Douglas Aircraft Company (DAC) Douglas Commercial Eight DC-8 History of Ship One & The Airlines Who Flew 'Her'

DC-8 Ship One, registered N8008D, was rolled out of the Douglas Aircraft - Long Beach, CA - Factory on April 9, 1958. The Prototype DC-8 made its first flight on May 30, 1958 in front of over 95,000 employees and spectators and flew for 2 Hours and 7 Minutes on the initial flight. The next test flight occurred on June 4, 1958 and between June and late August Ship One accumulated 72 hours of in-flight testing in a total of 22 flights. Ship One was later joined by Ship Two (N8018D) a DC-8-21 in November 1958 and Ships 3 & 4 (N8028D & N8038D), a DC-8-12 & another DC-8-11 in December 1958 and January 1959 respectively, for further flight testing and FAA Certification. Ship's 2, 3 & 4 were all destined to be delivered to United Air Lines. Ship 7 (N8068D) a DC-8-33, the first Intercontinental Version of the DC-8 & destined for Pan American, joined the testing program in February 1959. A total of 10 DC-8s were used in a comprehensive testing program to permit the FAA Certification of all of the early DC-8 versions in a short period of time. This enabled the DC-8 Series 10, 20, 30 & 40 all to enter into airline service between September 1959 and March 1960 which substantially cut the lead time that Boeing had with the introduction of the different versions of the 707. Initially Douglas was 3 years behind Boeing in their jet program but through the innovation and dedication of the Douglas Team the DC-8 entered service just 11 months behind the 707.
Please see the 'DC-8 Technical Data' Section for more information on the different DC-8 versions that were made.

Ship One was certified by the FAA on August 31, 1959. The first two DC-8 Series 11s entered airline service with Delta Air Lines and United Air Lines on September 18, 1959. Delta beat United's first DC-8 flight by only a few hours. In 1960 Ship One was re-engined with new Pratt & Whitney JT3D Turbofan Engines which were more powerful, fuel efficient and quieter than the older turbojet engines. The aircraft was then used to certify the first Turbofan Version of the DC-8 - The Series 51 - which first flew on December 20, 1960. The first Series 50 was FAA Certified on April 28, 1961. Beginning in June 1961 Ship One entered into airline service and ultimately was operated by six different airlines (see below - airline operators are highlighted in blue) until it's retirement in January 1982. This valuable & irreplaceable piece of aviation history sat in the desert at Marana, Arizona for nearly 20 years and was never saved and preserved by Boeing (who subsequently had acquired Douglas/McDonnell Douglas), any of the airlines who operated the DC-8 or an aviation museum.
SADLY, SHIP ONE MET IT'S FINAL DEMISE IN 2001 WHEN IT WAS SCRAPPED.

SHIP ONE's OPERATING HISTORY

MSN/LINE#	SERIES	REGISTRATION	OPERATOR	SHIP NAME OR NUMBER	DELIVERED	DISPOSED	REMARKS
45252/1	11	N8008D		---	5/30/58	----	FIRST FLIGHT OF DC-8-11 SHIP ONE
''	51	N8008D		---	12/20/60	----	DAC CONVERTED TO DC-8-51; FIRST FLIGHT 12/20/60
"	51	N8008D		---	6/21/61	5/26/62	DAC LEASED TO NATIONAL AIRLINES
"	51	N8008D		---	6/20/62	5/11/65	DAC SOLD TO TRANS INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES (TIA)
"	51	N8008D		---	5/11/65	12/65	TIA LEASED TO LUFTHANSA
"	51	CF-CPN		EMPRESS OF SANTIAGO	10/2/66	10/1/67	TIA LEASED TO CANADIAN PACIFIC AIRLINES; REREGISTERED N8008D UPON RETURN
"	51	N8008D		800	10/1/67	3/23/79	TIA SOLD TO DELTA AIR LINES
"	51	N8008D	--	---	3/23/79	4/1/79	DELTA AIR LINES SOLD TO ITL INC. / FB AYER & ASSOCIATES
"	51	XA-DOE		QUINTANA ROO	4/1/79	1/7/82	FB AYER LEASED TO AEROMEXICO
"	51	XA-DOE	--	---	1/7/82	5/24/89	WITHDRAWN FROM USE & STORED AT MARANA, AZ; REREGISTERED N8008D BY FB AYER BUT REGISTRATION NUMBER WAS NEVER ACTUALLY APPLIED TO THE AIRCRAFT
"	51	XA-DOE N8008D	--	---	5/24/89	1/7/92	FB AYER SOLD TO AGRO AIR INTERNATIONAL AS N8008D BUT AIRCRAFT REMAINED STORED AT MARANA, AZ AS XA-DOE
"	51	XA-DOE N8008D	--	---	??	2001	FINE AIR CARGO BOUGHT AIRCRAFT TO USE FOR PARTS; ARROW AIR ACQUIRED FINE AIR BUT HAD NO USE FOR DC-8-50 PARTS
"	51	XA-DOE N8008D	--	---	2001	2001	ACCORDING TO ARROW AIR 'SHIP ONE' WAS SCRAPPED (AKA BROKEN UP) AT MARANA, AZ SOMETIME IN 2001