Douglas commercial two

Air Classics, May 2003 by O'Leary, Michael

THE UNIQUE DC-1 POINTED THE WAY TO THE FUTURE OF AERIAL TRANSPORTATION BUT THE

DC-2 HELPED LAY A FIRM FOUNDATION

The outstanding performance and record-setting flights of the DC-1 (see Air Classics December 2002) led TWA to place a history-making order with Douglas for 20 improved transports, designated DC-2, on 4 September 1933. The DC-2 was relatively similar to the DC-1 but incorporated numerous minor and detail modifications to justify a new model designation. Also, the fuselage had been lengthened by two feet in order to increase the number of passenger seats to 14. Douglas had learned enough lessons with the DC-I to realize that different customers could well order their aircraft with a variety of engines so the DC-2 was designed from the start to make these engine changes a fairly easy task. Fitted with more powerful Wright SGR-1820-F3 Cyclone radials, TWA was very eager to press the aircraft into service in order to take business away from United and their Boeing 247s. The first production DC-2 (there was no experimental prototype) was registered NC13711 and made its first flight from Santa Monica on 11 May 1934 - by which time production was in full swing in the wooden hangars at Clover Field (TWA followed its initial order for 20 DC-2s with another contract in November 1933 for an additional 20 simitar transports).

The airline community quickly realized that Douglas had a world-beater that was no dream but in full production and international interest in the type resulted in license rights being issued to Tony Fokker in The Netherlands but this was not a smooth transaction. KLM Royal Dutch Airline was negotiating with Douglas in order to secure production and distribution rights for the DC-2 in Europe and other areas, not knowing that Tony Fokker was doing exactly the same thing! KLM was going to have the aircraft constructed either by Fokker or by AvioIanda

(Maatschappij Voor Vliegtuigbouw NV) but Fokker's negotiations resulted in a signed contract with Douglas for selling and building the DC-2 in Europe. As it turned out, Fokker would never build the DC-2 but would assemble and sell 39 examples of the aircraft.

Never one to miss a possible business opportunity, Fokker traveled to England to conduct negotiations with the small aviation business of Airspeed. A deal was hammered out that saw Airspeed get a sublicense agreement to built a number of different Fokker designs as well as the DC-2. The British civil registration of G-ADHO was reserved

for the first Airspeed-built DC-2 (which also received the company designation of A.S.23) but the project never came to fruition. The details of this agreement are of interest. In January 1935, Airspeed managed to increase its capital to 1130,00 via a new share issue with which to aid in building the Fokker aircraft as well as the DC-2. Fokker was appointed as technical advisor to Airspeed. The company paid 20,000 on the execution of the license and a royalty of 600 would be paid to Fokker for each DC-2 up until airframe 20. Fokker was to be paid another 20,000 when sales reached a value of 150,000. Fokker was also to receive one percent of gross receipts while also having an option on preferred shares.

Japan, seeking to expand and modernize its fledgling aviation industry, undertook discussions with Douglas and obtained a license to build and sell the DC-2 in Japan and Manchukuo. Nakajima Hikoki would be responsible for the operation but the program was not as successful as the Japanese hoped. One complete DC2 and components for a second aircraft (some sources suggest components for five aircraft) were delivered by Douglas to Japan but only five DC-Zs were actually built by Nakajima during 1936-37 and these aircraft were operated by Greater Japan Air Lines (Dai Nippon Koku) on routes from the Home Islands to Formosa. Learning the America techniques of constructing all-metal aircraft would serve the Japanese well in the coming world war.

Even though international interest in the DC-2 was high, the demand for the aircraft at home was much greater. Famed Great War flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker - now general manager of Eastern Air Lines (and no stranger to the type, considering his adventures with the DC-1) - saw that the course TWA was setting was sure to grab a large market segment as well as corresponding profits. Eastern soon ordered an initial ten DC-2s and, upon delivery, immediately put the plane to work on the profitable New York-Miami route. Donald Douglas had observed the dangerous road Boeing had taken by initially only selling to United with the 247s and he reserved the right to sell the DC-2 to all comers as long as TWA's demands were being fulfilled.

Just over a year after the first TWA DC-2 had flown, other DC-2s were flying under the colors of at least 21 operators and had already surpassed 20,000,000 air miles. To quote from a Douglas report of the time period: "TWA, American Airlines, Eastern Air Lines, and Pan American Airways report their fleets of Douglas ships are negotiating 52,289 miles a day with 21,499 miles flown at night and 30,790 miles of daylight flying. Of the 26,259,665 miles flown in the US during the first six months of 1935, 7,286,437 miles were flown by Douglas planes or 27.7 percent. However, the 42 Douglas transports available for service constituted only 7.6 percent of the total planes in service in the US - a remarkable tribute to the Douglas operating ability. Operating efficiency increased on the airlines using the Douglas luxury liners from the first month the planes were placed in service. Airlines report that operational efficiencyplanes in the air, not on the ground for mechanical delays jumped 20 to 25 percent. In some cases there was reported a 66 percent gain in average air time' per day."