Douglas Dc-7

bgcolor="#87CEEB" colspan="3" align="center" style="border-bottom:3px solid"|Douglas DC-7
olspan="3" align="center"|Image
caption
gcolor="#87CEEB" colspan="3"|Description
ole colspan="2"|Civil air transport
rew colspan="2"|3 or 4
assengers colspan="2"|99 to 105
irst Flight colspan="2"|1953
ntered Service colspan="2"|
anufacturer colspan="2"|Douglas Aircraft Company
Long Beach, California
gcolor="#87CEEB" colspan="3"|Dimensions
ength 112 ft 3 in 37 m
ingspan 127 ft 6 in 42 m
eight 31 ft 10 in 10.5 m
ing area 1,637 ft² 152 m²
gcolor="#87CEEB" colspan="3"|Weights
mpty 72,763 lb 33,050 kg
oaded lb kg
aximum takeoff 143,000 lb 65,000 kg
apacity colspan="2"|
gcolor="#87CEEB" colspan="3"|Powerplant
ngines colspan="2"|Four Wright R-3350 radial piston engines
ower 13,600 hp 10,140 kW
hrust lb kN
gcolor="#87CEEB" colspan="3"|Performance
ruising speed 355 mph 570 km/h
aximum speed 406 mph 650 km/h
ange (DC-7A) 4,605 miles 7,400 km
ange (DC-7C) 5,635 miles 9,016 km
erry range miles km
ervice ceiling 25,000 ft 7,620 m
ate of climb 1,043 ft/min 318 m/min
ing loading 87.4 lb/ft² 427.6 kg/m²
hrust/Weight colspan="2"|
ower/Mass 0.10 hp/lb 160 W/kg
gcolor="#87CEEB" colspan="3"|Avionics
vionics colspan="2"|
The Douglas DC-7 is an aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1953 to 1958. It was the last major piston transport made by Douglas, coming just a few years before the advent of jet aircraft such as the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8. 338 were produced: about 40 are still in service.

History

Pan American World Airways originally requested the "DC-7" in 1945, as a civilian version of the C-74 Globemaster military transport. It cancelled its order shortly afterward. American Airlines revived the designation when it requested an extended-range DC-6 for its transcontinental services. At the time, the Lockheed Constellation was the only aircraft capable of making a nonstop coast-to-coast flight in both directions. Douglas was reluctant to build the aircraft until AA president C. R. Smith placed a firm order for twenty-five at a price of $40 million, covering Douglas's development costs. The prototype flew in May of 1953, and American received its first DC-7 in November, inaugurating the first nonstop coast-to-coast service in the country (taking 8 hours) and forcing rival TWA to offer a similar service with its Super Constellations. The DC-7, however, suffered from unreliable engines, and many transcontinental flights had to be diverted because of in-flight engine failures. The early DC-7's were only sold to U.S. carriers. European carriers could not take advantage of the small range increase in the early DC-7, so Douglas released an extended-range variant, the DC-7C (Seven Seas) in 1956. Pan Am used DC-7C aircraft to inaugurate the first nonstop New York-London service, forcing BOAC to buy the aircraft rather than wait on the delivery of the Bristol Britannia. The DC-7C found its way into several other overseas airlines' fleets, including SAS, which used them for cross-polar service to North America and Asia. However, the 7C's sales were cut short by the arrival of the 707 and DC-8 a few years later. Starting in 1959, Douglas began converting DC-7A and DC-7C aircraft into DC-7F freighters, which extended the life of the aircraft past its viability as a passenger transport.

Airlines

Historical operators of the DC-7 include Alitalia, American Airlines, BOAC, Braniff Airways, Caledonian Airways, Delta Air Lines, Eastern Airlines, Emirates, Japan Airlines, National Airlines, Northwest Orient, Panair, Pan American World Airways, Sabena, SAS, THY, and United Airlines. Today, many DC-7's are based in the western United States, and used for pouring water on wildfires ("water bombing"). A few others are used for air cargo. Due to its engine problems, the DC-7 has not had the same longevity as the DC-6, which is still used by a number of commercial operators. The U.S. military also passed on the DC-7, although a few foreign militaries purchased the aircraft as a transport.

External Links

bgcolor="#e0e0e0" colspan="2" align="center" style="border-bottom:3px solid"|Related content
b>Related Development align="center"|DC-4 - DC-6
b>Similar Aircraft align="center"|Lockheed Constellation - Boeing 377
b>Designation Series align="center"|DC-4 - DC-5 - DC-6 - DC-7 - DC-8 - DC-9 - DC-10
b>Related Lists align="center"|List of airliners - List of civil aircraft

 

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