Maiden Hop

In the world of commercial aviation, U.S. piston aircraft have long been dominant. Around the world, the fields are loaded with thousands of U.S. planes, from the 22-year-old DC-3s to the Super Constellations and DC-7s. In the jet age, U.S. planemakers also plan to dominate the air. Last week Douglas Aircraft Co. rolled out its 176-passenger DC-8 for its first flight. With an escort of two jet chase planes to observe and take pictures, a veteran Douglas test crew took the DC-8 to 31,000 ft., flew it over the Pacific at 360 m.p.h. (top speed: 600 m.p.h.). Said President Donald W. Douglas Jr.: "It looked standard. Like it's going to look in every airport in the world every day." Douglas spent $250 million to design and tool up for its jet, has orders from 17 airlines for 138 planes. It expects to deliver the first in mid-1959. But even with $700 million in orders, the company is still far from breaking even, will be looking for additional sales for some time to come.

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