2483z 1959 UNITED AIRLINES PROMO FILM DEBUT OF DOUGLAS DC-8 ” OPERATION JETLINER ” DC-8 Print 2

This color educational film, which also can be viewed as a promotional film for United Airlines, is about the new Douglas DC-8 jetliner and its debut with United Airlines. United’s first-ever jet service took place on September 18th, 1959 when the DC-8 performed a transcontinental flight between San Francisco International Airport and New York’s Idlewild. Copyright is circa 1959. The aircraft shown in the film, tail number N8016U, flew with United from 1959 to 1966.

Opening title: Paul Hoefler Productions presents “Operation Jetliner”, with assistance from United Airlines (:15). Birds fly in the sky (:58). Painting of Icarus (1:15). Leonardo da Vinci (1:30). Hot air balloons (1:53). December 17, 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright took turns piloting and monitoring their flying machine in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina (2:12). 1909, Louis Bleriot, a French engineer, was the first to fly across the English Channel, 21 miles from Calais in France to Dover, England (2:27). Plane in the sky (2:40). United Airlines DC-6 with propeller engines (2:57). A drill goes into wood (3:10). United Airlines DC-8 (3:18). Animation of how a jet engine works (3:37). A man uses a pencil to point at a model of a United Airlines DC-8 (4:21). Demonstration of how air helps lift a plane into flight (4:39). Aerodynamic study animation (4:57). How air helps lift a plane’s wing (5:12). How a plane is steered, a man points to a plane model’s tail section with a pencil; a real DC-8 plane tail is shown (5:42). A man points to a plane model DC-8 with a pencil (6:36). A United Airlines DC-8 taxis on the runway (6:58). A jetway moves towards the doors of the plane on the runway (7:49). An employee of the airline removes a container from underneath the plane as it has landed (8:10). Mail is removed from another compartment under the plane (8:28). An air conditioning unit is fed into the plane (8:36). A truck helps pump the fuel into the plane (8:50). A truck brings food (9:01). Flight engineer makes a thorough inspection (9:18). DC-8 goes into a hangar for maintenance (9:33). Jet engines are rebuilt (9:53). Tires are changed (10:08). Flight 22 – San Francisco to New York ticket airline front desk (10:19). Reservations department (10:35). Baggage is weighed at the check-in counter (11:09). Dispatcher’s office (11:20). Pilots and stewardesses board (11:48). Passengers enter the plane (11:57). Jetway is moved after plane is ready to leave (12:14). Air Traffic Control tower (12:23). Pilot receives clearance for departure (12:46). DC-8 taxis onto runway (13:00). United DC-8 takes off down the runway and is airborne (13:16). Passengers relax and read (13:42). DC-8 is above the clouds (13:48). Snow covered Rocky Mountains (14:09). Passengers rest (14:33). Plane turns in the sky (14:45). Lunchtime on the plane for the passengers (15:10). Jetliner approaches JFK Airport on Long Island, NY (15:32). DC-8 lands on the runway (15:42). Passengers get ready to leave the plane (16:00). End credits (16:31).

The Douglas DC-8 (also known as the McDonnell Douglas DC-8) is a narrow-body airliner built by the Douglas Aircraft Company. The aircraft was derived from a 1954 Air Force tanker contract which was won by Boeing. The first DC-8 was rolled out in Long Beach Airport on 9 April 1958 and flew for the first time on 30 May. The DC-8 entered service with Delta Air Lines on September 18.

The six-abreast, low wing airliner was a four-engined jet aircraft, the initial variants are 151 ft (46 m) long. The initial DC-8-10 was powered by Pratt & Whitney JT3C turbojets; the DC-8-20 had more powerful JT4A turbojets. The intercontinental models had more fuel capacity. The DC-8 was produced until 1972 with 556 aircraft built. It was superseded by larger wide-body airliners including Douglas’ DC-10. Some re-engined planes are still in use as freighters.

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