Great Moments in Travel History – September 2012

Delta Airlines Douglas DC-8

American Airlines put the Douglas DST (Douglas Sleeper Transport) aircraft into service on September 18, 1936 on a transcontinental flight between Newark, New Jersey and Glendale, California.  The DST was a prototype of the vaunted DC-3.  Seven were built and delivered to American Airlines.  For the DC-3, the sleeping berths were removed and replaced with seats.  The new aircraft shortened travel time by almost a third, bringing a westbound transcon down to 17.5 hours and an eastbound trip to 15 hours.

Air Canada commenced operations as Trans-Canada Air Lines on September 1, 1937. The first flight carried two passengers and mail on board a Lockheed L-10A Electra airplane from Vancouver to Seattle.

On the morning of September 7, 1943, the Gulf Hotel in Houston, Texas caught fire and claimed 55 lives.  The disaster is regarded as the city’s worst loss of life in a fire.

On September 28, 1956, aviation pioneer William Boeing died aboard his yacht, the Taconite.

Delta Air Lines became the first airline to put the Douglas DC-8 into service on September 18, 1959.  United Airlines placed its DC-8 into service later the same day. Over 550 DC-8 aircraft were manufactured in the period 1958-1972.

Boeing announced it would bid on the fledgling United States supersonic transport (SST) program on September 15, 1963.  On September 23, 1969, President Richard Nixon approved the construction of two SST prototypes by Boeing.

On September 30, 1968, the very first Boeing 747 jumbo jet was rolled out of the Everett assembly building.  In attendance were representatives of the 26 airlines that had placed orders for the airliner as well as hundreds of members of the press.  Over 1,400 747 aircraft have been built since.  The current model is the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental.

Laker Airways inaugurated its low-cost Skytrain service from London Gatwick to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on September 26, 1977.  The airline did not survive the recession of the early 1980s and operated its last flight in February 1982.

The Boeing 767-200 aircraft made its first flight on September 26, 1981. The flight was successful but the pilots were unable to retract the landing gear during the flight, due to a hydraulic fluid leak.

Finally, the Douglas Aircraft division of McDonnell Douglas delivered its 2,000th jet aircraft on September 15, 1982.  It was a DC-10 and had been ordered by United Airlines.

Jesse Sokolow contributed to this report.

(Photo this page: J. Campisi)

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