A concept developed more than a decade before the DC-8 jetliner, the piston-engined DC-8 was to have propellers in the tail, an idea first used at Douglas by Edward F. Burton on a fighter project.
Based on the cancelled XB-42,[2] the program began shortly after the end of World War II.
It was intended to operate on short- and medium-range routes, carrying between 40 and 48 passengers[2] in a then-novel pressurized cabin[2] (which had been pioneered by the Boeing 307 in 1938, but was still not in standard airline use).
[2] They were to power contra-rotating propellers in the tail,[4] as in the XB-42, by way of driveshafts under the cabin floor[2] (an arrangement reminiscent of the P-39).
[7] Despite performance predicted to significantly surpass conventional twin airliners,[2] excessive complexity and high development costs[2] (with consequent high sales price and operating costs)[2] meant that less risky types, such as Convair's 240 and Martin's 2-0-2, were preferred,[3] and the DC-8 was dropped before a prototype was built.