The Playboy jet: How Hugh Hefner traveled in style {Gadling}

Mar 13th 2011 6:11PM Playboy DC-9.> Well what it did was cause 2 of the largest airplane manufactures to merge. Douglas Aircraft Company,all Commerical,McDonnell Aircraft Company,all military aircraft.

I was working @ Douglas Aircraft in Long Beach California plant. And the Black Bunny DC 9 had been sitting on the tarmac with "no engines" for a few months along with many other DC 9's DC 8's NO engines. We could not purchase.

McDonnell aircraft in St Louis was getting all the engines they wanted for the military airplanes. The had priority over commerical.

They had a meeting and the 2 companys and joined together. McDonnell Douglas Aircraft company formed. We recieved engines,all we wanted in 2 weeks and delivered all the planes on the tarmac.

I worked for them (toolmaker) when a union was a union and pension was a pension. 37 years and get a check ever month. Laid 0ff 13 times in 37 years. Retired from the Apache Helicopters division.

In those days we all could go out and watch the new aircraft take off for the first time. We extended a DC8 60 feet in the middle body and we did not know if it would clear the Holiday Inn at the end of the Long Beach Runway. So they made everbody leave the Holiday inn for the first take off. It made it with room to spare.

Ronald Reagan visited our plant there many times during the tooling and fabrication of the First DC 10. He would ride around with Mr MAC on a golf cart.

In those days you had to take a 8 hour appitude test for tooling training.(know TRIG tables) If you were hired you worked 4 full years to advance to a journeyman. On the job training with a journeyman tooling crew. 5 cent raise automatic ever 16 weeks.

Hefner would visit the plant with a girlfriend and look at the the plane fab. He seemed kinda stuck up.
Okie in Arizona