48 Aviation News incorporating Jets June 2018CLASSIC JETLINERS SPECIAL
DC-10 IN FOCUS
Although safety concerns dogged its early career, the big
McDonnell Douglas jetliner went on to give excellent service to
operators around the world. We present a snapshot of its career.
By the early 1970s jetliners had rmly established themselves as the workhorses of the airlines – as you may have already read in this issue,
the Ilyushin Il-62 and Douglas DC-8, among others, were in service in large numbers. The next stage in commercial aviation was to produce
bigger, high-capacity aircraft to service the travelling public’s needs and drive up pro ts. Boeing’s answer was the 747, Lockheed came up
with the TriStar and McDonnell Douglas had its widebodied, three-engined, DC-10. The latter rst ew on August 29, 1970 from Long Beach,
California. The rst version of the type was the DC-10-10, which was powered by General Electric CF6-6 turbofans and intended for domestic
routes of up to 3,500 miles (5,633km). UK package holiday rm Airtours used ve of this initial variant – illustrated is G-TDTW shortly after
landing at Gatwick airport. Key Collection48-51_jetliners_dc10DC.mfDC.indd 48 02/05/2018 15:33