The DC-9 was designed specifically to operate from short runways and on short- to medium-range routes so that the speed, comfort and reliability of jet transportation could be extended to hundreds of communities previously served only by propeller-driven airliners.

Smaller than the DC-8, the trim DC-9 has a distinctive high-level horizontal stabilizer atop the rudder, commonly called a "T" tail. Two engines mounted on the aft fuselage power the aircraft at cruising speeds exceeding 500 mph (800 km/h) and altitudes over 30,000 feet (9,144 m).

Design, development and production of the DC-9 was centered in Long Beach, Calif., at what is now the Long Beach Division of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, where 976 of the twin jets were built during an 18-year production run. The first flight was Feb. 25, 1965; the final DC-9 was delivered in October 1982.

There are five basic DC-9 versions, designated Series 10, Series 20, Series 30, Series 40 and Series 50. Several models in each series provide operators maximum efficiency for diverse combinations of traffic density, cargo volume and route distances to more than 2,000 miles (3,218 km). All models use variants of the reliable workhorse Pratt & Whitney JT8D engine.