Airframe 427 of 554 rolled off the McDonnell Douglas assembly line in Long Beach, California, on December 24, 1968.<\/p>\n
Over the next four decades, the plane flew passengers for Finnair, joined the French Air Force\u2019s fleet and carried cargo for U.S.-based Air Transport International.<\/p>\n
Purchased by humanitarian aid organization Samaritan\u2019s Purse about ten years ago, the DC-8 has since airlifted over 9 million pounds of food and medical supplies around the globe to places devastated by natural disasters, disease and conflict.<\/p>\n
For the plane\u2019s flight mechanic, Andy Farrell, the aircraft\u2019s final role delivering aid was foreseen when its data plate was stamped with December 24.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo think its date of manufacture is Christmas Eve,\u201d he said. \u201cGod knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
This month, Samaritan\u2019s Purse retired the plane, the last remaining Douglas DC-8 in service in the United States. In November, the workhorse made a final stop at Daytona Beach International Airport, where Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University students and other aviation enthusiasts got to walk through its fuselage and look under its wings. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cThis aircraft is 57 years old and has 100,000 operating hours on it, but I would ride it anywhere in the world,\u201d said Farrell, who earned a master\u2019s degree in Aeronautical Science<\/a> from Embry-Riddle in 1997.<\/p>\n For the plane\u2019s crew, many of whom are Embry-Riddle alumni, the stop was bittersweet. They were proud to show off the DC-8. But they were also sad to see it go after a decade of delivering \u201chelp to people in need and giving them hope,\u201d said Andrew Klischer, who is captain of the DC-8 and earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in Aeronautical Studies in 1983.<\/p>\n Klischer said that having Embry-Riddle as one of the plane\u2019s final destinations was \u201ca great way to honor the aircraft.\u201d More than 1,000 people came out to see the DC-8, the main attraction during the university\u2019s Mission Aviation Day, said Peyton Strikeleather, a senior pursuing his bachelor\u2019s in Aviation Business Administration<\/a> and the event\u2019s organizer.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving the DC-8, with its Embry-Riddle\u00a0alumni crew,\u00a0alongside other\u00a0aircraft helped us highlight\u00a0and expose students to\u00a0an often overlooked\u00a0area\u00a0of\u00a0aviation that\u00a0allows individuals to use their unique skills to do good\u00a0and serve those in need,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Loadmaster Mike Embree said he will miss the smell of the DC-8.<\/p>\n Embree, who has flown some 50 missions with Samaritan\u2019s Purse, admitted that it must sound strange to miss the scent of a plane.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBut I walk into this plane every day,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I go in the cargo area, it just smells like home.\u201d<\/p>\n The DC-8\u2019s first mission for Samaritan\u2019s Purse came in 2016, airlifting medical supplies and personnel to Ecuador after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck the South American country.<\/p>\n Since that inaugural flight, the plane has flown more than 210 missions. This includes providing aid to hurricane-ravaged regions of Puerto Rico and Mozambique, landing in Italy amid the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic and carrying medical workers and supplies to conflict zones.<\/p>\n