The history of boeing 707 -
The 707 was based on an aircraft known as the 367-80. The "Dash 80", as it was called within Boeing, took less than two
years from project launch in 1952 to rollout on May 14, 1954. The prototype was the basis for both the KC-135 Stratotanker,
an air tanker used by the United States Air Force, and the 707. This was powered by the Pratt & Whitney JT3C engine which
was the civilian version of the J57 used on the many military aircraft of the day including the F-100, F-101, F-102, and the
B-52. A late and costly decision was to widen the fuselage by 6 inches (150 mm) compared to the original 367-80 and KC-135
so as to be a little wider than the Douglas DC-8.
At Seafair on August 6, 1955, Boeing test pilot Alvin "Tex" Johnston performed a barrel roll in the Dash-80 at 500 feet.
This story appears on a video called 'Frontiers of Flight - The Jet Airliner', produced by the National Air and Space Museum
in association with the Smithsonian Institution in 1992. The roll can be viewed on video at AviationExplorer.com. To date
Johnston is the only pilot to have performed this in a four engine jet transport. (Other big four engine jet aircraft have
done barrel rolls; for instance, the Avro Vulcan XA890 was rolled by Roly Falk on the first day of the 1955 Farnborough Air
Show, but it was a bomber).
Pan Am was the first airline to operate the 707; the aircraft's first commercial flight was from New York to Paris on
October 26, 1958. American Airlines operated the first transcontinental 707 flight on January 25, 1959. The 707 quickly became
the most popular jetliner of its time, edging out its main competitor, the Douglas DC-8.
In order to become a new major player in the commercial airliner business, Boeing was quick to bend to customer's desires.
While the 707-120 was the initial standard model with Pratt & Whitney JT3C engines, Qantas ordered a shorter body version
called the 707-138 and Braniff ordered the higher-thrust version with Pratt & Whitney JT4A engines, the 707-220. The final
major derivative was the 707-320 which featured an extended span and larger wing. The ultimate version was 707-420, a -320
equipped with Rolls-Royce Conway turbofan engines. Most of the later 707s featured the more fuel efficient and quieter JT3D
turbofan engines and flaps on the leading edge of the wings to improve takeoff and landing performance. These were denoted
with a "B" suffix such as 707-120B and 707-320B.
The 707's engines could not supply sufficient bleed air for pressurization without a serious loss of thrust, so the aircraft
instead used engine-driven turbocompressors to supply high-pressure air for this purpose. On many commercial 707's the outer
port (#1) engine mount is distinctly different from the other three, as this is the only engine not fitted with a turbocompressor.
The Boeing 707 was the first commercially successful airplane to use podded engines.
As the 1960s drew to a close, the exponential growth in air travel led to the 707 being a victim of its own success.
The 707 was now too small to handle the increased passenger densities on the routes for which it was designed. Stretching
the fuselage was not a viable option because the installation of larger, more powerful engines would in turn need a larger
undercarriage, which was not feasible given the design's limited ground clearance. Boeing's answer to the problem was the
first twin aisle airliner - the 747. The 707's first-generation engine technology was also rapidly becoming obsolete in the
areas of noise and fuel economy.
The 707 wings are swept back at 35 degrees and, like all swept-wing aircraft, displayed an undesirable "Dutch Roll" flying
characteristic which manifested itself as an alternating yawing and rolling motion. Boeing already had considerable experience
with this on the B-47 and B-52, and had developed the yaw damper system on the B-47, that lent itself to later swept wing
configurations like the 707. However many new 707 pilots had no experience with this phenomenon as they were transitioning
from straight-wing propeller driven aircraft such as the Douglas DC-7 and Lockheed Constellation. On one customer acceptance
flight, where the yaw damper was turned off to familiarize the new pilots with flying techniques, a trainee pilot exacerbated
the Dutch Roll motion causing a violent roll motion which tore two of the four engines off the wing. The plane, a brand new
707-227 N7071 destined for Braniff, crash landed on a river bed north of Seattle at Arlington, Washington, killing four of
the eight occupants.[citation needed] In his autobiography, Tex Johnston described a Dutch Roll incident he experienced as
a passenger on an early commercial 707 flight. As the aircraft's movements gradually become more severe, he went to the cockpit
and found the crew frantically attempting to resolve the situation. He introduced himself and relieved the ashen-faced captain
who immediately left the cockpit feeling ill. Johnston quickly stabilised the plane and later, even landed it for the crew.
Production of the passenger 707 ended in 1978. In total, 1,010 707s were built for civil use. The military versions remained
in production until 1991.
Traces of the 707 are still found in the 737, which uses a modified version of the 707's fuselage, as well as essentially
the same external nose and cockpit configuration as the 707. These were also used on the previous Boeing 727, while the Boeing
757 also used the 707 fuselage cross - section
