United Airlines entered the jet age with the Douglas DC-8 in 1959. Although Delta Air Lines is the official launch customer of the aircraft, United did put a DC-8 into revenue service on the same day Delta did. United would also launch the Boeing 727 and the McDonnell-Douglas DC-10 similarly - 727 simultaneously with Eastern, DC-10 with American.
This is the -52 variant. The -50 series was the most advanced of the original-length DC-8s, and made the backbone of United transcontinental services in the 1960s.
This aircraft has been part of the California ScienCenter collection since its retirement. Initially in the 1970s "Rainbow" livery and parked on the ground, it was later painted back to the original 1960s "Jet Mainliner" livery and mounted on a custom stand.
United continued to operate the later variants of the DC-8, the stretched Super Sixty series, into the early 1990s. One of my first air travel experiences was a United Super Sixty in 1991.
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{{Information |Description=United Airlines entered the jet age with the Douglas DC-8 in 1959. Although Delta Air Lines is the official launch customer of the aircraft, United did put a DC-8 into revenue service on the same day Delta did. United would also