Aerodynamic streamlining made aircraft fly more efficiently and transformed aircraft design in the late 1920s and the 1930s. The removal or redesign of drag-inducing structures such as landing gear, engines and radiators, struts and wires, open cockpits, and armament could greatly increase the performance of both civilian and military aircraft. The increased use of the internally-braced, or cantilever, monoplane wing over the strut-and-wire-braced biplane wing also reflected streamline design.
Streamlining is evident in the sleek design of the Curtiss R3C-2 Racer, the drag-reducing engine cowling and wheel pants of Earhart’s Lockheed Vega, and it culminated in the sleekly modern Douglas DC-3.
