The Douglas DC-7 is a transport aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1953 to 1958. It was the last major piston engine-powered transport made by Douglas, being developed shortly after the earliest jet airliner—the de Havilland Comet—entered service and only a few years before the jet-powered Douglas DC-8 first flew. Like other aircraft in Douglas's collection of propeller-driven aircraft, examples remain in service in the present day, albeit in significantly lower numbers than the far more successful DC-3 and DC-6.