The Douglas DC-8 was an American piston-engined airliner project by Douglas Aircraft. A concept developed more than a decade before the DC-8 jetliner, the piston-engined DC-8 was to have propellers in the tail, an idea first used at Douglas by Edward F. Burton on a fighter project.[1] The airliner project was canceled after development costs made it commercially unviable.
Design and development
Based on the cancelled XB-42,[2] the program began shortly after the end of World War II. It was intended to operate on short- and medium-range routes, carrying between 40 and 48 passengers[2] in a then-novel pressurized cabin[2] (which had been pioneered by the Boeing307 in 1938, but was still not in standard airline use).
The DC-8 was to use the same AllisonV1710s as the XB-42[3] (these rated at 1,375 hp (1,025 kW)),[2] fitted below and immediately behind the cockpit.[2] They were to power contra-rotating propellers in the tail,[4] as in the XB-42, by way of driveshafts under the cabin floor[2] (an arrangement reminiscent of the P-39). This arrangement, also proposed for the Douglas Cloudster IIgeneral aviation aircraft, reduced drag by 30% and eliminated the problems associated with controlling the aircraft with one engine out.[5][6] Cabin access would have been by airport stair through a single portside door.[7]
Despite performance predicted to significantly surpass conventional twin airliners,[2] excessive complexity and high development costs[2] (with consequent high sales price and operating costs)[2] meant that less risky types, such as Convair's 240 and Martin's 2-0-2, were preferred,[3] and the DC-8 was dropped before a prototype was built.
