Nostalgia

I read in the Oregonian this morning that 70 years of commercial aircraft production in Southern California will come to an end next month upon the delivery of the last Boeing 717. Just for the record, the 717 was originally named the DC-9 which first flew in 1965. I was working at Douglas's Long Beach facility at the time.




I started my 9 years with Douglas in 1961 at the El Segundo facility, just South of LAX. I had a bachelor pad on Century Circle (see pin). In 1962, I moved to the Long Beach Airport facility and an apartment nearby. In '63 I met your Mom who was living in Manhatten Beach. Our first home was that Long Beach apartment.


The article said that the Boeing C-17 military cargo plane would still be produced in Long Beach. This, too, started as a Douglas, or rather McDonnell Douglas aircraft, the YC-15. It's first flight was in 1975, after our sojourn in Montana.