The old National Airport terminal (tough noogies, Reagan) is a treat. You can walk through it to get to an active terminal. It’s largely unchanged since opening (1941?) Look closely around and out of the huge windows; you can almost hear and see all the WWII traffic.

The smoothest take off and landing I've ever had was in a DC3 - on and off a dirt runway in Panama back in the '60s. That pilot really knew his stuff.

Washington National opened the month before, June 1941. Looks like the right wheel is on a turntable, allowing the DC-3 to pivot itself out sharply.

After a few years they put steps on the inside of DC-3 passenger doors and hinged them downward instead of sideways, so they could manage without the rolling stairs.

Quite some time ago I was on a plane waiting in line to take off when it turned to take off I noticed the plane behind us was a DC-3 with the pilot -- complete with "thousand hour crush" hat -- leaning out his window surveying the action.

Thanks to the link to the ASN database provided by Born40YearsTooLate, I was able to search and find the record of the plane crash that killed my father, Blanchard G. McManus, and his co-pilot, Robert Baer, in Hollywood, California, on Friday, September 13, 1968. Although I have a newspaper detailing the incident and containing a few photos, I'd never seen these pictures of the accident before. I only learned within the last few years that the crash was the result of the smaller jet encountering wake turbulence. I never knew my dad, and he died when I was 11, so I'm grateful for any information about his untimely passing (he was one month shy of his 38th birthday at the time of his death). Thanks, B40YTL, and thanks, Shorpy.

https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19680913-0

Five years hence, everyone was able to walk away. As we used to say in aircraft mechanics school, any crash you can walk away from is a good one.

https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19460702-0