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Post by acourt on Nov 20, 2008 21:51:37 GMT -5
All,
Okay, one other book question. Does anyone have any recommendations for books on the DC-3 / C-47, DC-4 / C-54, DC-6, DC-7?
I'm looking at Douglas DC-6 and DC-7 (AirlinerTech Series, Vol. 4) by Harry Gann, and Douglas DC-6/7 (Aviation Notebook Series) by Stewart Wilson. Any information on which is better?
Al
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Tim
DC-3
Posts: 45
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Post by Tim on Nov 21, 2008 4:37:46 GMT -5
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Post by wwtowers on Nov 21, 2008 8:16:02 GMT -5
I "second" Tim. There's a lot of information packed in 160 pages. I believe a new copy is around $32.95, but you can probably find a good used copy for less.
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Post by Maarten on Nov 21, 2008 9:19:26 GMT -5
Hi Al,
I agree with the others.
Nevertheless, I also have both books you mentioned as well. They are really good books, going much more into detail than the late Arthur 'Dai the Dak' Pearcy's book, which in itself is excellent already. Through my activities in the Dutch Dakota Association during the 1980s and early 1990s I have been lucky enough to having known Arthur personally, having had some lengthy conversations with him. He was a great person and his knowledge was absolutely amazing. So was his ring of friends which included the late Arthur E. Raymond (designer of the DC-1, DC-2, DC-3 series, pre-war DC-4E, DC-4/C-54 series, DC-6 series, DC-7 series and, if I'm not mistaken, the DC-8) and the late Harry Gann (former manager Aircraft Information of the Douglas Aircraft Company, Long Beach, California and former President of the A.A.H.S., California, and author of one of the books you mentioned).
Arthur Pearcy wrote several books featuring the development and history of the DC-1, DC-2 and DC-3. Some titles: 'The Dakota', 'Fifty Glorious Years', 'Sixty Glorious Years', 'Dakota At War', 'Douglas DC-3 Survivors vol. 1 and 2'.
Should you be looking for "everything you want to know about the DC-3", there is Air-Britain's 'DC-1 DC-2 DC-3 - The First Seventy Years' by Jennifer Gradidge. An amazing book in two volumes including the histories of each and every aircraft built by Douglas and many built from the late 1930s till the early 1950s (!) in the Soviet Union (PS-84/Lisunov Li-2).
A very interesting book featuring the British car-ferry and freighter conversion of the C-54/DC-4 has only recently been published: 'The ATL-98 Carvair - A Comprehensive History of the Aircraft and All 21 Airframes' by William Patrick Dean. An excellent piece of work!
Another great book is 'The Canadair North Star' by Larry Milberry, featuring the Canadair DC-4M1, DC-4M2 and C-54GM North Star, and the C-4 Argonaut, C-4-1 and C-5 (developments of the DC-4/DC-6).
Several of these books will without a doubt be available through Amazon.com, though most of them second-hand because they are out of print.
Cheers, Maarten
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Post by Tom/CalClassic on Nov 21, 2008 10:46:43 GMT -5
Hi,
And to answer part of your first question, the Gann book is a technical treatise on the DC-6 and DC-7 series, with many B&W delivery photos from the Douglas Aircraft files.
Hope this helps,
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Post by jesse on Nov 21, 2008 11:17:42 GMT -5
Was Harry related to Earnest K.? Earnest's nephew Ralph was our company pilot in Saudi Arabia. He was flying us around the different sites in a Golden Eagle when we were establishing the Saudio Airways system. It might be possible that Ralph's father was Harry, but I'm not certain.
Jesse
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Post by Maarten on Nov 21, 2008 11:41:32 GMT -5
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Post by Tom/CalClassic on Nov 21, 2008 11:42:01 GMT -5
Hi,
I believe they are unrelated.
I did find I have the Wilson book (my library is too big...) - a good overall (if brief) description of the Douglas and DC-6/7 history. There is a mixture of color delivery and in service pictures. It does feature nice line drawings (side view) of each variant in the DC-4/DC-7/DC-7 series. It also has color drawings of 8 liveries. The book is in a small format, which limits the size of the pictures and drawings. It contains 64 pages.
Hope this helps,
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Post by jesse on Nov 21, 2008 15:32:54 GMT -5
Thanks, Maarten. A very touching tribute to a member of the world of aviation. Being USAF I did not know too much about the goings on in the Navy and Marine flying end of the services. Harry accomplished quite a bit in his too short life. I see he was a couple of years younger than I. Jesse
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Post by acourt on Nov 22, 2008 16:01:08 GMT -5
Thanks, everyone! This is exactly the input I needed. I already own some of the books mentioned, but it's nice to a find many new gems to look for.
Can you tell who's putting a Christmas list together? ;D
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