of altitude (which we got) because we were unable to hold altitude. I
clearly remember looking over at the captain, he had the yoke pushed almost
fully forward, yet we were still gaining altitude....got to love lifting
action in a thunderstorm! Needless to say we made it out the
otherside....but it was one hell of a ride!

Have a few more if your interested

Bob E.
ATP
Currently fly Hawker 700 (N412DP) out of UZA
Fort Mill, SC



"Montblack" wrote in message
...
("WRE" wrote)
[snip]
Was surprisingly an easy bird to fly. Not fast but once trimmed flew
straight and level. It drew a crowd where ever we went!
Oil is added by the gallons


Do you recall the fuel burn? Average cruising speeds? Average altitude?
Etc.

Any more DC-3 flying info/stories would be great. Thanks.


Montblack

Have a few more if your interested

Bob E.
ATP
Currently fly Hawker 700 (N412DP) out of UZA
Fort Mill, SC

Can't speak for the rest, but I want more....

Encore! Encore!

"Montblack" wrote in message


Do you recall the fuel burn? Average cruising speeds? Average altitude?
Etc.

Any more DC-3 flying info/stories would be great. Thanks.

I flew '3s for a short while for a Massachusetts commuter about 25 years
ago. 100 gal/hr, gross at 26600 w/ 32 pax, cruise about 130 or 135, iirc,
land on a 3000' runway and make the turnoff. absolutely the best landing
you'll ever get, if you trust her.

My neighbor owns the Flying Tom airstrip and flies a DC3 in and out of his
strip. It is only 1600 X 40 feet. I bet he doesn't do it at full gross!
The airstrip can be seen he http://www.airnav.com/airport/OR39

tom


I flew '3s for a short while for a Massachusetts commuter about 25 years
ago. 100 gal/hr, gross at 26600 w/ 32 pax, cruise about 130 or 135, iirc,
land on a 3000' runway and make the turnoff. absolutely the best landing
you'll ever get, if you trust her.