The Douglas DC-8 was developed in the 1950s as the Dougal Company’s first jet airliner. A total of 556 were manufactured, but it was in direct competition with the Boeing 707 and was never as popular or sold as well at the Boeing.

From the 1930s to the 1950s Douglas piston engined airliners were the most popular in the world.

The DC-8 was the Douglas company’s first jet transport but delay in launching this model, and Douglas’s inflexibility in meeting requests for lengthened fuselages, meant that the Boeing 707 sold twice as many as the DC8 of which only 556 were manufactured.

The first DC-8 made its initial flight on 30 May 1958 and the first version, the DC-8-10, began entering service in 1959.

This model represents a DC-8-11, N801E which began flying for Delta Air Lines Air on 18 September 1959 when it flew the world’s first DC-8 passenger flight.

Minicraft 1/144 kit with Contrails engines and Vintage Flyer decals completed by Leigh Edmonds in May 2020.