Osprey Civil Aircraft S.
5 total works
Recently bought by rivals Boeing, McDonnell Douglas has a long history in the airliner business, stretching back to World War II and the DC-3. This volume covers all their aircraft, from the DC-3 to the 405-seater MD-11 trijet.
Concentrating solely on Airbus's wide-bodied airliners - the A300, A310, A330 and A340 - the book presents detailed histories of all the variants, the airlines that flew them and the colour schemes they wore, both standard and one-off designs.
Despite the recent efforts of McDonnell-Douglas and Airbus, Boeing is, and has been for many years, the very essence of civil aviation. This new volume from civil aviation photographer Mark Wagner portrays the everyday world of the Boeing jet liner, from an aged 727 shuttling from La Guardia to Miami, to a new 747 arriving at Heathrow after a long-haul flight from Australia. This volume includes a chapter on each of the Boeing family, featuring many new colour photographs as well as some archive material.
Currently the world's heaviest and most powerful airliner, the 747-400 features a state-of-the-art Electronic Flight Instrumentation System (EFIS)that renders the flight engineer's position obsolete, while engine options from Rolls-Royce, Pratt & Whitney, and General Electric permit take-off weights of up to 875,000 pounds. Despite a price tag of around $95 million each, the 400 has been an overwhelming success with global operators -- more than 45 airlines around the world have 400s in service or on order.
The three-engined jets seemed the way ahead during the fuel-price crises of the early 1970s, but more efficient powerplants saw their demise in favour of twin-jets. This review of these wide-bodied jets includes airliner histories and profiles of their operators.