A New Version of a Famous Transport Aeroplane

IN the Douglas Super DC-3 twin-engined commercial transport, now being demonstrated throughout North and South America, may be seen an instructive example of what has come to be known in the aircraft industry as 'bread-and-butter engineering'-the extension of the normal life-span of a well-tried design by rebuilding to modern operational and airworthiness standards. The ubiquitous DC-3, from which the 'super' version is derived, has itself long been the bread-and-butter work-horse of the air transport world, but its days are numbered under promulgated I.C.A.O. regulations which become operative in 1953. By rebuilding and modernizing the DC-3 to international civil airworthiness standards, Douglas are out to show operators that the Super DC-3 is the logical post-war replacement in the twin-engined short-haul category.