Perhaps you already know this, perhaps you don't. I certainly didn't when I first read about it many years ago in a "non-aerospace" related book: The Fifth Discipline by Peter M. Senge.
At the least, such information could be conversation starters (for nerds?). At best they remind you of the innovations that goes almost unnoticed, which we take for take for granted, but which established an industry that you and I are today part of.
Here's the blast from the past ... enjoy!
The Wright Brothers proved that powered flight was possible, but the McDonnell Douglas DC-3, introduced in 1935, ushered in the era of commercial air travel. The DC-3 was the first plane that supported itself economically as well as aerodynamically. During those intervening thirty years (a typical time period for incubating basic innovations), myriad experiments with commercial flight had failed. ...[E]arly planes were not reliable and cost effective on an appropriate scale.
The DC-3, for the first time, brought together five critical component technologies that formed a successful ensemble. They were: the variable-pitch propeller, retractable landing gear [the pilot of the 2nd B787 flight will understand this!], a type of light-weight molded body construction called "monocoque," radial air-cooled engine, and wing flaps. To succeed, the DC-3 needed all five; four was not enough. One year earlier, the Boeing 247 was introduced with all of them except wing flaps. Lacking wing flaps, Boeing's engineers found that the plane was unstable on take-off and landing and had to downsize the engine.
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