Pan American Airways Douglas DC-7B  N771PA           (c/n  44864)

                                    

                                          Pan American placed the DC-7B into service on the North Atlantic routes in June of 1955.  This,
                                          the penultimate of the Douglas piston engined airliners was basically an extended DC-6B, although,
                                          fitted as it was with turbo-compound engines it was not as comfortable an aircraft to ride in as the
                                          DC-6B.   Personally, I always felt that the noise and vibration level of the DC-7 series (including the
                                          DC-7C Seven Seas) was unacceptably high.  Fortunately for the travelling public they were only
                                          subjected this discomfort for a few years, being soon eclipsed by the jets.  Pan Am only has seven
                                          DC-7Bs, changing their order later to the longer range DC-7B.