Northwest Airlines  Douglas DC-3A-269     NC21711      (c/n   2123)

                                       

                                              As indicated in the narrative for the Lockheed 14, Northwest did not receive its DC-3s until
                                              1939.  This one was actually the first for Northwest and was delivered in April of that year.
                                              It is seen here in this typical pose at Billy Mitchell  Field,  Milwaukee in the late 1940s. This
                                              image is courtesy the Leo J. Kohn collection.   NWA woulkd go on to operate some forty of
                                              both "true" DC-3s and converted C-47s and C-53s, phasing them out in 1951.   Also from
                                              Leo Kohn comes the shot of NC33332 (below) sporting "Coast to Coast" titling indicating
                                              Northwest's authority to fly from New York to Seattle on the northern transcontinental route,
                                              granted in 1945.  By this time there were five airlines competing for the New York to Chicago
                                              section of this run.  (In addition to NWA they were: Capital, TWA, American and United).

                                        Douglas DC-3 (C-53)   NC33332            (c/n  7355)