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C.R. Smith came up with an innovation for passenger comfort. He insisted on a right side door to the DC-3, even though the DC-2’s door was on the left side.

There were two main reasons for this. It would standardize American's operations where they had ramp facilities to accommodate their right side door Ford Tri-Motors and Condors, but more importantly, Smith's philosophy behind the right side door was that pilots started the left engine first preparatory to departure. Boarding passengers would not be buffeted by the prop wash as they boarded the aircraft if the left engine were running. Rumor has it that C.R. also believed that the elegant passengers did not need to see the ramp workers loading their baggage into the left side baggage compartment.

Other airlines soon followed this precedent and many of the early DC-3 deliveries, including the C-53 VIP transport models produced at the Santa Monica airport, had the passenger door on the right side. Few of the remaining airplanes today still have the original right-side passenger door.