European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 02, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 the stars and stripes monday december 2, 1985 a dc-3 seems Small alongside in aircraft of More recent design thai has found wide use in commercial aviation a dc-10. Dc-3 50 years old and still flying High Washington Vii when the National aeronautic association holds its annual Wright Broth ers dinner Friday in Washington gracing the Bead table will be a Chunky snub nosed 50-year-old guest of Honor a Douglas dc-3. Somehow inviting one of the legendary workhorses of the sky to a 50th birthday dinner in a hangar at Dulles International Airport is not too extravagant a gesture for admirers of the gooney Bird that launched the Era of commercial aviation and helped to carry Allied forces to Victory in world War ii. In its military configuration As the c-47, according to the Mcdonnell Douglas corp., the twin engine propeller plane has flown More Miles hauled More freight and carried More passengers than any other aircraft m history. Admirers of the plane have also been known to Boas that it thrived on neglect never wore out and practically Fie itself. It was the right size air plane at the right time and the first plane Able to make Money just carrying Passen Gers said Harry Gann president of the american aviation historical society of Santa Ana Calif. It s the looks said Robert Parmerter a 43-year-old social studies teacher in Schenevus n.y., struggling to explain just what it was that made him such a fan of the dc-3 that he travels everywhere to air shows to photo graph the plane. It s a proud look he said its nose in the air and All gleaming  Over the years few machines and certainly no other air planes have been the object of such adulation As the dc-3, the Douglas company s third Model introduced on dec. 17, 1935, As a Sleeper transport for american airlines. By 1946, when production ceased 10,629 do 3s had been produced. Of these according to Mcdon Nell Douglas 1,500 to 2,000 Are still flying for third world countries regional airlines charter operators corporate and private owners and collectors. The dc-3 remains a favorite of Many armies and Security forces. In the Vietnam War a gunship version dubbed puff the magic dragon was fitted with three rapid firing min guns that could Blanket and pulverize a wide target. And the plane is also a favorite of drug smugglers. One record holding dc-3, owned and still flown by Provincetown Boston airways through countless engine changes has logged More than 87,000 night hours the equivalent of 10 unbroken years in the air. Another of similar Vintage is operated by sentimental journeys a charter company in Bluefield w.va., that provided the plane to the sports flying enthusiasts of the National aeronautic association for their hangar dinner on Friday. Still others Are owned by dc-3 clubs the world Over. In addition dc-3 cultists collect pins patches ties and Coffee mugs As Well As books and periodicals. A dc-3 bibliography compiled by Gann of Mcdonnell Douglas lists 171 Magazine articles 20 books and four government and scientific reports. Devotees even play an informal version of dc-3 trivia. The object of such enduring worldwide affection was the brainchild of Donald w. Douglas a Brooklyn born aviation Pioneer and Engineer commissioned by a predecessor of trans world airlines in 1932 to build a plane that would out everything All rivals. His first Effort the prototype dc-1 a for Doug Las and a for commercial was bought by How Ard Hughes. After modifications the Douglas company called the plane the dc-2 and sold 25 to Twa at $65,000 each. The subsequent variation the dc-3, which had ils Maiden flight on dec. 17, 1935, evolved into a 160-mile-an-hour, two engine plane with a wingspan of 95 feet a length of 64 feet and a capacity of 24 passengers. A version made for american airlines had luxury Sleeper berths for 14 passenger and a fully enclosed honeymoon compartment. From 1936 to 1939 passenger air traffic increased fivefold and carriers clamoured almost exclusively for dc-3s. To. Passenger Load freed the airlines for the first time from dependency on government mail contracts and provided the economic incentive to expand and develop route systems. By the end of its decade in production the dc-3 was carrying More than 90 percent of All Domestic air passengers. It was the plane s wartime exploits that created much of its mystique. In one episode a parked chinese dc-3 lost a Wing to a japanese air attack in 1941. There were no replace ment parts but a dc-2 Wing was found in Hong Kong. The Wing five feet Shorter was attached and somehow the plane flew Home safely 900 Miles to to & k big. Inevitably it became forever known As the dc-2w. A c-47 is also credited with Downing one of two japanese Zero fighters Over the Himalayan  the Zero seeking to ram the lumbering yank transport sheared off part of the c-47 s Tail before crashing into a Mountain. The crippled c-47, however succeeded in flying safely Back to base. When the soviet Union Cut off Access to West Berlin in 1948, the plane was used in the Airlift to bring food to that City. More recently in april 1957, a Frontier airlines do 3 flying North of Phoenix hit a sudden downdrafts that brushed the left Wing against a Mountaintop shearing off about 10 feet of the Wing. Still the Pilot managed to Man Euver the plane Back to a Safe Landing in Phoenix. The plane has even been reported on occasion to have safely landed itself after the Pilot bailed out. But there have been notable crashes As Well including one that killed actress Carole Lombard in 1942 and an in flight collision of an Eastern dc-3 with a Navy fighter plane near fort Dix n.j., in july 1949, killing 16 people. They thrived on a steady diet of neglect and Over work the writer Robert c. Ruark once reminisced in a newspaper column. They flew with Sand in the Carburettor and were maintained by cannibals and aborigines. They rallied banged jumped and bounced but by an Large they  reagans Are most admired Magazine s poll finds new York up president Rea Gan is More popular than the Pope and his wife Nancy u even More admired than Mother Teresa according to a poll of read ers of an american Magazine the findings appeared in annual lists re leased sunday by Good housekeeping mag Azine. The lists of the 10 most admired men and women in the United slates will be published in the Magazine s january Issue. The Roost popular Man in America was Reagan who handily beat Pope John Paul ii for the top spot in a write in Survey of the Magazine s readers. The president has headed the list of the 10 most admired men every year since the Magazine which has More than 20 million readers first started taking the poll five Yean ago. Evangelist Billy Graham was third on this year s list a conglomeration of Politi Cal religious and business leaders and entertainers. First lady Nancy Reagan won top honors in the Survey of the most admired women for the second year beating Nobel peace prize Winner Mother Teresa of Calcutta India once again. Phyllis Schlafly a leading opponent of those who would place a statement on women s rights in the Constitution took third place honors on the list which this year included political and religious leaders two former first ladies and a Princess. The lists were also notable for those who made them for the first time and those who were missing from them. Former president Carter who was de Best Sellers heated by a landslide in the 1980 presiden tial election made his first appear Cnoc on the list of most admired men taking eighth place. Moral majority Leader Rev. Jerry Falwell meanwhile appears to have lost some popularity dropping from second place to 10th. The 10 most admired men were Reagan the Pope Graham Chrysler chairman Lee Iacocca comedian Bill Cosby actor Alan compiled by the new York times fiction i the Mammoth Hunters by Jean m. Auel 2lake Wobegon Days by Garlun Keillor 3texas by James a. Mtchener secrets by Dantsae smi5contact by cirt Swan for Galapagos by Kurt vome Gul to the accidental tourist by aim Tyler Lucky by Jackie Coom 9world s fair by . Docton wid the Vampire lest at by Ann Rice  to Yeager an autobiography by Chucky Ocoer and to Senoj 2elvis and me by poll la Boult of Presley with Sandra Harmon a Iacocca an autobiography by pm Iacocca with William Noyak 4-Oancing in the Light by Shirley maclalne51 never played the game by Howard co sell with paler Bonventre 4house t y Tracy Eldoer 7on the Road with Charles Kuralt by Charles Kurall Only one Woof by James Harriot Charles and Diana by Ralph g. Martin 10ferraro. My Story by Ger Aulne a. Farra Rowlls Lindu Bird Francka paperback fiction i love and War by John jokes North and South by John Jan 3the Talisman by Stephen King and Pale Straub 4the Hunt for red october by Tom clancy5heaven by . Andrew the Bachman books by Stephen Kino 7so Long. And thanks for All the fishy Douglas Adams Alda comedian Bob Hope Carter explorer Jacques Cousteau and Falwell. The 10 most admired women were Nancy Reagan Mother Teresa Schlafly former . Ambassador Jane Kirkpa trick former first lady Pat Nixon Princess Diana actress Katharine Hepburn former vice presidential candidate Geraldine per Raro former first lady Rosalynn Carter and British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. A when the splendor Falls by Laurie my thinner by Richard Bachman it Nin comedy of -"j5tice by Robert a. Paperback nonfiction i the Road less travelled by m. Scoll pack2-"the Good War by studs Terkel a one writer s beginnings by Eudora Welly Outon a limb by Shirley Mcclaln. 5 Iacocca by Tevlo Abodaher 6son of the morning Star by Evan 5 Cir a 7-Ghowing up Catholic by Mavy Jane  Meara. Jeffrey aun Josem Slone Maureen Anne term  and re child Gimp Vnti Oss the one minute manager Byk Nels Blan Chard and Spencer Johnson a. 9sniglets by Rich Hall and Fruendt your Par