On June 22, 1933, Donald Douglas rolled the new DC 1 out of the hangar. The DC 1 was larger than the Boeing 247, had all the aviation and passenger improvements the Boeing had, and a few new ones.
Douglas DC-2 Without prejudice to the other fine ships, the Douglas DC 2 may be recorded as the supreme American achievement in transport design.” Scientific American, January 1935
Once TWA took possession of the DC 1, it did not take long for them to realize they had a unique airplane. TWA received the first of their DC-2s on May 14, 1934, with the delivery of ship #301. American Airlines and other airlines all wanted the new DC-2.
The DC-3 overwhelmed the industry. The DC-3 was the first plane that could fly from New York to Chicago non-stop. American Airlines, United Airlines and TWA all used the Douglas Sleeper transport DST, the 14-passenger version of the DC-3.
In July 1939, the C‑47 was on the drawing board. With war about to break out in Europe, Douglas was swamped with orders for the drawing boardC‑47. As a stop gap measure, until the C-47 was flying, Douglas engineers modified the DC‑2. They assembled a DC‑2 fuselage to a DC‑3 tail, added more powerful engines and called it the C‑39.
The Navy had 100 of their R4Ds converted to R4D-8 (later the C-117D) at $300,000 each.
By the late 1940s, the airlines were now losing money on the DC-3. The question was how long the airlines could wait before replacing it. Many reasoned the DC-3 had to wear out soon; after all, it was more than 20 years old. In addition, another pressing problem forced Douglas to look for a DC-3 replacement.
Donald Douglas reformed his Davis-Douglas Company in 1921, calling it the Douglas Company. In 1928 the Douglas Company became the Douglas Aircraft Company, and Donald W. Douglas served as president until 1957, when he became Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
United Airlines had approached Douglas in 1935 to start development of the DC‑4. In 1936, it became a cooperative project among five airlines (UAL, EAL, TWA, PAA, and AA).
From the beginning, the intention was to make the DC‑4, “Skymaster,” a different plane. It took advantage of the requirements generated by the success of the DC‑3. The public wanted larger and faster equipment, so Douglas invested three million dollars in the DC‑4, their first four engine, 42 passenger (30 berth), commercial airliner.
Douglas realized that for airlines to be profitable they would need a variety of aircraft sizes and capabilities to service routes of various lengths and passenger densities. The DC-3 would serve the medium range routes and the DC-4, under development, would relieve the DC-3 on the transcontinental routes. To fill the gap in the short haul routes serving the small, out-of-the-way communities, Douglas developed the DC-5. ."
