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On this day in 1959, the DC-8 entered service with Delta Air Lines and United Air Lines. Built in Douglas’ new Long Beach, California, plant, the first aircraft was rolled out and flown in 1958. It comprised a swept-wing, four-jet-engine layout, with a capacity for up to 179 passengers. Powered by four Pratt & Whitney J57 turbojet engines, the DC-8 was capable of cruising speeds reaching 600 miles per hour, and it had a range of 4,000 miles. It could easily fly nonstop from San Francisco to New York in just over five hours, three hours less than the transcontinental flight time of the piston-powered Douglas DC-7. In 2021, SFO Museum presented our scale 1:10 DC-8 cutaway model created by Pacific Miniatures in Alhambra, California. At the time, few people had flown in a jetliner, and cutaway models were a good way to familiarize potential customers to the interior features of the new airliners and alleviate some of their reservations about flying in them. #52Objects United Air Lines Douglas DC-8 Mainliner Captain R. T. Freng cutaway model aircraft c. 1959 Pacific Miniatures, Alhambra, California scale 1:10 fiberglass, metal, wood, paint, plastic, paper, ink, fabric Collection of SFO Museum Gift of the Rollison Family 2018.128.001 a j https://bit.ly/3PHdj8K
This image was posted on September 18, 2023.