My father was a captain for United and retired on the DC-8. His last flight , I sat in the jump seat behind him. I was a pilot ( I was a CFII - flight instructor- for fun no employment) and FAA approved. My dad was as gunner in the B-17 in WW2. As he went to gunnery school he got his private pilots license and they let him fly the left seat of the B-17 for fun. At 92 he went home to heaven as Jesus was his LORD and SAVIOR.

Extremely enjoyable. The DC8, especially the stretch 60, 61 and 63 series , were my favorite aircraft. It is really great to have a narrator who is extremely knowledgeable of the aircraft and has a great voice

DC-10 was a sentimental favorite United’s Friendship service to LAX to visit my aunts in the Summer. LAX to Sydney on a Continental with stopover in Honolulu. Heavy laden with fuel and passengers in a driving rain taxiing to the runway the captain got on the intercom and said “Flight attendants take your seats immediately!” as he converted taxiing momentum into take off thrust with those three engines giving everything they got on a wet and windy climb out. Crossing the mighty Pacific in more comfortable circumstances than did Charles Kingsford Smith in an open cockpit Lockheed when he made that historic jaunt

One time back in the '80s, I was driving the president of my company to the airport on a very windy day. As we were going up I-65 in Louisville, a UPS DC-8 was about 100 ft. off the ground, coming in for a landing. A wind rocked my car, and the nose of the DC-8 really dipped, and I was sure it would not end well, for any of us. But the pilot brought the nose up, and we all lived to tell the story!

I'm enjoying your videos. I worked at McDonnell Douglas longbeach. I was a data analyst for the MD80/MD11. My dad worked on the C17. Together we went on the roof of building 36 to watch the C17s first take off to Charleston AFB back in 1991. I'll never forget it. Not to long after Boeing bought Douglas. Most of the buildings are now gone and it's all stores. I think there's one big building left and of course LB airport.

I have a memory of my first airline flight. In the mid-sixties my father, mother and I flew to Michigan (from Florida) to visit family. I remember getting on the plane to come home. It was a four-engined jet (not sure of Boeing or Douglas). The stewardess gave me a pair of gold wings with a blue and white 'E' logo in the center (Eastern Airlines) and my dad took me to see the cockpit as he was a private pilot and gunner in Korea in B-29s and got permission to see the cockpit. I remember the pilot asked me if I 'wanted to fly it' but I was too shy and declined. Wish I still had those wings! Times sure have changed...

Flew to New Zealand and back after a two week holiday there in February 1978. I was 25 then and I marveled at how spacious and quiet the DC-10 was! Beautiful plane and my 1st experience aboard a jet airliner. I’ll never forget that flight! 2hrs 40mins each way. From Sydney Australia to Christchurch for the record.

Our family had the pleasure of accompanying our dad to Long Beach to witness the delivery of the new DC-9's to Northeast Airlines. My father was part of Northeast's acceptance team as a lead inspector. He was also in Long Beach when Northeast acquired the DC-6B aircraft as well. Thanks for the great series. You bring back happy memories.

Just wonderful narrative quality and information - not to mention the pictures. Great, great work!!

Thanks I love it I flew the DC eight for 10 years with Emery.

THis is great... I worked at the santa monica plant in '69

Love your series on these aircraft. I've always been a fan of Douglas aircraft and the DC-8 has been one of my favorites since I first saw them. Thank you, Andy K.

The most beautiful machines, certainly the most beautiful nose and window arrangement. Edit The 707 though was simply perfection at first try.

Thanks, I really enjoyed this and I always learn something new from your videos.

One of the best aviation KZfaq channels ever. From someone who was there and made it his life's mission to work in aviation.. namely Douglas. Bet it was gratifying to fullfil a childhood dream

Flew on a Stretch 8 with CFM 56s out of Denver. The jet was lightly loaded and it jumped of the runway and climbed like a scalded cat. The only passenger jet I flew on that surpassed that performance was on an Eastern 757 out of Miami in 85. That was a rocket ship! Great piece Mike! I did not realized there were so many fuselage/wing/engine permutations.

Great Series! I flew on all those aircraft . Even a Hawaiian airlines DC-8. From SLC to HNL.

A great series! Interesting to hear of Chuck Yeager, watching this just after his passing.

My first flight ever was as a five-year-old aboard an Ozark Airlines DC-9 from Dubuque to Chicago in the summer of '68. Even by that tender age, I was obsessed with airplanes, and it was easily the most exciting day of my life. Thanks for putting together a great video.

Amazing the DC-9s were built in livery - at least the workers had varied scenery!

Splendid presentations.

As I recall, the DC10 fuselage was later built at a LA plant, transported at night on low-boy trucks on city streets with signals and overhead wires lifted. Its wings (including DC9s) were built in Toronto at the old Avro/DeHavilland plant, transported in special Union Pacific flatcars to LB.

I loved flying the DC-8's. I flew 50 ,60 and 70 series with most of my time on the 63. It was my first four engine type rating. I went on to fly 747's 23 years but the 11 years I spent flying the 8 brings back many memories. Thanks for all the great videos.

Mike, you’ve outdone yourself! What a great series. Just top-notch; and what a joy to watch. I really treasure your content and we are all fortunate to have these at our fingertips. You mentioned Paul Mantz. I learned to fly from his partner, Frank Tallman. They jointly owned “Movieland of the Air” and Tallmantz Aviation at what was then Orange County Airport. As a really young teenager I begged a job from him and he hired me as a gopher. I washed airplanes, refilled soda machines, swept, and helped the mechanics work on their stable of airplanes. In exchange for 8 hours of work, I’d get an hour of flight instruction. Paul Mantz was long gone by the time I got there (in ‘75), but Frank spoke of him often. Anyway, I love your content and see many more folks are discovering it as well! Take care and thanks for making these.

Back in the days when we had proper compition in the aircraft industry love all the DC jets and the MD11 Mad Dogs rule!😊

Excellent video!! I love DC jets! The first jet I got paid to work on was an Emery DC8. Then I spent many nights working on Continental’s DC10s and MD 80s Then the UPS DC8’s you mentioned. And finally still to this day giving the brown tail MD 11s the love they deserve. Thank you for an amazing video!

The Air Canada DC 8 60-70 series had a lounge area ahead of first class, my dad spent several times up there! I myself grew up flying around on the DC 9 30 series with Air Canada 😊

1:28 N70700 looks just a beautiful these days as she did back then. It is part of the Air and Space Museum collection in Virginia, along with many other amazing aircraft

Inspirational content with history of manufacturing and design evolution. Mike you are the pinnacle of this aviation period. And the Bell 47 in the background for good measure!

This series was awesome! Thank you.

My first jet airline flight was LA to Detroit on a United DC-8 in 1964.

DC9 is my favorite.

Amazing that all 3 of these old jets still continue to fly today. The DC-8 in cargo, the DC-9 in some charter and VIP, but mostly cargo, and the DC-10 in cargo, a military tanker, and a fire tanker. Great to see them still useful today!

Well done! Stellar presentation! My favorite is the DC8, that was part of the joy of growing up in the 50s and 60s. In the early 70s, I worked for Finnair, and we had the DC8-62 Combi, with no less than 13 configurations. My favorites, though, were the DC8 30s and 50s. I always loved the sound of those engines on startup! Great days and great memories. Thank you!

Boy, this takes me back to the early '60s and my days at United Airlines Maintenance Operation Center at SFO. I really loved working on those old Douglas airplanes. First, the old DC-6s, and then later on the DC-8s. Great video, thanks much.

I await the next in your video series impatiently. Very well done. I remember as a kid in the '70s flying on a United DC-8. It seemed to have the longest most drawn out takeoff run of any plane I'd been on. Back then the seats actually had legroom and hip room, unlike today's sardine cans.

Thank you for sharing..I used to fly on the last of the DC-10s back in the 1990s. I miss those DC-10s flying them on the long-haul flights.

Flew on a KC-10 in '84 from Kadena to Darwin for exercise Pitch Black. Three weeks of fun. I checked out the cockpit on the way down and was amazed at how huge the windows are.

You mentioned the DC-8's tall landing gear. Years ago, I recall reading that when Donald Douglas first saw a 707, he commented "they can't stretch it". BTW, great series. Just rec'd a copy of your Round Engine Airliners book.

Very enjoyable. Thank you for not having the “dramatic” music in the background, which just about ruins every video

My first assignment in the USAF was at Scott AFB IL supporting the 12 MedEvac DC-9s from April 72 - Oct 74. What a great mission to be associated with.

Wow that was cool... I was fortunate enough to have flown in one of the first D.C. 8 Super 61 airliner's in 1967 from Oahu Hawaii for Dallas Texas & remember my late father showing me the brochure for the new " streatch out "D.C-8" while we were in our coach seat's and I received a complementary gift from " United Airlines" kid's tote bag with the airlines insignia on it.... thanks for the memories....

My 1st flight on a jetliner was on a DC-9, MEM to DTW on Northwest. I had never flown on a jetliner before being hired by Northwest and that flight was to go to initial training. I enjoy these videos so much; they are like comfort food. Thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge and memories with us.

Well done !!!!

My first ever flight was on a DC-9, Manchester to Amsterdam in 1974. Flew once on a DC-8 from London to Los Angeles via Maine in 1979. I flew once on a UTA DC-10 Gaborone to Paris via Angola in 1993.

Some great photos of some great airliners. And another great video.

Brings back memories of my time working in Long Beach for Boeing on the C-17 and KC-10

Excellent series. Having spent the last 70 years as an aviation geek I was aware of most what you presented but have never seen such a well organized overview of the Douglas aircraft. And, until I read one of your responses I had no idea you were a Douglas man - no evidence of bias or favoritism. Look forward to seeing more of your work.

Thank you Mike!

OUTSTANDING. WELL DONE. ! 🇺🇸

Started my airline career in the right seat of the DC-3 in 1966, young 23 year old. Retired in the left seat of the 747, much older. Also flew the Convair 580, 737, MD-80, 727. MD-80 was a very, very quiet cockpit aircraft. 👍👍👍 3-26-21

Hugh Hefner's DC-9 was nicknamed "The Big Bunny". Along with cargo and VIP transport, the USAF flew a dedicated medical transport version of the DC-9 as the C-9 Nightingale.

Used to work on the MD80 cockpit pounding rivets as a 20 year old, very good money at the time. Thanks for the excellent pics and knowledge on this wonderful product.

Mike, wonderful history as always. Thank you for these great videos. My dad was a physicist and flew on a specially modified Delta DC-8 in 1964 on a solar eclipse tracking mission for National Geographic magazine.

Wow! I didn’t know that veterans stadium was that old.

My favourite Douglas is the MD-90. I like its long fuselage and hi-ratio bypass turbofans. M.

Great channel, keep up the good work!

Thanks for a very informative session. I never realized that each model have many variations.

Super, Mike! I was lucky enough to have flown on the DC-8 with Air New Zealand and CP Air. CP Air flew the 60 series, but ANZ were standard length back around 1972. I flew in the DC-10 with Air New Zealand, CP Air, and Western Airlines "The only way to fly!". I never had the opportunity to fly in the actual DC-9 series, but have flown on the MD-80 series. I remember the days before deregulation when you wanted your seats away from the smoking section! Great memories of travelling as a kid.

Notice the JAL DC-10-40 at 20:08, the #2 engine intake has the bulge, or coke bottle that was only used on the P&W JT9D powered DC-10-40's. The P&W powered DC-10-40s were actually DC-10-20 series airplanes, but Donald Nyrop CEO of Northwest Airlines wanted the higher series number for NWA's DC-10s. MD gave him what he wanted, named them DC-10-40s. They all had a water injection tank, for the JT9's located in the left hand fuselage fairing just forward of the bulk cargo door. NWA's DC-10-40's were powered by JT9D-20, and -20J engines which were JT9D-7A, and JT9D-7J respectively. JAL re-engined their fleet with JT9D-7R4's which became JT9D-59.

Very well done

Fabulous stuff ! I'm an ex RC-135 mechanic, but since I was born in Long Beach, I'm a Douglas man... I was told that the first DC-8 was wider than the -80 and Boeing had to do a "crash redesign" to widen the -80 and created the 707. Great story, well done!

My mom worked on interior assembly for DC-9s in Long Beach. I still have the tiny DC-9 diecast promo jet in Southwest Airlines Texas LoneStar livery she brought home for me. Unlike today, it was made in Germany and has great sentimental value. I remember the Hefner DC-9 referred to as the Flying Cathouse and was only used by him for a couple of years then turned into an AeroMexico passenger jet.

Well informed and narrated.Favourite for me is the DC-8, especially the 70 Series,but all of Douglas' designs were pretty good.

I have flown into all 5 major LA area airports. Long Beach and Burbank are so old school. Burbank does not even have a taxi way. The planes back up onto the runway from the gate, which uses stairs. The Long Beach Terminal looks like a bunch of mobile homes.

Air Canada, Braniff International, Delta, United and Trans America flew the DC-8 into MIA when I was a kid in the 1970s. Air Canada, Air Florida, Delta, Eastern and Southern the DC-9. National, Northwest, United and Western the DC-10. How I miss those days!

At 20:50 the 2 Northwest DC-10's pictured are DC-10-40's powered by PW JT-9 engines. I think JAL also flew that version. Northwest did later operate a large fleet of -30's but they were all bought 2nd hand.

Thanks so much. I remember vividly in the late ‘60s Delta bringing initial jet service to our and many other smaller southern cities with the DC-9-10, able to land on 5000 ft. runways. I also remember Douglas countering the publicity when the 747 was launched by stating that an airline could buy 2 DC-8 Super 60 Series jets for about the same cost as one 747, carry as many or more passengers and offer multiple departure times.

In ‘73 I flew to England aboard what we referred to as a “stretch 8.” It was a military contract flight that was fully loaded with passengers, not an empty seat anywhere. A miserable flight due to the cramped seating and less than optimal air circulation but man, when that plan started its take-off roll the power of those engines was incredible! I haven’t felt an acceleration like that before then or since. While Boeing always had the name recognition there was something about the Douglas jets that was unique and cool.

"Watert soluble paint" Love it! Of course nowdays we use vinyl - I've wrapped an entire airliner fuz for a promo, much cheaper and faster than temporary paint. Really enjoying this series, would love to find your resources on the propliners (your link is no longer active) to help me on a 2m RC DC7 build I'm busy with.

I was a passenger on a TIA -73 (maybe a -71--they had both) from Travis to Clark (tech stops at Hickham and Wake) in 1970. There were very few (I think 6) DC-72 (-62 re-engined with CFM-56). The NASA research aircraft is the most well known, but there were a couple of VIP versions. Aramco (now Saudi Aramco) operated one of them (N728A) from 1984 through about 2001. I flew as both a Captain and FO on that plane. It had a 14-hour range with reserves. Lots of stories!

Been waiting for this one! Many thanks for sharing your knowledge and showing these great pictures, Mike.

Great Video love it my father was the chief tooling engineer at Douglas Santa Monica from 1932 -- 1974I do believe the cockpit section was still built in Santa Monica for the DC9 AND DC10 and shipped down tho long Beach.

In the mid/late 70s, I flew transatlantic (NAS / LUX) on Loftleidir Icelandic / International Air Bahama, which operated some DC-8-83CF airframes they had acquired from Seaboard World. Those flights cemented my love for aviation. One of the aircraft unfortunately later crashed in Sri Lanka (CFIT) and some were later converted to -73s and flown by UPS for years. I absolutely loved the Super 63s.

Thanks Mike for the series. I enjoyed all three. It was a bit of a shock to see McDonnell-Douglas coming to be. They were the poison pill that Boeing unknowingly bought that wrested control from the engineers and gave it to the bb-stackers and bean counters resulting in corner cutting and regulation evasion all in the name of the almighty profit. Better MD should have quietly slipped under the waves and let Boeing's engineers retain control and continue to produce quality aircraft.

Hey Mike... I think you left PanAm out on who was flying the DC 10. We flew back from Italy on one to Kennedy in 1982. Our flight over was on an ole B707 on Varig Air. What an experience that was... All 4 engines 'back fired' when we landed. Yiks! 😂

Great homage to my favorite line of both prop and jet airliners. Nice to see some DC 8-70's still flying. I believe the only one carrying passengers is Samaritan's Purse's unique -72CF combi pax/freighter. The aircraft has most recently been mobilized to fly relief and medical aid to war-torn Ukraine.

Great Mike ! thanks

Great stuff. The NWA aircraft were powered by P&W Jt-9 engines. Thanks

I’m floored by these videos I enjoyed them immensely please make more on the MD80 series

Brilliant video, what makes you so interested in Douglas aircraft? M.

Great video!!!!!

Hello thanks for the memory, I work the type for flying tiger in the 1980s. I lost my wallet in the cockpit someone put inside a envelope and it travel arround the planet. Traveling from San Juan PR it blow a tire on the right main it damaged a section of the flaps and aileron and landed in ATL no problem but scary. Saludos

I remember flying from airports in the South on Delta DC stretch 8's. In those days, all the flights that originated in the South lalways anded in Atlanta, where you transferred to another flight The joke was if you were sitting in the back of a DC stretch 8, you had to walk halfway to Atlanta before the plane took you the other half.

I worked for burbank aeronautical in burbank ca on flight testing and installing hush kits on dc 8's and 707's the 707 was first and a hell of an aircraft but for my money the dc8 was better it was a beast over built just a brut the jt3d3b power plant was strong monster this job led to my getting my a&p ticket and jobs for folks with know how of these old aircraft was a boost good times j watt

Absolutely spectacular Mike. Great photos and narration. Really enjoyed this one having flown on the 8, 9 and 10 many times by several different carriers. Always thought the 8 looked best in United delivery and Seaboard World liveries. The 9 in Northeast Yellowbird scheme, and the 10 in Western, World and American markings. Look forward to your next one.

Great Little series on the Douglas airliners Mike, very interesting & informative in an easy going style. found you via Max's models.

Over my lifetime, I’ve probably flown in more DC-9’s than any jet. I think i may have flown in a DC-6 as a kid, or one of the last Douglas prop planes ever.. Sadly, never flew in a DC-10. All beautiful planes.

Jet engines in water on the takeoff roll make a buttload of smoke and are loud A.F. Having worked on KC/EC-135's and B-52G & H models in the USAF, I'm well-versed in that!

When the DC-10's were rolled out before their vertical fins were added, was the tail engine added before or after the fin was installed? In the picture accompanying your narration, the cowling is empty.

Paul Mantz and the Cinerama Clipper !!!

19:44 for those who are wondering, that's the tank of the S-IVB

Good video.

Great video as always Mike. If I may, being originally from Peoria, IL, you overlooked one carrier that flew the DC-9- Ozark Air Lines. I have a small 4 inch replica that was on the cake when DC-9 fan jet service was inaugurated at Peoria.

My first jet ride was on a UA DC-8, LAX-SAC (Sacramento before SMF). Runway was really too short for that airplane.

I liked flying on DC-9’s and MD-88’s

Excellent presentation here. So many details and previously unknown facts which I prided myself into believing I already knew. Presenter puts story forward in a fun & listenable fashion. I subscribed

What a enjoyable three part series, great work and thanks. I like the DC-10 better than the L-1011 TriStar. Stay safe----stay strong

That NASA DC 8 was bought as a replacement for their Convair 990, which crashed when it collided with a Navy P-3 near Moffatt Field. one survivor, a Navy guy who was in the tail of the P- 3 tail broke off on impact with the 990, and the Navy guy fell out, he was severely injured.

Sweet...