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Aerospace · Recorded milestone

Modern airliner

Recorded year1936

The Douglas DC-3 makes passenger air travel profitable without mail subsidies.

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Built on

All-metal aircraftRecorded · 1915enables

Led to

Instrument landing systemRecorded · 1938enables
Low-cost airlineRecorded · 1949enables
Air package holidayRecorded · 1950enables
Jet airlinerRecorded · 1952enables

Sources & evidence

Additional source

Dataset updated 2026-10-18. This individual record has not been separately re-reviewed.