Douglas DC-3 N760 at the California Science Center

DC-3 N1944 (later N760) while ​flying for Union Oil Company of California. (eBay photo)

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DC-3 N1944 (later N760) while ​flying for Union Oil Company of California. (eBay photo)

By Adam Estes, contributing writer

Young Historians Program

In the middle of Los Angeles’ Exposition Park, the California Science Center has been constructing a new building for exhibitions with the goal of being the most prestigious display of aerospace technology in southern California’s sprawling metropolis. The new Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center has already attracted the attention of local aerospace enthusiasts and causal visitors alike, especially since it is already the home of the Space Shuttle Endeavour, the last of the shuttle orbiters built. Yet in the shadow of this new building lies a Douglas DC-3 that until this past year stood among Boeing 747s at Los Angeles International Airport, and is now undergoing restoration in plain view of the millions of visitors to Exposition Park, yet few know the history behind this aircraft, presently disassembled, that will soon be at the center of the new Air and Space Center’s Aviation Gallery.