The Douglas DC-9 is a twin engined jet airliner, first
manufactured in 1965 and, in much modified form and under a
succession of different names, still in production today.
Douglas launched the DC-9 development project in April 1963,
intending the DC-9 as a short-range compliment to their larger
four engined DC-8. Unlike the competing but slightly larger
Boeing 727, which used as many 707 components as possible, the
DC-9 was an all-new design, using two rear-mounted Pratt &
Whitney JT8D fanjet engines, a small, highly efficient wing, and
a T-tail. The original version had five abreast seating for 70
to 90. The DC-9 prototype flew in February 1965 and entered
service with Delta in December of that year. It was an immediate
commercial success, and 976 were built by Douglas and then the
merged McDonnell Douglas (MDC) before it was renamed MD-80 in
1983. The MD-80 was developed into the MD-90 family which, after
the takeover of MDC by Boeing in 1997, became the Boeing 717.
With total sales of over 2400 units, the