The Douglas DC-3 is a fixed-wing propeller-driven airliner. Its speed and range revolutionized commercial aviation when it was introduced in 1935, and with the outbreak of WWII, the DC-3 and its military versions, the Douglas C-47 Skytrain, C-53 Skytrooper, and C-47 Dakota and the license-built Russian Lisunov Li-2, Japanese Showa L2D and Nakajima L2D made for a production total that exceeded 16,000 by the time production ceased in 1952. Even today, DC-3s and the ex-military variants of the aircraft remain in use all over the world.
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