Finished
Back HistoryIn 1938, TWA was looking at improving the flight safety over long ranges, especially transatlantic crossings. the most succesfull plane to do that was the twin engine Douglas DC-3, but TWA's founder, Howard Hughes, wanted a third engine on the aircraft for added safety factor. taking the exaple of the Ford Trimotor, engineers from Douglas and TWA started converting one of the TWA DC-3's to accomodate a third engine on the nose. in 1939, flight tests were conducted and proved to be satisfactory, however, fuel consumption was increased a third, reducing the aircrafts range by 33%. the project was eventually abandon and the trimotor DC-3 was put up for sale.
in early 1940, the aircraft was sold to Alaskan Airlines, and was outfitted with a fixed and enclosed landinggear, this added to the weight of the aircraft, but the 3rd engine made up for the extra power needed.
it only served until 1941, when it was inducted by the USAAF, where it served as a Ju-52 lookalike and served as a simulation aircraft and was featured in many propaganda films (in german colors) until 1944. during its service, it recieved various nicknames like "Three-see-three", 3C3 and "Trikota" among others.
after the war, it was stored away, awaiting to be scrapped, until Pratt & Whitney bought the aircraft for testing purposes.
it served the company well until 1970, when it was sold once again to Canadian based Buffalo Airways, who then sold it to Marlin Air Services in 1996. Marlin continued to fly the aircraft until 2009, when it was finally retired. its currently stored at a museum depot in Reno, Nevada, awaiting restoration for static display.