Delta secured its early DC-8 delivery positions from Douglas Aircraft after Eastern Airlines, Delta's major competitor, decided to wait for a more powerful engine. The 14th DC-8-11 off the assembly line was Delta's N801E, Ship 801, named "Pride of Delta."
On delivery day, July 22, 1959, Ship 801 flew the 2,497 mile route from the Douglas plant in Long Beach, California, to Miami in 4 hours and 43 minutes. The previous record on the route had been 5 hours and 50 minutes set by a Douglas DC-7. Delivery crew: Captain T.P. "Pre" Ball, superintendent of flight operations; Captain W. Lee McBride, chief pilot, Miami/Dallas; and Captain James H. Longino, assistant chief pilot, Atlanta.
Delta raced to install Atlanta airport's first passenger boarding bridge, called a "jetway," just in time for the arrival of the DC-8 from Miami.
In Summer 1959, Delta's "widget" logo first appears in branding for new Royal Jet Service in advance ads for the DC-8 jets. It was gradually adopted as Delta's official corporate logo over the next several years.