Role Airliner and transport aircraft
National origin United States
Manufacturer Douglas Aircraft Company
First flight 18 May 1953
Introduction 29 November 1953
Retired October 2020
Status Retired
Primary users American Airlines (historical)
United Airlines Eastern Air Lines Pan Am (historical)
Produced 1953–1958
Number built 338
Developed from Douglas DC-6
n 1945 Pan American World Airways requested a DC-7, a civil version of the Douglas C-74 Globemaster military transport. Pan Am soon canceled their order. That proposed DC-7 was unrelated to the later DC-6-derived airliner. American Airlines revived the designation when they requested an aircraft that could fly the USA coast-to-coast non-stop in about eight hours. (Civil Air Regulations then limited domestic flight crews to 8 hours' flight time in any 24-hour period.) Douglas was reluctant to build the aircraft until American Airlines president C. R. Smith ordered 25 at a total price of $40 million, thus covering Douglas' development costs.
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tarting in 1959 Douglas began converting DC-7s and DC-7Cs into DC-7F freighters to extend their useful lives. The airframes were fitted with large forward and rear freight doors and some cabin windows were removed.
Since the late 1940s Pan Am and other airlines had scheduled a few non-stop flights from New York to Europe,
The predecessor DC-6, especially the DC-6B, established a reputation for straightforward engineering and reliability. Pratt & Whitney, manufacturer of the DC-6s Double Wasp engines,