WHAT IT FELT LIKE TO FLY THE DC 7
Video from the channel Flightscope Aviation about Douglas DC-7, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 12:42. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.
What it's about
Documentary on the Douglas DC-7 as the last great piston-engined airliner, with a section devoted to what it was like to fly in it.
Historical context
The video traces its origin to American Airlines president C. R. Smith's demand for an aircraft that could cross the United States nonstop within the crews' eight-hour flight-time limit, backed by an order for 25 aircraft worth 40 million dollars. Douglas lengthened the DC-6B's fuselage by 40 inches and adopted the turbo-compound Wright R-3350. Pushing the engines hard to meet schedules caused power-recovery turbine failures and diversions. According to the video, Swissair, which ran them at conservative power settings, got better results. Pan Am's announcement of its order for the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8, in October 1955, marked the shift to jets.
Key facts
Pan American's DC-7B opened transatlantic service in the summer of 1955 with extra fuel tanks in the nacelles, though the nonstop westbound crossing wasn't reliable. The DC-7C, in service from 1956, added fuel in the wing centre section and moved the engines further from the fuselage, which reduced cabin noise; it was bought by BOAC, SAS and KLM. Between 1953 and 1958, 338 aircraft were built: 105 DC-7, 112 DC-7B and 121 DC-7C. From 1959 there were conversions to the DC-7F freighter. The last one still active, a firefighting tanker in Oregon, flew for the last time in October 2020.