Douglas DC3, C-47, etc

[rickshaw]

As there doesn't appear to be a thread on this utilitarian transport plane of great longevity, I think I'll start one.

It is the Centenary of Mawson's first Expedition to Antarctica.  The first fully Australian Antarctic expedition, it was important both politically and scientifically.   The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) has been celebrating by sending an expedition of its own to Antarctica.  I was reading one of the latest reports and their report and pictures of riding in a Basler DC3 caught my eye:

[PR19_Kit]

What are those tricky little winglets on the trailing edge of the skis for?

[Gondor]

What are those tricky little winglets on the trailing edge of the skis for?

They will help keep the skis level in flight as they raise and lower the undercarriage or they could become fairly large drag inducer's, have the wrong incidence and damage the aircraft when being raised.

But that's just my guess.

Gondor

[raafif]

What are those tricky little winglets on the trailing edge of the skis for?

               to make them look sexy enough for the pilots to fly the thing ...

the blades in that 3rd picture look like my blender 

My proposed Ruski Polar-DC3

[NARSES2]

Love the Russian DC.3. but why the twin tail, apart from the fact it looks good and suitably more "Russian" 

[PR19_Kit]

Love the Russian DC.3. but why the twin tail, apart from the fact it looks good and suitably more "Russian" 

It gives the mid-upper gunner TWO chances to shoot his own tail off......... 

[Martin H]

Hmmm twin fin Dak....................Its giving me some ideas.

Im fairly well known on here for bashing Daks.

[rickshaw]

I the last one done with Mosquito nacelles?

[Martin H]

yeap. It even has the leading edge radiators, and mossi undercart.

Its a fake version of the proposed Airspeed AS-63. The Intended licensed production Dak. The real proposal involved fitting British built radials, but I fancied the idea of a Merlin version. When I compared the horse power of the original P&W's to the Merlins it was a reasonable increase in available power, so it was going to be a hot rod compared to standard Dak's. Hence the wartime airline markings.
I even managed to trick the leader of the DC-3/C-47 sig that it was a real proposal........he ended up building his own version using Merlin power eggs from a Lancaster.

[famvburg]

     Five fold increase? Is that adding to the WHIF or factual? If factual, please explain.

yeap. It even has the leading edge radiators, and mossi undercart.

Its a fake version of the proposed Airspeed AS-63. The Intended licensed production Dak. The real proposal involved fitting British built radials, but I fancied the idea of a Merlin version. When I compared the horse power of the original P&W's to the Merlins it was a five fold increase in available power, so it was going to be a hot rod. Hence the wartime airline markings.
I even managed to trick the leader of the DC-3/C-47 sig that it was a real proposal........he ended up building his own version using Merlin power eggs from a Lancaster.

[PR19_Kit]

OGL, I think your calculator needs new batteries..... 

DC-3s had P&W or Wright radials of around 1200 hp each and a Mossie had two Merlins of around 1500 hp each. That makes an increased  power factor of around 1.25.

[Martin H]

Kits most likely got it right lol, either that or my memory of the build has got a bit fuzzy over the last 5-6 years

[famvburg]

 I was wondering which version of the Mossie had 6000 hp Merlins............ Or how did the DC-3/C-47 even taxi, much less fly, with 250 - 300 hp engines.

[Martin H]

Its a simple case of what one of the girls at work refers to as a blond moment lol

[PR19_Kit]

Its a simple case of what one of the girls at work refers to as a blond moment lol

There's NO answer to that!