Which airplane designs have the greatest longevity? What airplane designs have been around the longest, from first flight through last retirement from active commercial or military service?

My guess is that the DC-3 will win, since it has been around since before WW II and is still in service, although there are enough other designs out there I'm not familiar with that I'll be interested to see where I may be wrong on that. (Russian designs come to mind as an obvious source of possibilities.)

Can anything out there beat the DC-3? What's the runner up?

(The wikipedia page on the DC-3 says its first flight was December 17, 1935.)
This is a community-wiki mashup of the other answers - I thought a table would be useful.




Date Introduced
Aircraft Type
Commercial Service (2015)




1909
Bleriot XI
Flown by Shuttleworth collection UK, entrance fee.


1932
JU-52
Sight seeing flights by Ju-Air, Switzerland.


1932
Tiger Moth
Flight experiences, e.g. Cheltenham UK.


1934
Dragon Rapide
Sight seeing flights, London.


1935
DC-3
Many commercial flight-experience/other operators.


1935
PBY Catalina
Still used in aerial firefighting role.


1938
Piper Cub
Many still in private/GA use and in flight schools.


1947
AN-2
Still in widespread use in 2020.


1952
B-52
76 still in service with USAF. Projected service to 2045?


1952
Tu-95
In service with Russian air force. Projected service to 2040?