Barry Lloyd details the lengthy career of the DC-3 with US carrier Provincetown-Boston Airline.
The Douglas DC-3 Dakota was the workhorse of major airlines around the world, but after many years of service most sold them on. Provincetown-Boston Airline (PBA) worked rather differently. As the DC-3 fell out of favour with the big carriers when they turned to turboprops and jets, PBA was busy buying them up. The first two aircraft were acquired from Modern Air Transport in February 1968, with further purchases during the 1970s, and by the end of 1980 there were 12 of the type in the fleet. Notably, many had early constructor’s numbers, and being older models were cheaper to acquire, though often they needed more frequent maintenance. Among these was N136PB, (c/n 1997) which had the highest flying hours in the US and N43PB (c/n 1953), the world’s oldest commercial airliner at the time, having been built in 1937.
