10/10?

Farewell McDonnell Douglas DC-10

One of commercial aviation’s most misunderstood jetliners bows out of service

The ingredients were there for one of the most successful commercial aircraft programs in history and the advertisements to celebrate the DC-10’s first flight – on August 29 1970 – said it all: “Of all the DCs ever built, none has lifted off with greater promise. ” Douglas’s reputation for building the most robust airliners combined with McDonnell’s money and management should have been the aerospace marriage of the century. Unfortunately, it proved to be a commercial headache and a public relations disaster which helped to sow the seeds for the demise of the Douglas Aircraft Company and eventually McDonnell Douglas.

The tenth Douglas Commercial design to be built was born out of the US Air Force requirement for the CX-HLS (Cargo Experimental-Heavy Logistics Support). That contract went to Lockheed, which produced the C-5A Galaxy. Of the