An aside on Langley's Douglas DT turns from carrier design to the fragility of early aviation evidence. The disputed possibility that Norwegian aircraft attacked German invasion forces in 1940 needs further investigation. Occupation and fear of reprisals could help explain why records of such an attack disappeared, so the episode remains uncertain. The physical record is equally thin: ninety Douglas DTs were built, and none survives. Source loss and the decay of early aircraft make this part of naval-aviation history especially difficult to reconstruct.
Notable Point · 22:01-23:25
The Douglas DT highlights source loss and aircraft preservation
A Douglas DT aside links a disputed Norwegian wartime attack to the disappearance of records and every surviving example of the aircraft.