UNCOMMON
DC3
Douglas DC-3
The Gooney Bird
“The airplane that changed the world. Still flying.”
Douglas Aircraft · commercial
Length
64 ft 6 in
Wingspan
95 ft 0 in
Max speed
185 kts
Range
1,300 nmi
Ceiling
23,200 ft
Engines
2x P&W R-1830 radial piston
Crew
2
Max passengers
32
Typical config
21 (1-class)
Built
16,079
First flew in 1935. Won WWII as the C-47. Launched commercial aviation. And somehow, a few dozen are still flying.
Fun fact
Eisenhower called the C-47 one of the four weapons that won WWII: the bazooka, jeep, atom bomb, and C-47.
How to spot one
Unmistakable: low-wing monoplane, tail-dragger landing gear, radial engines. The plane that started commercial aviation.
Crews call it
The Gooney Bird
Sounds like
Twin radial piston engines — a deep, rhythmic rumble that transports you to the 1940s
One might be overhead right now.
Bogey turns the The Gooney Bird from a dot in the sky into a card in your logbook. Coming to iOS and Android.
Get Bogey