Twin 8
About 1982, I was at the L-1011 plant in Palmdale, and way across the ramp I spied a DC-8, but on such tall gear! Looking closer, that sucker had only two engines! It was such a surpise to see a 757 for the first time, still in fright test, and at Palmdale.
That was what the DC-8 could have become, but Douglas broke up the fixtures a dozen years earlier in order to launch the DC-10 in the same factory buildings. Flying Tigers even offered an order for 25 DC8-63F at any rate Douglas wanted to build them, but were rebuffed.
In about 1985, UPS looked at what it would take to keep flying their DC8-70 series another 25 years, and decided on new avionics, including certifying a new autopilot, which was unprecedented in a transport category airplane. They made it work, and found that DAC had apparently cheated on some of their original cert tests. UPS budgeted about $2 Million per airplane - money well spent.
GB