First airplane I ever flew in. The old Trans-Texas Airlines (TTA) flew DC-3s for quite a while.
My first flight in a DC-3 was about the same time as Rayne Man’s, 1958 or so, from San Francisco to Reno. Hideous ear problems due to lack of pressurization.
Several years later I was a flight attendant for the Flying Tiger Line, flying Super Constellations across the Pacific. On one flight the superchargers went out (I have no idea what that means) and experienced the same excruciating ear pain.
I have no love for these older aircraft, but have a respect for them as car-buffs do for Model-T’s.
I flew in a DC-3 back in 1960. Ozark Airlines.
Flew in a private one in '73 from Miami to Port au Prince and back. Worst ear ache I’ve ever had.
Back in the 1990s I jumped one of the first loads out of a completely restored Super Constellation at the World Freefall Convention in Quincy IL. Flown by an original TWA flight crew, the plane was owned by the “Save A Connie” group. It had upholstered chairs in first class, drapes on the windows, etc.
Way cool. The crew was a lot of fun, they all appeared to be in their 70s and I got the impression that they were used to being “just another big plane” at airshows. They were grinning from ear to ear when they landed and found a few thousand skydivers waiting on the tarmac to give them a standing ovation. Jump tickets were $59 IIRC, no unsavory actions required.
The Turbo Porter and Twin Otter also get a lot of use as jumpships. Quincy had what I understand was at the time the only flying Helio Stallion jumpship in the country, it looks very much like the Pilatus Porter. It was neat from a historical perspective (incredible takeoff run, felt like it could get airborne from your average driveway) but pretty cramped (narrow body and we were seated two abreast).
I jumped out of one - does that count?
The airfield in Perris Valley, CA had one for skydiving…
Flew on “Polair” (N23SA) in 1990–Up to the Arctic as a Navy contractor. Douglas (Conroy) Tri-Turbo Three (DC-3) - Polair | Aviation Photo #1178061 | Airliners.net Awesome to be landing on an ice runway @ 48 knots with a 10 knot head wind, and almost cartwheeling on another. An experimental aircraft designed by John Conroy’s Specialized Aircraft Company who did the “No-way-that-dang-thang-can-fly Guppy”.
It had been damaged in an Arctic storm a couple of weeks before when I arrived and I’ll never forget getting on board the plane and looking into the cockpit to find one steering wheel made out of a cut piece of plywood.
The previous one had shattered in the cold weather as a result of the alerons flapping backing and forth in the storm. The plane had been parked (luckily) on the Arctic ice pack back-ass into the wind which hit 70 to 90 mph. Oh, and I almost forgot about the duct tape used to fill in the damaged portion of the elevator and rudder.
After I finished the contract, a friend of mine on the same program told me a couple of mechanics had refused to fly on the plane, because it wasn’t
“airworthy,” and he thought I would have gone home after hearing the news, so he didn’t tell me (he flew up later with the plane pretty much in the same condition).
I still would have done it, in spite of the risk. Landed within 48 miles of the North Pole was predicated on the belief that I would never have the chance again (which has pretty much panned out). It was amazing experience. I heard stories like the time it flew from Thule, Greenland to Salt Lake City non-stop; they were trying for LAX, but hit a nasty headwind (the plane was fitted with extended wing tanks). Last I heard it was going to be scrapped in the Mojave, but then someone bought it moved it to Winsconsin and is currently mothballed.
As did (does?) Zephyrhills, FL, which I jumped from in the early eighties.