Secrets to Starting the DC-3

Everyone wants to know how to start a big airliner. This Gold Seal video shows you the secrets of starting the DC-3.

[dantinaglia]

My dad flew this plane for Ozark Airlines. He has many good stories and memories flying this bird all across the Midwest. Sweet Machine. Thanks for the video

[fredmiller]

My father, a lifelong private pilot, was Air Intelligence Officer in Pleiku, Vietnam, in 1964. At one point, he was a passenger on a Vietnamese C-47 to a dirt strip in a spot with a lot of VC. They felt safe, but knew they'd be sitting ducks after dark. When they went to leave, one engine wouldn't start. They tried various things, but it refused. With sunset nearing, my father brought a cargo strap out, put it over a propeller blade, and got eight guys to pull it. The engine started. Just another version of 'auxiliary power', I guess.

[axiomist]

Love all the historical comments on here. Thanks. First time I went up in the air I was 11 and I rode in one of these beauties from Cuba to Key West (1959) to spend my summer vacation with my realatives who lived in KW since '49. That was the biggest thrill of my life. It didnt fly very high, so on the way over the Caribbean I could see the crests of waves and some large boats. The aisle was so narrow you had to crab walk to your seat; narrower than a Greyhound bus. I flew in it again for my '60 summer vac. and finally on Dec.23, 1960, when I left Cuba on a supposed Xmas vacation with the intention of not returning. I was escaping from a communist Cuba. I had just turned 13. The airline that flew these babies from Cuba to Key West was "Q Airlines" (Q for Cuba). Those flights are wonderful memories for me.

[dougtexas]

Very interesting !! I didn't know about the long idle.

[braddarville]

On the vehicles that I service, I like to check the voltage drop between the lug on the starter motor, and the positive battery post while cranking, , also between the case of the starter and the negative battery post, again, while cranking. Tracking down, and reducing resistance in the starting circuit can make a huge difference. Great video !

[edroos]

This brought back good memories. Even though I was assigned to a B-52 squadron I was a flying mechanic on both C-47's and B-25's for Base Flight and Transient Alert at Dow AFB from 4/'58 to 6/1962. Even though we had winters sub 20 degree temps every year, I enjoyed every day at Bangor Maine.

[tleone]

My Dad flew one of these babies for years...took me to College and back to the Cleveland Browns game in the middle of Winter at Lakefront stadium. Gosh I miss him badly!

[tfaber]

Nice video. My late father flew them around New Guinea in WW2. He was 19 and fresh out of flight school when he sat left seat and flew it from SF to Sydney. They would pack those things with fuel drums and would hand crank the fuel to the tanks with barely enough to make Hawaii on the first leg. He loved that plane. Got 2 DFC's in her.

[screens]

I was 5 years old, 1949 and watched my grandmother arrive in Rock Springs, Wyoming coming from Durango, Colorado. I think it was Frontier Airlines and we must have been on an elevated observation deck because I can remember being able to see into the cockpit as the ground crew cocked the wheels..! 😍

[valuedhumanoid]

I had an emergency at home when I was in the navy. They had to fly me from a carrier in the Med to Indy. It was the most epic flight sequence ever. A Grumman C-2 Greyhound COD off the ship in the dead of night in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea to Rota Spain. Then a private charter Red Cross DC-3 to London, then on a regular commercial airline home. But the trip from Rota to London was just crazy cool. I was the only human passenger. Lots of crates and animal cages. I was able to sit on a little fold down jump seat in the cockpit and from startup to shutdown. And this was back in the early 80's so there was no computerized avionics. It was VOR to VOR and VFR all the way.

[goprocreations]

In 1968, I saw a C-47 right engine, started by 'rope', like a lawn mower. The rope was pulled by 15 Marines at MCAS in S. Carolina. 'It took 2 tries then we were on our way back to Florida. I'll never forget that..

[DoctorDARKSIDE]

"The engine(s) will talk to you if you listen to them" - words of wisdom!

[spammerwhammer]

You just made my day. My father flew C47s (RAF Dakotas), among others, in WW2. I always wondered why it took so long after turning the props before the engines fired..Thanks for the education.

[californiadreamin]

Enjoyed the video. My first commercial job as an F/O was on the DC3 in the early/mid 80's. The panel layouts were very original, much more basic than shown here.
However after doing essential safety checks in the cockpit, my job was to remove the oil drip trays below the engines, and turn them over 12 blades to check for hydraulic lock, although I never encountered any. We did not have a pre-oiler or external batteries. Having completed the pre-start checks, essentially we had 2 switches next to each other. The first engaged the starter motor onto the flywheel and after 15 seconds the second switch was used to clutch the the flywheel to the engine. It's difficult to remember now, but after say 5 seconds the fuel was selected on, and after a little coughing, the engine would start fine, perhaps catching with a bit more throttle. Good batteries were needed....how else would you be able to operate the electric hydraulic feather pumps if an engine had to be shut down on say take off. Or unfeather for a restart....although I picked up a tip from an X Sunderland pilot. They flew that long that routinely they shut an engine down in order to top up oil for the throttle dash pots ( or something like that ). To save the starters and have a bit of fun, they would dive to the sea, side slip, get the prop turning and then put the fuel in !!
One night the starter would not work, so out came the manual starting handle...that's when I learnt it was a 2 man job !! Very difficult to get the flywheel up to speed and barely turned the engine when clutched....but it freed the starter so we were OK.
Only did it once, but you could start with 2 ropes. One bagged onto the top prop tip, to get the engine turning, and the second wrapped around the prop boss, like a windlass, to keep it turning...with lots of bodies running on this rope. About 1400 hours and about a dozen engine failures. Your ears became tuned to the engine note and vibration...very easy to doze off at night...and recognise a particular cough, like someone clearing their throats, telling you of a problem.

[xfirehurican]

Nice vid. Never used a power cart on our C-117s back in the '70s. All of us 'enlisted types' had credentials to start & taxi our 117's - a lot of us actually flew them, including right seat takeoffs and landings!

[richardbrown]

In my outfit in the Navy, we had 2 C-47's. We never turned the props through or pre-oiled, but we did use external power to start them always. Our APU was a gas-powered engine hooked to a 28VDC generator. It spun the props through pretty fast.

[AviationNZ]

Such a beautiful aircraft! Thanks for sharing this video! Very interesting!

[YoungHeartedSoul]

Such a beautiful machine that roars to life and sounds oh so sweet!!! Gotta love old classic powered machines, steam engines, radial engines..heck even old muscle cars. love my 73 firebird. cliche but, they sure dont make'em like they used to.

[Gator_Bait_Motorsports]

I always wanted to get a DC-3 type rating. An Lake Central Airline DC-3 was the first airplane flight into Chicago Midway in 1955. I've been hooked on the DC-3 ever since.

[Grummanjet]

Great video on one of my favorite airplanes. Thanks for the excellent video explaining the start up of this classic beauty.