When the first issue of ASSEMBLY rolled off the printing press in October 1958, the jet age was just beginning. Aerospace manufacturers were busy churning out bigger, faster, quicker and lighter products for a wide range of commercial and military applications.
In 1958, more than 1 million airline passengers flew across the Atlantic, for the first time surpassing the total of steamship passengers. Boeing had recently unveiled its revolutionary 707 jetliner. Meanwhile, Boeing’s biggest competitor, Douglas Aircraft Co., was building its own four-engine jetliner called the DC-8. Both aircraft transformed the airline industry and made flying faster, easier and more popular.