Northwest’s objectives for the back half of the 1950s were to re-establish fleet standardization and improvement, following the operational fiasco of the Martin 202 deployment and withdrawal and the resulting lease-ins of increasingly obsolete DC-3 and DC-4 airframes to cover the schedule, as well as the ill-advised acquisition of a small fleet of Lockheed Constellations to cover Pacific services. Northwest’s Stratocruisers, while luxurious, were also expensive to maintain and operate and needed to go.
NWA had leased DC-6 equipment in 1953 and found the type to their liking, building up an owned fleet through the 1950s to serve as its multi-stop workhorse that would replace the DC-3 and DC-4 for good. Douglas’ sales team’s job was made easy when they came to pitch its bigger brother DC-7; specifically the DC-7C long-range version which was being well-used by carriers such as SAS, Braniff, and Pan Am on their signature international services.
Northwest would take delivery of 17 frames in 1957-58, using them for flagship service to Asia as well as high-capacity domestic flights. Seven of the fleet would be the -7CF version which could also handle air freight – a growing and lucrative business for NWA. Three aircraft would be lost, and about half the fleet would be phased out in the early 1960s as DC-8 jetliners took over their role across the North Pacific. The last two frames would not be retired until 1968, Northwest’s last piston-engine equipment relegated to serving the ‘milk run’ through North Dakota and Montana.
If you use these photos, please credit the Northwest Airlines History Center – please also contact us to let us know how you’re using them and if we can be of further help!
January 1951 photo from Douglas at the Long Beach assembly plant with what will become N2281. Harold Kellogg, lead inspector for Northwest on the left, and H.W. Melon, Asst. Project Director for DC-6/7 series airplanes from Douglas on the right. From the James Borden Photography Collection.N284 kicking up dust upon landing at Seattle-Tacoma, March 9, 1957. Forde Photographers publicity photo for NWA, via the James Borden Photography Collection.N284 being guided to its gate at Seattle-Tacoma, March 9, 1957. The angled nose landing gear is (almost disturbingly) evident in this shot! Forde Photographers publicity photo for NWA, via the James Borden Photography Collection.N284 in a March 1957 publicity photo shoot. From the James Borden Photography Collection.N284 in a March 1957 publicity photo shoot. From the James Borden Photography Collection.N284 in a March 1957 publicity photo shoot. From the James Borden Photography Collection.N284 in a March 1957 publicity photo shoot. From the James Borden Photography Collection.N284 in a March 1957 publicity photo shoot. From the James Borden Photography Collection.N285 pulling in at Minneapolis-St. Paul, probably summer 1959. Logan Coombs photo via the James Borden Photography Collection.N285 pulling in at Minneapolis-St. Paul, probably summer 1959. Logan Coombs photo via the James Borden Photography Collection.N292 being fueled and maintained at Minneapolis-St. Paul. Signage on the stairs is calling Flight 75, which would send this aircraft to Spokane and Seattle, and would date it in likely 1959. Robert Blanch publicity photo via the James Borden Photography Collection.N288 at Seattle-Tacoma being hand-loaded with freight and baggage, date and photographer unknown. Western Airlines Douglas is to the left. From the James Borden Photography Collection.N284 displaying its new cargo door at Minneapolis, September 1961. The press release states, “Northwest Orient Airlines is now operating converted DC-7CF aircraft in cargo service across the Pacific, in the Orient and in domestic air freight service. A total of five of Northwest’s DC-7Cs have been modified by installation of a strengthened cargo floor and a forward cargo door 81 by 124 inches in size, the largest forward cargo door installed in any commercial airliner.” From the James Borden Photography Collection.N288 at Detroit, July 28, 1962. Jon Proctor photo used with permission – available through Wikimedia Commons.N291 being catered. Photographer and date unattributed. This might be an early shot from Chicago O’Hare?Chicago-O’Hare ramp shot by Jon Proctor with N290 at rest in the foreground. Used with permission.N288 on the MSP ramp, September 1968, in this page from Northwest’s inflight magazine.
