Delta Widget Stretch Eights Pt1: Super 61s

By the mid-1960s Delta was well on its way to challenging the big 4 US Trunk airlines, including its big Atlanta rival Eastern. Now equipped with transcontinental routes and growing bases at Atlanta, Chicago, Memphis and New Orleans it was keen to grow its big jet fleet so it was just as well that Douglas was at that time stretching its DC-8 to create a worldbeating licence to print money.

For more posts about the development of the DC-8-61 see United DC-8s Pt4: Long On Comfort

Delta Air Lines Douglas DC-8-61 N822E Aeroclassics 1:400 Scale Model Airliner

By the end of 1965 Douglas had racked up 18 orders for its new DC-8-61 having launched the type in April. This was despite the Port of New York Authority (PNYA) having sent a letter out to the airlines urging the 'greatest care in ordering the stretched version of the DC-8' because it considered it likely that the type would be banned due to the anticipated high noise levels on take off. The early series 61 orders were spread across 5 existing short DC-8 customers and though all small in number (the biggest were 5 each from United and Eastern) signalled the likelihood of follow on orders for the new 'jumbo jet'.

One of the initial 5 customers for the stretch eight was Delta who ordered an initial 3 aircraft. They would be perfect for Delta's relatively new (June 1961) southern transcontinental routes. These connected San Francisco and Los Angeles with Atlanta and onwards to Miami plus San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Diego to Dallas and onwards to Orlando. During 1966 the DC-8-61 flight test programme got underway and by the end of the year the new type was certified. Accordingly by December 1966 the DC-8-61 order book was looking fuller too.

Delta had by then increased its order to 9 aircraft with 38 61s and 7 61CFs on order in total from 9 airlines. In addition 16 series 62s and 29 series 63s had also been sold. United put the first 61s into service in February 1967 on Hawaiian routes with Eastern following soon after in March on Puerto-Rican services from New York. This left the way open for Delta to operate the first transcontinental flights with the long thin DC-8-61. Services began on April 18, 1967 and Delta eventually took 13 of the DC-8-61s into service.

The DC-8-61 could accommodate up to 252 passengers but Delta chose a roomier two class 195 seat layout. Even so this was more than 60% greater than their short DC-8s yet the aircraft had only operating costs that were 10% higher. It was rightly seen as a licence to print money. Delta's first DC-8-61 was registered N822E continuing the rego pattern of the earlier Eights. She was followed by N823E-N826E from June 1967 to May 1968. The remaining eight DC-8-61s however acquired a new registration sequence starting in October 1968 with N1300L. The last aircraft, N1307L, joined on November 6, 1969.

The first DC-8-61s were delivered in the long full 'DELTA AIR LINES' title widget colours and I'm not sure when Delta dropped the AIR LINES part. It seems to be around the start of 1969, and the newest shot with the short titles in Airliners.net is from July 69. Certainly the full titles make the series 61 look even longer than normal and rather suit it I think.

The stretch eights continued to print money for Delta after the arrival of the widebody Tristars and indeed unlike their shorter brethren continued to have potential well into the 1980s. So much in fact that Delta thought it worthwhile to upgrade the type. It is these DC-8-71s, which we'll look at in part 2.