The Little World

This so often devolves into ” or ” rather than ” and “.

Aircraft are designed by people with different senses of aesthetics. Add to this the different operational requirements, purchasing wishes, and actual manufacturing ability, and you can see why there have been so many flying duds. In some cases the crash of the prototype was the best thing that could have happened.

On the other side, some aircraft were used everywhere, for everything, by everybody. You can probably think of one or two fighter planes and a bomber, but the real champion of this is the Douglas airliner design known as the DC-2, DC-3, C-47, Dakota, or R4D. Starting in the 1930’s, the planes are not finished yet. They have a sleek enough style and a tough enough construction to outlive most of the aircraft designed to replace them.

It really begs a question of whether McDonnell Douglas should design it over again with the advances in materials and power, but not go past the original airframe and design. They could be laughing all the way to the bank as it replaces Boeing, Airbus, and a dozen other makers’ medium transports for rural flying and cargo work.

Have I flown in them? Yes…as well as Lockheed Lodestars. Would I fly in a new one? Yes, and in preference to other planes.