The Flagship Detroit's American Airlines DC-3 (NC17334) at San Francisco.

During my last trip down to San Francisco (SFO) and their showing off of Terminal 2, I had the opportunity to check out the Flagship Detroit Foundation’s DC-3 (NC17334) with classic American Airlines livery.

The foundation is a nonprofit organization made up of 1500 members whose main goal is to keep the DC-3 travelling across the country promoting the history of aviation — what a great cause.

The aircraft was built in 1937 and was the 21st DC-3 that American Airlines received. American ended up operating 84 DC-3s until they went out of service in 1949. NC17334 is the oldest DC-3 still flying today.

The DC-3 was purchased by the Flagship Detroit Foundation in August 2004 and was restored. Today it is flown around the country to remind people of the history of flying. It is surely one of the most impressive DC-3s that I have seen that still flies.

Check out the other goodies:
* 12 of my photos of the DC-3 (check the sweet B757 seen through the cockpit)
* 73 photos of NC17334 on Airliners.net
* Video taken from the DC-3 over Niagara Falls
* Photos from the Flagship Detroit’s site