American Airlines  Douglas DC-7  N303AA         (c/n   44124)

                                             

                                                  The ultimate in piston engined airliners, at least so far as American was concerned, was the Douglas
                                                  DC-7 and its slightly stretched variant, the DC-7B.  Shown above is the third DC-7  'Flagship Missouri'
                                                  delivered in February of 1954.      Its four Wright R-3350 turbo-compound engines allowed 8 hour
                                                  non-stop coast-to-coast operations in direct competition with TWA's Super Constellations.  Because
                                                  of the delivery of the prop jets and pure jets these majestic aircraft were only in service for four or
                                                  five years.  N303AA was broken up for scrap in 1959.