The Douglas DC-8 was the second US built jetliner offered to the world’s leading airlines in the 1950s, after the market leader, the Boeing 707. Even though Douglas was a bit behind Boeing in terms of development, they had a stellar reputation with their piston powered family of airliners from the Douglas DC-3 to the Douglas DC-7, and airlines were comfortable with evolving to the jet age with the established Long Beach based aircraft build.

This ten minute promotional film from the late 1950s (in black and white) provides a look back at the final assembly and initial test flights of the first Douglas DC-8 prototype aircraft to come off the Long Beach assembly line. The test pilots were wearing crash helmets during these early flights, presumably just in case they had to eject themselves from the airborne aircraft in the event of an emergency.