UNITED AIRLINES DC-7 MAINLINER / JET AGE MAINTENANCE & SAFETY PROMOTIONAL FILM 17704

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Produced by Cate & McGlone, United Airlines presents this 1950’s era, color movie called, Flying Colors. The film attempts to reassure the public about air travel by showing the maintenance procedures followed by United on its new DC-7 Mainliners. It was made just prior to the debut of the jet powered Boeing 707, which is discussed at the 5:30 mark. Written by Walter Wise, directed by T.W. Cate, photographed by E.D. McGlone, edited by Charles Cahill, with music supervision by Jack Meakin and production supervision by Bernard Kovnat. The film is dedicated to United men and women in aircraft maintenance for United Airlines. The movie opens with an image of an analog clock on the wall, it is 6:59 EST, 1:15. An image of United Airline planes flying over various American cities, 1:30. A plane flies over Hawaii, 1:50. The United Airlines maintenance base is shown, 3:27. Workers leave the maintenance factory, 3:40. Planes are seen at the maintenance docks, 3:50. A plane is rolled in for maintenance, preventive maintenance and quality assurance, 4:20. The men schedule maintenance reports, 4:50. Men sit in the board room to go over plans for future designs and maintenance for United planes, 5:15. Different placards are shown with different airplane designs,5:34. The executives discuss new plans for different United planes, 6:05. Planes roll by on the tarmac at an airport, 6:55. Maintenance men check the propellers, batteries and tires of the planes. 7:15. Quality assurance management in the maintenance analysis division are shown, 8:15. Men work with airline parts in the factory, 8:40. Engineering groups for the airline are shown, 9:00. Designers who make parts and tools work in their offices, 9:30. Men on the factor floor are shown, 9:50. Spot welders work with large sheets of steel, 10:05. Engines are removed and inspected at the factory, 11:05. The engine shop takes delivery of an engine and dismantle and clean it, 11:30. Maintenance workers inspect and re-inspect the engine parts for accuracy and safety, 12:20. On the reassembly line, the clean parts are put back together into a maintained engine, 12:45. Propeller spins, 12:58. Cleaning crew scrubs down the plane, 13:25. Fabrics for the plane are assembled in the sewing factory, 13:47. In the radio, instrument and electrical shops, factory workers calculate their tasks with fine precision, 14:20. Propellers are taken apart and their parts examined, 14:50. Propellers are finely balanced and reconstructed, 15:10. Men work on the wings with rivets, 15:40. The landing gear is checked for maintenance, 16:00. Hydraulic systems are checked, 16:15. The outside and inside facades of the plane get final treatment in the rebuilding process, 16:30. Inspectors follow every move of the maintenance team, 16:52. The giant engines takes its place on the plane, 17:10. Seats are installed on the plane, 17:28. Inspections continue over the entire plane, 17:42. Radio equipment is installed, 18:05. The plane is finally ready to roll out of the loading bay, 18:35. In the light of the day, there is further inspection, 18:45. Maintenance men crawl all over the plane, making sure everything is just right and ready for test flights, 19:15. Test flight crews board the plane, 19:30. Co-pilot checks out the plane, 19:45. A United plane takes off on a test flight with a testing crew, 20:45. Men in the cockpit clear the plane for takeoff, 21:00. Plane soars over the clouds, 21:42. Pilots test the instruments in the cockpit, 22:20. Landing gear is checked, 22:30. The flying power reserves are tested, 22:50. The engines are deliberately shut off for testing, 23:00. The plane soars at 16,000 feet over the clouds, 24:28. The plane banks and turns, 24:47. The maintenance workers from United Airlines are featured, 25:30. The plane comes in for a landing, 26:45.
The Douglas DC-7 is a transport aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1953 to 1958. It was the last major piston engine-powered transport made by Douglas, being developed shortly after the earliest jet airliner-the de Havilland Comet-entered service and only a few years before the jet-powered Douglas DC-8 first flew. Like other aircraft in Douglas's collection of propeller-driven aircraft, examples remain in service in the present day, albeit in significantly lower numbers than the far more successful DC-3 and DC-6.
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit www.PeriscopeFi...

[@user-nr3ss5hk9s]

Was a Flight Engineer in the DC 6 I loved that plane

[@bocephusmcclintock3871]

So much precision and skill with no computers !!!!! Man I bet that was a satisfying job & no one playing on a phone ahhh that must have been great

[@abdullahahmed7781]

Found the boomer. 😂 TheSe DaRn YounGstErs always oN thEIr ceLLulAr devIces and what not...... grrrr it grinds me gears it dose 🤣

[@TheReadBaron91]

Ah yes. Back when ceases were more prevalent

[@Black.dynamite-]

Quality and pride in work something that’s missing from the world today

[@IndependentBear]

Only among those employees and in companies who choose shoddy work. I worked in the aircraft industry back then.

[@Black.dynamite-]

Ron D'Eau Claire I appreciate and applaud you wish I could have seen the the way it were

[@jcheck6]

Not enough time. Everyone is under a time pressure.

[@largesoda1729]

Quite normal during this time period since this was also during the "post-war" years. Having defeated two formidable enemies on the east and west, I'm pretty sure that would keep your population very happy for a time. Along with this came the "baby boom". Right now, the people who take pride in their jobs don't outnumber those who work just to survive, but I'm sure as hell there were people who didn't love their jobs back then as well.

[@harrymallory7963]

At Spirit Airlines, passenger seating is checked and rechecked. Any seats found to be comfortable are discarded immediately.

[@stephenvince9994]

very good lol

[@shaggydogg3786]

Very nice! Thanks for the laugh!

[@jamesanderton344]

And the edges of all baggage handling equipment filed sharp before every shift....

[@paoloviti6156]

That is cool, thanks for the laugh...👍👍

[@dennishough3709]

🤣🤣🤣

[@jimmbbo]

Great trip in the Wayback Machine to a time when airports were fun and flying was enjoyable...

[@animationspace8550]

I think flying is still enjoyable but I think innovation in flying machines are a lot blander and more conventional. Flying boats probably had a great chance to find a foothold in luxury flying but they never came.

[@leeboatwright8262]

When flying was "cool" and stews were "hot."

[@prsearls]

I'm old enough to have flown on some of these. Scheduled, progressive maintenance is similar to this today... just the equipment is different. This is a good view "behind the scenes" of a critical part of aviation we take for granted. These Periscope Films are wonderful history.

[@z50com]

Thank You for making this available to the public. . .You have a great library of American memories

[@volvo09]

I love it, always makes me wish I could go back in time.

[@PeriscopeFilm]

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[@motoalchemy]

As a 34 year UAL mechanic....i missed out on this golden age of aviation......i work in this exact facility shown in this film...yes its still there. But now there are uber drivers everywhere

[@death2pc]

SFO......?

[@831BeachBum]

I worked there too 1998-2001, 2007-2008. We had lapping machines in the Bearing shop from the 1940's. Worked better, more reliable than the newer equipment.

[@WAL_DC-6B]

Wonderful UAL 1950s promotional film! Love the shot of the artist's images of the then proposed jetliners by Boeing, Douglas and especially Lockheed's L-193 design (never knew Lockheed had proposed a pure jetliner in the 50s) which looks a bit like the Soviet Union's Tupolev TU-104 from the mid 1950s. Thanks for sharing!

[@paoloviti6156]

What a lovely documentary or footage and you can see the pride and the effort of the people to keep the airplane flying through regular and rigorous maintaining and overhauling to ensure a safe flight. A massive almost industrial effort indeed. I really have nostalgia of this period and and I prefer the piston engine with it's powerful but harmonious sound. I flew often on the DC-7 (I'm born in 1956..) and I flew the first time to Rome at Ciampino airport with my Italian father and Swedish mother. I literally fell in love with this airplane...

[@johneddy908]

The DC-6 and Boeing 377 Stratocruiser are also seen in the first part of this film.

[@darcykuhlengel759]

My Beloved Dad became a Senior Manager at South City, and, started in 1946 after combat USCG south pacific. I flew on ALL the "Beloved Propliners . Such a wonderful experience with Mom, and Dad. This is a DC-6B-----only three blade hydraulic props. The "6" was the "sweetheart". The "7" was a fox, but had problems. The mechanics called the power recovery turbines "Parts Recovery Turbines". Keith

[@Vektorer]

Fantastic flight footage! What a gem! Thanks!

[@ericwhitehead6451]

Amazing to think this was done every 4 months.

[@markjurkovich7814]

Boy the way Glenn Miller played... Song's that made the Hit Parade... Gee are old LaSalle ran great...

[@MikeyAlbertin]

Great video. I currently work at this UAL base.

[@paoloviti6156]

A very nice video, I do feel quite nostalgic by watching it. Thanks for sharing this...

[@trplpwr1038]

Look at all those people earning a good paycheck with no computers!

[@keywestjj]

Well of course ... it's all worked out on CARDS. Talk about reliability!! +++

[@trplpwr1038]

@@keywestjj Yeah and using a slide rule of all things.

[@ConvairDart106]

Darn, I'm old enough to remember those focus screens in grade school!

[@JuanJimenez-it7hx]

Reminds me of the Pan American maintenance facility at JFK. We used to call this type of teardown inspect and rebuild a Pac Service. Many a Boeing 747 and others went through it. I miss that and the Jet Center, kind of wish I was young engineer again.

[@BadWolf762]

The majority of these men received on the job training between 1941-1945.

[@dknowles60]

you still can get on the job training today in the us air force

[@allen480]

@@dknowles60 Yes, as soon as you successfully complete formal Air Force technical training.

[@christoohunders5316]

I love the THX style announcement at the beginning.

[@barrysheridan9186]

Ah, those were the days.

[@darthstanley166]

54 grand for an engine? Can we go back in time? I truly wish i lived back then .

[@RandomShit169]

You do know that 50 grand back then is equal to 500 grand today.

[@alaskaaksala123]

Me too…seems like the best time..

[@chrisgovatsos9421]

@@RandomShit169 that’s correct but a 5 to $10,000 home is worth , depending on location $600,000 and up

[@billtimmons7071]

I love these videos .. some things stick out. Notice the use of "soldering irons". When I served in the Navy I used soldering irons a great deal when repairing electronic equipment. I bet a soldering iron is rarely used anymore. Notice the pilot signalling the flight engineer to adjust throttles? Flight engineers? Most people today can't even spell flight engineer :) When i was kid flying in the old DC-7 at night, I remember the flames coming out of the exhausts stacks ... I was so mesmerized. And only two seats on each side .... Douglas was a great airplane manufacturer as was Boeing. What has happened?

[@robertbrawley5048]

Modern times. Drat!

[@abdullahahmed7781]

ok boomer 😂 whatever helps you sleep at night mate...

[@thomasjordan5578]

I’m told for aircraft wires crimp only no solder as per FAA.

[@allen480]

@@abdullahahmed7781 Knock off the “ok boomer” crap and go feed your camel.

[@magneticstorm1]

All those United executives, are rolling in their graves today, knowing their planes say United on the fuselages, but have the Continental logo on their tails Horrid!

[@acersalman8258]

Beautiful planes ❤❤❤❤❤God bless you you made things wonderful good useful make human life happy

[@JFernandoRojasO]

Excelent videos, thanks a lot for bringing them to the present. I could see some of them a long time ago during my airplane mechanic training.

[@PeriscopeFilm]

Glad you like them! Thanks for being a sub. Love our channel? Help us save and post more orphaned films! Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm Even a really tiny contribution can make a difference.

[@donaldparlettjr3295]

As a flight engineer on a B-25 Mitchell some of this is same stuff we do today to keep her in the air.

[@brianevans656]

Didn't know B-25 Mitchell's had flight engineers. Never heard that.

[@donaldparlettjr3295]

CastMember 4Life the top gunner was the flight engineer. In Panchito we set up a seat behind the pilot and co-pilot. In emergencies I'm the guy that crawls all over the acft cranking this or reading the different gauges around behind them if needed. The gear extension and flap extension are done by me totally separate of the flight deck. It can keep you downright busy if a failure comes up.

[@kona702]

93 flights at a given moment. Imagine if they could see the congestion in the airways today

[@ProperLogicalDebate]

Look where they put the camera in some of those in flight shots.

[@xyzaero]

Unbelievable, that they performed a complete D-check ?, including engine rebuild in 4 days.

[@miketresham4783]

8:08 is my uncle Walter Benoit.

[@JimmyLoose]

11:26. $54,000's worth of engine. $622,000 today. For one engine. Sheesh.

[@PeriscopeFilm]

Interesting, thanks for your comment. According to the Internet (so who knows how reliable), " Commercial jet engines can cost between $5 million and $50 million, depending on the size and mission requirements."

[@mattc.310]

Cool intro. I haven't gone through that process for a long time. Good sound and a clear crisp picture or someone will be knocking on the door.

[@richardrejmer8721]

I don't want to fly on modern planes any more. . These planes are obviously better designed and better maintained than modern planes. . The 3,000 dedicated engineers and staff make me feel so safe!

[@cennsa140driver]

Well, a pilot friend of mine just recently passed away, started his career flying DC3 as the "new" turbo prop deliveries were delayed. He said that "the airplane was nice to fly but those damn radial engines had a habit of catching fire often". That would make for a exciting flight!

[@pscparamesh3154]

BEAUTIFUL beautiful

[@AndreA-ke2id]

The film description is wrong. The planes were mainly DC6's !!

[@rlic9206]

Almost a 100 planes across the country, during this time period. Grew up in the 60s, clear skys all the way.

[@diggr13]

The Douglas in maintenence in this film is a DC-6.

[@ekweseman]

Those United Airlines Douglas Mainliners are actually DC-6s, not DC-7s, because the DC-6 features three-bladed propellers and the DC-7 features four-bladed propellers. United operated both planes and the Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, which is also featured in this video.

[@johneddy908]

One of United's first widebody jets was also built by Douglas Aircraft Company - the DC-10 (by then it became a division of McDonnell Douglas Corporation).

[@alistairmcelwee7467]

I need to visit United, not so much for “eternal youth” (ugh!), it for loads & loads of their “preventative maintenance”! Love the business propaganda…. But, I’m 58, & have been flying to school on airlines from 1977 to 1981, then fromNew Zealand to the US, (my other citizenship) many times, p,us all the other places. Do I feel guilty? Oh heck yes! No one told us that we were polluting the planet when we flew. Now I do sporadic essential flights only (ie., my father’s funeral). I had no idea I’m so guilty of pollution when I’ve tried to be so careful to be environmentally careful. But, in the days of this video, such concerns were far, far away…

[@kathryneast6919]

Seems this kind of service isn’t done anymore

[@coolbreeze253]

DC-7s had four bladed props, DC-6s had three. They seem to mix up the aircraft models.

[@viscount757]

Agree, the video title should refer to DC-6, not DC-7. I didn't see any DC-7s in the video.

[@johneddy908]

If the name "United" is in all-capitals, its a DC-7; if not, its either a DC-6 or Stratocruiser.

[@Howrider65]

The free food days and good legroom days and not pay for bags days..

[@59wargear]

Usually on an A thru D inspection program...

[@timdodd3897]

Dad started at United in 1955. United was family back then. Today?

[@discerningmind]

The registration number for this aircraft states this is a DC-6B, not a DC-7.

[@johneddy908]

Both the DC-6 and DC-7 are featured in this film.

[@MrHmg55]

Where were films like these shown? In theaters before the featured movie? I thought that's when cartoons, comedy shorts or other entertaining films were used, or maybe newsreels, not corporate promotional items like this.

[@ppr5610]

This movie seems made in 1953, I'm not sure. Anybody knows about wich year it could be?

[@eudaldguell3004]

Incredible turbocompound in the 50.s

[@MrAlwaysBlue]

I see a day coming when the airliners will be powered by jet engines, and the maintenance scheduled by computers.

[@frankkoslowski6917]

Who inspired McDouglas Engineers to deliberately oppose air resistance by means of the forward retracted DC-7 landing gear?🤨 Unless it was the Airline's Gym Instructor who had ordered pilot-friendly landing paddles in.🤔

[@user-vj6tw1mc1r]

自分用 5:35 Lockheed L-193

[@kdkatz-ef2us]

From what I've heard and read, the dc7 was inferior to the dc6 - reliability issues

[@seanohsee7329]

The R-3350 in the DC-7 was more powerful but less reliable than the R-2800 in the DC-6.

[@patrickshaw8595]

The Pratt & Whitney C-series R-2800 engines were a "sweet spot" in terms of power, weight, fuel economy and reliability. Those are what you see being overhauled here. Many DC-6 freighters still make money for their operators in various places of the world today. There are no DC-7s in revenue service today.

[@WAL_DC-6B]

United retired their remaining DC-7s in 1964. The last of UAL's DC-6Bs were retired in early 1970.

[@shaidorsai4834]

All things considered, I'm curious if airlines still have test flights like in this video.

[@gasfiltered]

Yep. Very much the same. It’s absolutely the most dangerous time to be in an airplane, right after maintenance

[@JamesSmith-jq2jc]

Well, they probably do, it makes sense to check if everything is working correct. The problem can be how good or intense this check is. We can look to Boeing for FAULTS in testing and improper training of pilots in their new GROUNDED aircraft. Watch enough air crashes here on KZbin and you'll see there's still room for improvement. Problem is, everyone wants cheap tickets, so they gotta save money somewhere.

[@user-nr3ss5hk9s]

Was a tester on the MD 11 after maintenance It was a real treat

[@captiannemo1587]

One might compare this with the 1970s overhaul film also on this channel from United Airlines

[@Ctrl-XYZ]

You need to take "Jet Age" out of your title. No jets in this 1955 film. Commercial jet service in the U.S. started in 1958.

[@danf321]

I wonder if the between-flight cleaning crews today do such a thorough job of cleaning the interior…other than just picking up food scraps?

[@stephenacs]

Years later the phrase Flying Colors was registered by Braniff Airlines for use as their tag line,

[@captiannemo1587]

4 days and nights when in the 70s it’s 5 days…

[@steveshoemaker6347]

An that's the way it was....In the jet age somewhere...?

[@michaelt3798]

how do you pre-focus a Mac Book Pro?

[@alaskaaksala123]

A total of 93 united flights at any given time…I wonder how many nowadays..

[@darringraham2613]

Think God it was not called a MAX

[@rayjames6096]

Back when brylcreem was the number 1 import.

[@Pgcmoore]

"alright alright alright"

[@wendellb36]

D check in four days ?!?!

[@bobl78]

how often did a radial engine need an oil change ?

[@DoNotEatPoo]

Correct answer: Never, you just add oil.

[@montewiederhold3508]

Was this facility at O"hare?

[@donwebber7034]

San Francisco

[@eduardalet]

Great when people used slide rules and could still do math , many good paying jobs now a few billionaires in computers and e commerce and all the good quality jobs gone.

[@MeaHeaR]

Aaahh thé Dâzé ov thé Śťôķkk-Âńđ-Â-ĞhâýĐê

[@andrewharre7663]

🛩️🛩️🛩️

[@nicolepala8617]

Why must there be this counter in the middle of the film? It ruins the integrity of the historical representation. That wouldn’t be there originally. Darn shame….

[@PeriscopeFilm]

Here's the issue: Tens of thousands of films similar to this one have been lost forever -- destroyed -- and many others are at risk. Our company preserves these precious bits of history one film at a time. How do we afford to do that? By selling them as stock footage to documentary filmmakers and broadcasters. If we did not have a counter, we could not afford to post films like these online, and no films would be preserved. It's that simple. So we ask you to bear with the watermark and timecodes. In the past we tried many different systems including placing our timer at the bottom corner of our videos. What happened? Unscrupulous KZbin users downloaded our vids, blew them up so the timer was not visible, and re-posted them as their own content! We had to use content control to have the videos removed and shut down these channels. It's hard enough work preserving these films and posting them, without having to spend precious time dealing with policing thievery -- and not what we devoted ourselves to do. Love our channel and want to support what we do? You can help us save and post more orphaned films! Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm Even a really tiny contribution can make a difference.

[@392nightrunner]

United is an awful experience now, I had to fly from florida to Seattle and it was miserable

[@jerseyterry6951]

How primitive and risky, 50 year old propeller propulsion technology. The front of the plane looks like the head of a fly. thank god we're not flying in those anymore, however were still flying at the same speed! How pathetic! In the 70s i could fly from ewr to pbi in 2.5 hours now it takes 3.5 hours, Rediculous now matter what the reason is

[@pauldudakadanielthomson8890]

Warning this is extremely gay ! If you are not already a flamer ,, you will be after watching this !

[@donwebber7034]

What are you talking about? Your attempt at a joke? Not so funny…

[@jerseyterry6951]

Esthetically ugly industrial interiors

[@richardboll8763]

B

[@garypugh1153]

Why are all airplanes and ships called "she "? I fly a cessna 152 and it is an airplane, not a "she". It flies great. "She" doesn't fly. "It" flies.🇺🇸 i'm a pilot, not a gay wimpy pilot.