Route 66 – Part Three – Oklahoma to Texas
For Wed. October 15, 2025
   

https://www.seeingsam.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Texas-Route-66-9.jpg

This is a continuation of our flights via Historic Route 66 trip in msfs2024 in the vintage Douglas DC-3 (1930’s). This section of the terrain is again scenic but not a complex route. This is part three that covers Route 66 from Tulsa, Oklahoma to Amarillo, Texas. We’re getting there! After this section, we’ll be half way: We have come 1100 miles this far but still have another 1100 miles to go to complete the journey at our destination on the west coast of the USA in Santa Monica, California. 

 
https://highways.dot.gov/sites/fhwa.dot.gov/files/inline-images/back0303a.gif

Background

We have already covered the general background of the U.S. Route 66/ Highway 66, for the most part, so instead of repeating will offer a brief background on our aircraft in this series: the Douglas DC3. 

The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by the Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version of the Douglas DC-2. It is a low-wing metal monoplane with conventional landing gear, powered by two radial piston engines of 1,000–1,200 hp (750–890 kW). Although the DC-3s originally built for civil service had the Wright R-1820 Cyclone, later civilian DC-3s used the Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp engine. The DC-3 has a cruising speed of 207 mph (333 km/h), a capacity of 21 to 32 passengers or 6,000 lbs (2,700 kg) of cargo, and a range of 1,500 mi (2,400 km), and can operate from short runways.

The DC-3 had many exceptional qualities compared to previous aircraft. It was fast, had a good range, was more reliable, and carried passengers in greater comfort. Before World War II, it pioneered many air travel routes. It was able to cross the continental United States from New York to Los Angeles in 18 hours, with only three stops. It is one of the first airliners that could profitably carry only passengers without relying on mail subsidies. In 1939, at the peak of its dominance in the airliner market, around ninety percent of airline flights on the planet were by a DC-3 or some variant.

Following the war, the airliner market was flooded with surplus transport aircraft, and the DC-3 was no longer competitive because it was smaller and slower than aircraft built during the war. It was made obsolete on main routes by more advanced types such as the Douglas DC-4 and Convair 240, but the design proved adaptable and was still useful on less commercially demanding routes.

Civilian DC-3 production ended in 1943 at 607 aircraft. Military versions, including the C-47 Skytrain (the Dakota in British RAF service), and Soviet- and Japanese-built versions, brought total production to over 16,000. Many continued to be used in a variety of niche roles; 2,000 DC-3s and military derivatives were estimated to be still flying in 2013; by 2017 more than 300 were still flying. As of 2023, it was estimated about 150 were still flying.  There is lots of videos out there on the DC3/C47 but here is a short but informative video on the Douglas DC3.

Our Trip
In this part three of the Route 66 path we cover that portion of highway between Tulsa, Oklahoma and Amarillo, Texas.  The trip is 314 nm along the historic highway route and contains six intermediate stopovers at: 3F7 KCQB KPWA KOJA KELK 2E7 then landing at our final destination KAMA in Amarillo, Texas. In following excursions we’ll continue to travel southwest to cover the rest of “Historic Route 66” all the way to California!  

FP, itinerary, etc can be found HERE. 

Aircraft:

This trip along Route 66 was intended to be flown in the Douglas DC-3 in MSFS2024 but as always, please fly whatever aircraft you wish.

Mod Recommended for DC-3: https://flightsim.to/file/43893/duckworks-dc-3-improvement-mod by Imenes

Add-on Scenery:  All airports are in the default sim but if you want some eye candy: 

Payware (eye candy): 
https://store.flightsim.to/product/ktul-tulsa-international-airport-msfs2024 (by FLY2HIGH)  (Eye Candy-not mandatory)

Flightsim.to (freeware):
https://flightsim.to/file/85735/kpwa-wiley-post-airport-oklahoma-city-oklahoma-usa  By scottmc606
https://flightsim.to/file/73560/koja-thomas-p-stafford-airport-weatherford-ok-usa By scottmc606

Time and Weather
Prefer to fly real weather if possible but if not, the few clouds or high clouds might make a nice choice.  For takeoff: set the simulator time to @0700 local.  (This time simulates a dawn flight for this week so that the sun is behind us and NOT in our eyes for the entire trip as we are heading west!)

Multiplayer Particulars
Date and time: Wednesday, October 15th, 2025 - 1900 UTC, 1400 Eastern
AVSIM Discord Server: https://discord.gg/K5Vy6UxWNm  - AVSIM GROUP EVENTS-WED. COM1
Microsoft Flight Simulator Multiplayer: EAST-USA Server

If you want to help others enjoy the multiplayer experience, don't forget to enter your aircraft details on the multiplayer spreadsheet (linked here). Your courtesy will save others a lot of time and effort. Thanks! 

Norm Richards
October 2025

A few extra pics:

TEXAS TO OKLAHOMA: A Roadtrip on ROUTE 66 through Elk City to Oklahoma City

https://youtu.be/BJie-HuihR4?si=japf8fStHlx4Om5p

Route 66 Road Trip Stops in Oklahoma

https://youtu.be/yX74CHItXWk?si=9ZfjbLa75vvyrZkp

Route 66 Road Trip Stops in Texas

https://youtu.be/ZRA73rwDwHY?si=Ik_bjBmm4TsN27pehttps://youtu.be/ZRA73rwDwHY?si=Ik_bjBmm4TsN27pe

Edited October 11, 2025Oct 11 by nbrich1