One of my favorite planes is the old Douglas DC-3 – can’t beat it for looks in my book. Was doing some reading on it and came across a story about the Douglas “DC-2 1/2.”
The Japanese had damaged the wing of a Chinese DC-3 with a 200-lb bomb. There were no DC-3 replacement wings available and the Chinese were worried that the whole plane would be destroyed in further bombing raids. A spare DC-2 wing – which was about 5’ shorter – was strapped to the bottom of a different DC-3 in Hong Kong, flown 900 miles to the airfield at about 110 mph, and bolted on the DC-3.
Get this – the damn thing flew! It needed 12 degrees of aileron trim and different power settings than its partner engine on the full size wing but it flew straight and level 800+ miles to escape the Japanese raids.
Neat write-up about it here.
In action:
