Last of six films about the vehicles that defied extinction.
The DC-3 Dakota. From its origins in passenger travel in the 1930s, through war and a return to civilian use, the Dakota has flown more miles and carried more passengers and cargo than any other aeroplane in the world. See today's choices.
Producer Richard Pawelko ; Series producer
Emma Willis

Perpetual Motion
8.30pm BBC2
The reassuring drone of its two Pratt and Whitney engines has offered comfort to millions of passengers on the Douglas DC3 - "the most glamorous, successful and popular plane in airline history." Also known as the Dakota, C47, or the unflattering gooney bird, it is the subject of the last in a series that has lovingly profiled six diverse modes of transport.
The aircraft was developed in 1935 and more than 10,000 were built for wartime service alone. Nearly 60 years on, there are still 1,500 of these workhorses operating around the globe. "Like the Concorde," says one flyer, "the DC3 was 20 years ahead of its time."
Freddie Laker started his airline business operating a DC3 on flights from Blackpool to the Isle of Man, and his aircraft company based at Southend built a plane, the Accountant, as a DC3 replacement. It flopped. That doesn't surprise the airlines of Colombia in South
America, where one pilot says simply: "The only replacement is another DC3."