Lex Anteinternet: Tuesday, December 23, 1941. The first C47 Skytrain entered US military service.

Lex Anteinternet: Tuesday, December 23, 1941. The Fall of Wake Island.: 

The first C47 Skytrain entered US military service.

23 December 1941

Lots of the civilian variants, the DC3, were already in military service, but it wasn't until this date that the first example of the dedicated military version was delivered.  The civilian airliner had been introduced in 1935.

Over 10,000 C47s were built, or over 16,000 if the Li-2 Soviet produced version is considered, and amazingly they remain in service with the Columbian, El Salvadorian and South African air forces.  They were preeminently important as an Allied cargo plane during the Second World War, and they were used by every Allied power including the Soviet Union, which built 6,000 of them under license in addition to the ones that were supplied to the USSR via lend lease, making the Soviet Union the second-largest producer of the aircraft.

The role of the C47 in Allied airpower could hardly be understated.  It and the DC3 are one of the greatest aircraft ever produced.  Some DC3s remain in commercial use today (I've seen one in United Airlines colors as late as 2004) and they're actually being remanufactured as the Basler BT-67 for current use.

Lex Anteinternet: A Memorial Day Reflection on the Second World War....

Lex Anteinternet: A Memorial Day Reflection on the Second World War....: One poster noted that much expanded airline travel resulted from the war, and that certainly is the case.

Just prior to the war airliners were beginning to take on a recognizable form, with the DC-3 being a recognizable commercial aircraft that went on to do yeoman's service during the war as the C-47.

C-47 that went on to post war commercial use being restored at the Pacific Aviation Museum.

After the war, however, things really changed. Four engined wartime aircraft made four engined commercial aircraft inevitable.  By the 60s they were yielding to jets and modern air travel was around the corner.  It really took airline deregulation, however, which came in during the 1980s, to make air travel cheap.

Pacific Aviation Museum: C-47

Pacific Aviation Museum: C-47

C47 that was used for air cargo, post war, and is now being rebuilt into its original configuration.