McDonnell Douglas - DC-9
The DC-9 is a narrow body short range twin engine aircraft which has spawned a large number of derivatives ending, in an ironic outcome of market consolidation with the Boeing 717.
In the fifties Douglas had been beaten to the market by the Boeing 707 and had made a remarkable recovery with the DC8, and in 1962 while Boeing was concentrating its resources on the Boeing 727 and 707-320, Douglas decided to design a smaller jet which would operate over “Bus Stop” routes, replacing large numbers of Convairs Martins, and earlier Douglas propeller driven aircraft. The design followed a formula established by the French Caravelle; two rear mounted jets, T tail and an aft swept wing. Douglas unlike Boeing with the 727 and 737 elected not to design the DC-9 as a derivative of the DC-8 instead selecting five abreast seating and a narrower fuselage. This decision meant that setting up costs would be higher, as the DC9 could not use DC-8 production tooling, and the time period to break even and payback would be longer. The program was announced in 1962 when preliminary design work commenced and production started in 1964.
The initial models were the Series 10 comprising of the -11,14.15 and -15F all using the same fuselage and wings but differing in operating weights depending on the variant of JT8D engine fitted. The -15F featured a 3.45 x 2.06m forward port side cargo door and could carry six 2.24 x 2.74m pallets on the main deck and had an operating empty weight some 1831 kg's heavier Two sub variants of the -15F the MC and RC were convertible/mixed cargo/passenger versions. Pure freighter -15Fs had no passenger windows.
The first DC-9-10 delivered, ( a -14), was delivered to Delta Airlines on 18/9/1966 and the last , a (-15RC), to Continental on 20/6/1968. The largest order for the DC-9 Series 10 was from TWA for twenty .Other major operators included Delta with fifteen. Eastern with eleven and KLM with six.. In August 2005 thirty four Series 10 were active.
In all one hundred and thirty seven DC-9 Series 10 were built.
Production comprised:
DC-9-11 2
DC-9-14 55
DC-9-15 56
DC-9-15F 24
In all nine hundred and seventy six DC-9s were produced ending in 1982 with an C9B for the US Navy, by which time the basic design had been stretched several times in fuselage length, wingspan , power and weights. Series numbers ranged from the Series 10 to Series 50 and included freighter versions. DC-9 production continued with the Series 80 which was marketed as the MD80 and is described separately.
The last model produced in the DC-9 lineage was the MD-95 which in turn became the Boeing 717. The changes in designations were the result of industry consolidation. In 1967 the Douglas Company merged with McDonnell to become McDonnell Douglas and when in 1997 McDonnell Douglas was absorbed by Boeing, the division which produced the DC-9 became the Long Beach division of Boeing .
