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History
The DC-9 was designed specifically to operate
from short runways and on short-to-medium routes. This
allowed the speed, comfort and reliability of jet transportation
to be extended to hundreds of small towns previously
served only by propeller-driven airliners.
The DC-9 has a distinctive high-level horizontal stabilizer
atop the rudder , commonly called a "T" tail.
Two engines mounted on the aft fuselage power the aircraft
at cruising speeds exceeding 500 mph (800 km/h) and
altitudes over 30,000 feet (9,144).
Design, development and production of the DC-9 was
centered in Long Beach, California, at what is now the
Douglas Products Division of the Boeing Commercial Airplane
Group.
976 DC-9 twin jets were build during an 18-year production
run. The first flight was February 25, 1965 nd the final
DC-9 was delivered in October 1982.
When Douglas announced the launch of the DC-9 program
in April of 1963, it had no firm commitments and it
had also made a substantial investment in the DC-8 .
Launching the DC-9 was an expensive gamble, which in
the end cost Douglas its financial independence.
Launch
The go ahead for the DC-9 was announced by Douglas
on April 9, 1963.
At the time of the launch, Douglas had
no orders. Douglas felt that there was a significant
market that existed for this type of aircraft based
on the feedback it received from the airlines.
The first order was made by Delta Airlines
on April 25, 1963 for 15 DC-9-11s plus options for 15.
Production began on July 26, 1963 and
the first DC-9 rolled of the assembly line on January
12, 1965.
Design
The
Competition
Launch
Into
Service
Expansion
of the Series
DC-9-80
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