Frontiers February 2014 13 On a February day 76 years ago, during the lunch hour so employees could watch, the prototype for a new member of the famed “DC” airliner series by Douglas Aircraft took off on its first flight near the El Segundo plant in California, where it was built. Douglas, a Boeing heritage company, had high expectations for the DC-5 even before that first flight in 1938. But the new airplane, despite several innovative features, was about to be overtaken by world events. By the time the DC-5 entered service in 1940, World War II was underway. Only five commercial DC-5s, including the prototype, were built, along with seven military versions known as the R3D. And the prototype itself saw military action, though not before it was converted to an eight-passenger executive transport and sold to Boeing founder Bill Boeing for use as his personal aircraft. When the DC-5 was born on the engineering drawing boards at Douglas six months before first flight, the company was the leading manufacturer of commercial transports. The DC-3 was in full production, and, along with the DC-2, was servicing medium-range airline routes. Douglas also was developing the DC-4 for transcontinental routes. But in the expanding commercial airplane market, Douglas also saw a need for a short-haul airliner to serve smaller, out-of-the-way communities. However, the DC-5, which could carry from 16 to 22 passengers, was developed without airline backing. And it had a high wing, which was a significant departure from the previous “DC” series. Other new features included tricycle landing gear and a circular fuselage cross section that enabled easy access to the cargo hold so it could be loaded from the ground without stands or ladders. A flexible interior could be converted to cargo, passenger, sleeper or executive configurations. And the passenger cabin had larger oval windows. Due to limited production space at its Santa Monica facility, Douglas designed and produced the DC-5 at its El Segundo facility under the leadership of Ed Heinemann, chief engineer. Heinemann later would design the famed Douglas Skyhawk jet fighter. Douglas received 28 orders for the DC-5—from the Dutch airline KLM; from a domestic U.S. carrier, Pennsylvania Central, which was later incorporated into United Air Lines; from SCADTA, which later become Avianca in Columbia; from British Airways; and from the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps. World War II began before KLM, the initial customer, took delivery of its four airplanes. Originally intended for European routes, they were transferred to KLM operations in the Dutch East and West Indies and used to fly refugees to Australia until the Dutch East Indies were overrun by Japanese forces in 1942. One of these DC-5s crashed and fell into the hands of the Japanese, who repaired it and flew it to Japan to be tested and studied. The three DC-5s that entered service with the U.S. Navy were used as 16-seat personnel carriers. The four for the Marine Corps were designed to carry 22 paratroopers or be used as cargo transports. Douglas stopped production of the DC-5 because of the war, and the A-20 bomber took its place on the production line. None of the 11 production airplanes for KLM and the military survives today. Even the prototype acquired by Bill Boeing was pressed into service by the U.S. Navy and was believed to have been lost off Australia in 1943 due to enemy action. Boeing had taken delivery of the prototype in April 1940. As part of the down payment, he traded in the Douglas Dolphin that he purchased in 1934. Both aircraft were named Rover. Unlike the DC-5 prototype, the Dolphin survived and is on display at the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Fla. n patricia.m.mcginnis@boeing.com PHOTOS: (Far left) Douglas mechanics in El Segundo, Calif., perform maintenance checks on the DC-5 prototype. (Above, from top) One of two DC-5s delivered to KLM in Curaçao; the DC-5 prototype; Bill Boeing with his DC-5, a few days before the official delivery in April 1940. BOEING ARCHIVES
Frontiers February 2014 Issue
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