Frontiers May 2014 13 PHOTOS: (Clockwise from far left) The first DC-10 rolls out in July 1970 at the Douglas plant in Long Beach, Calif.; James S. McDonnell, from left, Vice President Spiro Agnew and Donald W. Douglas advance throttles to signal the start of rollout of the first DC-10; a KC-10, the U.S. Air Force Tanker version of the DC-10, flies with Douglas A-4 Skyhawks of the U.S. Navy Blue Angels demonstration team. BOEING ARCHIVES Biman’s DC-10-30 arrives at the Birmingham, England, airport, ending a chapter in aviation history. BIMAN BANGLADESH AIRLINES On July 23, 1970, a typical sunny California summer day at the Douglas Long Beach plant, more than a thousand employees and guests, including then–California Gov. Ronald Reagan, gathered for a not very typical celebration. It was 50 years and one day after Donald Douglas had started the airplane company that carried his name. Bagpipers, acknowledging the Scottish heritage of Douglas as well as his new business partner James S. McDonnell, ceremoniously led a new plane with the Douglas name out from Building 54. There was high enthusiasm for the new DC-10, and great hope that accompanies the completion of a design process that revealed not only a beautiful new airplane but one that promised to continue one of the world’s most famous families of commercial airplanes. It had started in 1935 when the DC-2 and the DC-3 captured the air travel market. And in the post–World War II era, the DC-4, DC-6 and DC-7 ruled the skies. The DC-10, however, would mark the end of a Douglas legacy—there would be no more all-new DC designs. For four decades, the DC-10 has been a familiar member of the world’s widebody jetliner fleet. It continues to operate as a freighter and the military uses a modified version as a refueling tanker. But the last DC-10 passenger plane in scheduled service was retired earlier this year by Biman Bangladesh Airlines. The DC-10 was the flagship of the Biman fleet for three decades; it is being replaced by Boeing’s 777-300ER (Extended Range). On Feb. 20, the remaining DC-10 in the Biman fleet, carrying 30 aviation enthusiasts and writers as well as a film crew from the British Broadcasting Corp., took off on a long-haul flight from Dhaka to Birmingham, England. The trip marked a somber farewell to the last member of a Douglas legacy. The DC-10 originally was planned as a high-capacity, four-engine double-deck design, but with the advent of the widebody 747, the design changed to a high-capacity widebody able to fit in the same footprint as existing single-aisle jets. Douglas designers set several basic goals for their new airplane: speed comparable to that of the 747, economy superior to that of the DC-8, low approach speed better than that of the 727, low external noise level and being able to operate from the short field and confined gates of New York’s LaGuardia airport. The designers arrived at an optimum design of a three-engine, high-capacity widebody with nine-abreast seating for 250 to 340 passengers. Later, the cabin was fitted for 10-abreast seating and 380 passengers. The first DC-10s, known as the Series 10, were built for domestic routes of up to 3,500 miles (5,600 kilometers) and were powered by General Electric CF-6 engines. Two other major models were built for longer-range international flights. With two-thirds the capacity of the 747, the DC-10 found success flying long-haul routes that did not need the capacity of the larger 747. In all, 386 commercial DC-10s were built in a production run that ended in 1989. Sixty KC-10 aerial refueling tanker versions added to the production total. Unfortunately, the rollout of the DC-10 was not the continuation of the famous DC dynasty but rather its end. The new McDonnell Douglas planes that followed were all derivatives of the DC-9 or the DC-10. Those MD-11s, MD-80/90s and the 717 (initially called the MD-95 before the merger with Boeing) continue to carry the Douglas airliner legacy. And the ageless DC-3 likely will still be flying many years from now—another reminder of the genius of Donald Douglas and his incomparable commercial aviation dynasty. n michael.j.lombardi@boeing.com
Frontiers May 2014 Issue
To see the actual publication please follow the link above