DC-3 / C-47 reference books

[Dansk]

Does anyone know if there are comprehensive detailing reference books available for the dakota?

 

[Admiral Puff]

Air-Britain's DC-1/2/3 - The First Seventy Years (two volumes, plus one to mark seventy five years) by Jennifer Gradidge has to be at the top of the list, but there are many others, depending on how specialised you want to get. For example, there's 80 Jaar Nederlandse DC-3s en Dakotas 1936-2016, by Theo Wesselink, dealing with Dutch (including NEI) operations, and Kolmosten Siilvilla - DC-2 ja DC-3 Lentokoneet Suomessa, by Antti Hyvarinen, Tapio Juutinen, Juha Klemettinen and Kyosti Partonen, ditto for Finnish operations.

[Graham Boak]

Good historical works, but are they good modelling detailing references?  I'm thinking of something more like the Warbird Tech series, but I don't believe it included the Dak.  There is the Squadron Signal as a starter, probably easier to get.

[Roger Holden]

IIRC it was covered in the Japanese 'Maru Mechanic' series. Probably the most detailed ref available.   There certainly is an opportunity there for a good English-language volume.

[Dansk]

Hi guys thanks a lot much appreciated. I’m not sure any do the trick really i think we’ve found a gap in the market - theres no walk around series for the dc-3 which is what i’m after really, the maru mechanic is pretty cool but suffers from bad quality b&w shots too rough to use for modelling ref.

[janneman36]

A walkaround would be nice but not helpfull when you take one Dakota/DC3 for the detailshots.

There are so much differences between all these aircraft built and therefore it is almost impossible to cover this aircraft in a good way!

The best thing is try to find as much you can find on the particular aircraft you like to build.

I have a lot of books on this subject and neither of them cover it all..

You are always welcome with your questions that you may have..

 

Cheers, Jan

 

[Finn]

Maybe one of the manuals here will help:

 

http://www.avialogs.com/index.php/en/aircraft/usa/douglas/dc3c-47.html

 

Jari

[dnl42]

Jan's comment about the specific aircraft you're interested in is spot on for the C-47. Besides "as-built" there's the ever present mods that may have been made during a particular aircraft's life. As always, museum or flightworthy aircraft can be wildly inaccurate.

 

The Douglas manuals that Finn pointed out are probably the most useful docs that I found. I also found Peter M. Bowers, The DC-3: 50 Years of Legendary Flight, Tab Books, 1985 useful to understand the evolution of the aircraft, but it's also not a modeler's reference. 

 

Joe Baugher's web site with its list of tail numbers is also useful to understand your specific aircraft.

 

HTH

-- 

dnl

Edited November 17, 2018 by dnl42

[Admiral Puff]

You've got to know your aircraft and its history, which is why I stand by my Air-Britain recommendation. Without knowing that you can't know what modifications may (or may not) have been made to a particular airframe and thus what you may need to do to your own model. 

 

There are many books available that deal with the DC-3/C-47 as part of a bigger picture of the Douglas Commercial series: Rene Francillon's Douglas Propliners is a good example. There are others dealing with other subjects where the DC-3, in particular, gets a big mention: On the Australian scene (my particular area of interest) there's Peter Yule's ANA - The Forgotten Giant of Australian Aviation, which covers the aircraft used by Holyman's Australian National Airways, and Stewart Wilson's DC-3 Down Under, which gives a brief pictoral record of the type in Australian service.