The Douglas DF was a commercial flying boat built by

Douglas Aircraft Company The Douglas Aircraft Company was an American aerospace manufacturer based in Southern California. It was founded in 1921 by Donald Wills Douglas Sr. and later merged with McDonnell Aircraft in 1967 to form McDonnell Douglas; it then operated as ...

, first flown on 24 September 1936.

Design and development

The DF could accommodate 32 passengers, or 16 in sleeper cabins, and was the last flying boat built by the company. Despite acceptable handling and performance within design specifications, no commercial orders were forthcoming and faced with no domestic market for aircraft already built, the company obtained export permits for them. The first two production aircraft were sold to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, ostensibly for commercial airline use. The second aircraft was lost on a survey flight in 1938. The second production pair were sold (as DF-195's) to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

and after winterizing, were disassembled and transported to Russia via ship, where they were operated as transports by

Aeroflot PJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines (russian: ПАО "Аэрофло́т — Росси́йские авиали́нии", ), commonly known as Aeroflot ( or ; russian: Аэрофлот, , ), is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Russia. The ...

Variants

;DF-151: Specification/designation of the first two aircraft sold to

. ;DF-195: Specification/designation of the second two aircraft sold to the

Specifications

References

{{Japanese Navy short aircraft designations DF-151 1930s United States airliners Aircraft first flown in 1936 Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft