Douglas Productionlist


Productionlists:
 Photos:
 Short history
C/n 00100-10000
 Douglas DC-3 Photos
 Starting with the Cloudster.

Donald W. Douglas started the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1921 by building the Cloudster. He used c/n 100 to pretend he was an experienced aircraft builder. Three years later he was firmly established as being one when his World Cruiser flew around the world. Before WWII Douglas built a large number of aircraft for the US military.
On May 11, 1934 the DC-2 made it's first flight and entered service a week later. It was followed by the larger DC-3 which made it's first flight on December 17, 1935. 607 Civil versions were built and 10,048 military C-47's and C-53's. Including the Russian Li-2 and Japanese L2D, the grand total is over 16,000.
The DC-series continued with the DC-4E which flew first on June 7, 1938 but that was no success. Douglas developed a new version, again as DC-4, but production output was taken over by the US War Department as C-54 which made it's first flight on February 14, 1942.
In between the El Segundo Division produced it's only civil airliner, the unsuccessfull DC-5 which made it's first flight February 20, 1939. Only 12 were built.
After the war the DC-series continued with the pressurized DC-6 (first flight February 15, 1946) and the DC-7 (May 18, 1953).
When Boeing announced the 707, Douglas followed soon with the DC-8 which took off on it's maiden flight only five months after the 707, on May 30, 1958. The smaller twin-engined DC-9 did it's first flight on February 25, 1965.
Struggling with production rates and financial trouble developing their first wide-body Douglas was forced to merge with McDonnell Aircraft Corporation in 1967. Eventually the DC-10 made it's first flight on August 29, 1970 and went into service August 5 the next year. The DC-9 was further developed into the MD-80 and -90 series and the DC-10 into the MD-11. The prototype of the MD-95-30 was rebranded as the Boeing 717 after McDonnell Douglas was taken over by Boeing on August 1, 1997.

Douglas C/n's
There were two series of construction numbers; one starts with c/n 100 (the Cloudster) and ends with 60002 (a Chinese built MD-90). The plants where those aircraft were built include all sites except the former Northrop facility in El Segundo. The second series of c/n's starts with 411 and ends with 14607 and these were made in the El Segundo plant.
The latter became a Douglas plant when Douglas bought out Jack Northrop from the then Northrop Corporation (which they had formed together). Northrop Corporation began with c/n 1 and they had reached c/n 410 when Douglas took over. The next in line was of course c/n 411 and that was actualy a DC-5. Douglas developed Northrop's XBT-2 into the SBD-1 prototype for the Dauntless and was awarded the US Navy contract. Almost all aircraft built in El Segundo were destined for the US Navy. The only Air Force aircraft (known to me) were a number of A-24A's.

The USAAF introduced a system to identify the manufacturing plant of their aircraft. For Douglas they were:
DC - Douglas Chicago
DE - Douglas El Segundo
DK - Douglas Oklahoma City
DL - Douglas Long Beach
DO - Douglas Santa Monica
DT - Douglas Tulsa

"Double c/n's"
It was the plant in Oklahoma that was respossible for the infamous Double C/n's. If this was orchestrated from Douglas HQ, I don't know. But the fact is that all C-47's with double numbers were built in Oklahoma. All are designated C-47A or B - xx (block number) - DK. After discovering that the c/n's they planned were already used in Santa Monica, Long Beach and Tulsa they were given new, higher, c/n's.
C/n 10001-20000
 Douglas DC-4 Photos
C/n 20001-30000
 Douglas DC-6/DC-7 Photos
C/n 30001-40000
 Douglas DC-8 Photos
C/n 40001-55000
 Douglas DC-9/MD-80/90 Photos
Chinese built
 Douglas DC-10/MD-11 Photos
Line numbers
 Douglas El Segundo Photos
DC-5
 Douglas Various Photos
Unknown Aircraft
License built:
  
Argonaut, North Star
Conversions
ATL-98
Turbo DC-3
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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