Douglas DC-8 Makes Its First Flight From Long Beach

• Douglas Flight Operations Manager Arnold G. Heimerdinger, co-pilot William Magruder, systems engineer Paul Patten and observer Bob Rizer took N8008D off from Long Beach at 10:10 a.m. after a ten-minute coastal-fog delay; crowds estimated at up to 50,000 watched from around the field^[1]
• The jet climbed south over the Pacific, then went north to Edwards Air Force Base for the flight-test program; the flight lasted about two hours (10 minutes per This Day in Aviation, 7 minutes per Airways, 5 minutes per the Long Beach Independent), reaching 21,000 ft at 350 kn^[1][5]
• Heimerdinger told the Long Beach Independent that the DC-8 was "the greatest Douglas of them all"; 17 airlines had ordered 138 jets worth US$700 million, after Douglas gave the go-ahead on 7 June 1955 with a budget of about US$450 million, then the costliest private venture in industry^[1][5]
• The first aircraft had been rolled out of the hangar on 26 March 1958 with four Pratt & Whitney JT3 engines; Pan Am had ordered 25 DC-8s in October 1955 and United 30 DC-8As for US$175 million^[5]
• The DC-8 was certified in August 1959 and entered service with Delta Air Lines and United Airlines on 18 September 1959; Douglas built 556 until 1972 at Long Beach^[3][4][5]

Notable features

• DC-8-10 (domestic Series 10, first aircraft flew as the DC-8-11): length about 150.7 ft (46 m); fuselage 147 in (3.73 m) outside width, six-abreast seating^[3]
• Engines: four Pratt & Whitney JT3C-6 turbojets of 13,500 lbf each with water injection^[3]
• Maximum takeoff weight 273,000 lb (124 t) on the production -10; range 3,760 nmi (6,960 km) at maximum payload; cruise Mach 0.82 at 30,000 ft^[3]
• Seating: the Long Beach Independent said the airplane would carry "as many as 176 passengers"; a typical two-class layout is not published in the pages checked^[1]