Q204: Air classic

I think everybody know the shape of one of the most famous planes ever built. The next question is related with the classic DC-3.

How many DC-3s we can see in the books?

P.S.: I'm looking for distinct planes, not how many times it appears.

1st time we ever saw the plane was in Slydavia, Destination Moon.

2nd Time was in The Calculus Affair

3rd Time was in Red Sea Sharks

4th Time was in Tintin in Tibet

If you mentioned how many albums does it stars a DC-3, it was 4 albums.

Now, Here's the rolling stock of the planes.

Destination Moon: 1 DC-3(Marlinspike to Klow)
Calculus Affair: 2 DC-3s(Marlinspike to Geneva)(Geneva to Szohod)
Red Sea Sharks: 1 DC-3(Marlinspike to Wadesdah. Same aircraft used on Wadesdah to Beirut Route)
Tintin In Tibet: 3 DC-3s (one crashed)(one from Marlinspike to Delhi)(last one was from Delhi to Kathmandu)

I reckon there are four different DC-3s seen in the Tintin books.

1) The Calculus Affair, p.16
Not the plane Tintin and Haddock are taking off in, which is a Convair 240, but one of the three planes in the background, parked by the airport buildings. The DC-3 is the one furthest to the left.

2) The ill-fated DC-3 in The Red Sea Sharks, first seen on p.15.

3)The DC-3 Tintin and Haddock take from Delhi to Katmandu in Tintin in Tibet, first seen on p.9

4) Again in Tintin in Tibet, the crashed DC-3 in the mountains, first seen on p.28.

I think that's all of them. Sorry to beat Ranko to it, as I know he loves his airliners.

Edit: Looks like Tintinspartan posted while I was typing. But I reckon he's wrong about the plane in Destination Moon, which is a DC-6 (note the four engines), and about the planes they actually travel in in The Calculus Affair, which are Convair 240s (note the front nose wheel - different from the DC-3's rear wheel), and about the plane they take in Tintin in Tibet from Europe to Delhi, which is a Lockheed Constellation.

Oh No! 10 seconds Apart by Blue Blistering Barnacles. If I were to make the edit before posting originally, I would be behind you, Balthazar. What a shocker!

Balthazar, you old pilot you!
You did beat me, ha ha ha!!

I was about to say the DC-6 in Explorers was a DC-4, but as soon as my browser linked to the article I got the dreaded "access violation error" and everything crashed around my ears. I log back on and look what's happened!

Yes, the aviation nut has missed out on this one :-)

Hey Balthazar, obviously you are an aviation enthusiast. Like me!!!

Good try tintinspartan, but Balthazar's answer is complete and free from mistakes.

So Balthazar got the point and must set up the next question...

Bon voyage...!!!

You're right; I do love aeroplanes, particularly old ones - see Q:102, and also the rather overcomplicated Q: 108.

Ranko is the expert on civil airliners though, and I'm happy to stand corrected that the four engined plane in Destination Moon is a DC-4 rather than a DC-6. In my defence, the DC-4 and DC-6 look very similar, at least to my untrained eyes!

The Convair 240 looks pretty similar to a DC-3 as well (apart from the undercarriage set-up) so I can easily see how tintinspartan made that error. I guess the DC-3 was a very influencial plane.

Thanks, Balthazar.

4, 6. What's a couple of numbers between forum members :-)