How the Curtiss Condor Lost to the Douglas DC-3

In 1933, the Curtiss Condor entered airline service as America's last passenger biplane, built by chief designer George Page's team at Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company around a feature no rival could match: real overnight sleeper berths, attended by stewardesses like Swissair's Nelly Diener. Three years later, American Airlines president C.R. Smith's phone call to Donald Douglas produced the DC-3, and the Condor's one advantage disappeared overnight. This video traces the full arc of the Condor's short commercial life: its roots in Curtiss's earlier Condor 18, its retractable landing gear and sleeper cabin innovations, the July 1934 Tuttlingen crash that killed stewardess Nelly Diener, and the conversation between C.R. Smith and Bill Littlewood that led directly to the Douglas Sleeper Transport and the DC-3. It's built for aviation history viewers, pilots, and anyone interested in how airline decisions, not just engineering, decide which aircraft survive. #AviationHistory #CurtissCondor #DC3 #AirlineHistory If you’ve flown this aircraft or studied it, what stood out to you? Was it the design, the handling, or the way it performed in real operations? Your input adds to the discussion, especially from pilots and engineers who’ve seen it firsthand. #aviation #aircraft #aviationhistory #pilotlife #airliner #generalaviation #flight