Boeing 707...................................................................................Specifications
This Boeing 707-321B is shown here as she appeared at Miami International Airport in June 1990 with hush kitted Pratt and Whitney JT3D-3 engines. This aircraft was delivered new to Pan American in August 1967 and came to Avianca in 1977. She flew for the airline until 1993 going to Air Taxi and being scrapped in 1996.
The Boeing 707 represents possibly the most important mile stone in the history of commercial Aviation. The Dash 80 as the 707 prototype was known, was first flown in 1954. Although not the first jet airliner to fly or see service; that distinction going to the British De havilland Comet ; the 707 certainly was to be build in more numbers, and as such became the work horse on which the airlines were to build up exstensive routes and networks. These networks were far more extensive than those built up during the days of the early Douglas and Lockheed propellor aircraft. The 707 was capable of far greater speeds and had a greater range allowing eventually none stop services between for example New York and London. These first jet generation giants could also transport far more passengers and thus began an era of mass aviation transport.
The Boeing 367-80 (the Dash 80) was in actual fact a private study by Boeing for a jet aircraft to succeed the KC-97/Stratocruiser piston engined tanker/transport family of the 40,s and 50,s. This Boeing model "717" (a model number now used again by the latest twin engined Boeing project) was ordered by the USAF as the tanker version KC-135A in 1954. It was a year later, in October 1955, that orders were recieved for the aircraft from Pan American as the Boeing "707", this aircraft then emerged as the turbojet powered Boeing 707-120, Domestic model. The aircraft entered service with Pan Am in 1958 on the New York to London route. This sector was to long for consistent operation by this type, how ever Pan Am was under the presure of competition from B.O.A.C. and the Comet and the longer range 320 although planned, was not yet ready. The dash 120 also appeared in other guises; as the 707-138 version for QANTAS of a Austrailia, with a shortend fuselage; also the 707-220, a version designed for hot and high airport operations. This type, ordered only by Braniff for its operations to South America, had more powerful engines. The Boeing 707-020 short range type also emerged in 1959 and became the Boeing 720.
The 707-320 intercontinental type entered service with Pan American in 1959. The aircraft had a lengthend fuselage, larger wing span, and more powerful Pratt and Whitney engines allowing far greater range and flights with ease from eastern USA to Europe. This automatically lead to interest from operators in Europe and else where abroad for the 707 albeit for the Rolls Royce Conway powered version the 707-420 which also appered in 1959, purchased by B.O.A.C., Lufthansa and Air India. The Rolls Royce engines afforded slightly more range and better economics then the turbo jets from Pratt and Whittney with slightly more speed.
With the emergence of the Pratt and Whitney front fan turbofan engines, the JT3D series, and the promise of more power and less fuel consumption, emerged new 707 types. In 1960 the high flyer 707-120B thus appeared, the fastest 707 at the time. Qantas also recieved a reengined 138 version, the 138B. Also in 1960 the 720B shorter range type and in 1962 and 1963 respecfully appeared the 320B and 320C types, the most widely used version of the 707. The 707-320B had a range of 7,475 mls, while the 707-320 Cargo convertable offered greater operational weights.
It was this 320C model which offered the basis for the most exsiting version of the 707 when development came full circle. The E-3A Sentry AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) with its refined JT3D engines fuselage crammed full of sufficiticated electronics for the surveillance of an entire airspaces, entered service with the U.S.A.F. in 1972. The aircraft is reckognisable by its massive rotating dome above the aft fuselage.
The E-8 J-STARS (Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System) Naval surveillance platform was a further military development which emerged first in 1988 with planned delivery of converted and newly built units upto the year 2001.
Between 1958 and 2001 a total of 1010 Boeing 707units had been delivered. After almost half a century since the flight of the first prototype, the Boeing 707 thus still flies in one shape or another with air forces and various airlines through out the world. Mostly itīs usefulness is to be found in the cargo and utility roll, especially since the emergence of the wide bodies in the 1970īs. The life of these true knights of the skies has also been lengthened through re-engining in the shape of the CFM56 engine program especially amongst the tanker versions and through hush kitting of the exsisting power plants in order to meet the latest noise level requirements. It seems very likely that the venerable "seven oh" will even last still further into the 21st century.
Boeing 707-121 N710PA "Clipper America" was the first to be delivered to Pan american on the 29th of September 1958 and shows the original small fin with no underfin and the orginal Pratt and Whittney JT3C-6 engines. After British suggetions, required to gain British certification, the fin and rudder were extended and an underfin added to the basis 707 design. All 707's already delivered were retrofitted with these design changes. As was also typical for early Pratt and Whittney 707's, this aircraft was later converted to 120B status in 1965. This entailed re-engining with Pratt and Whitney JT3D turbofan engines giving substantially mor power. This aircraft is shown as it appeared prior to the first Pan American Jet passenger service across the Atlantic to Paris Orly on the 26th of October 1958. She was eventually scrapped in 1984 at Taipei Taiwan, after being sold tp Pan Ayer and subsequently leased out to Turkish Hava Yollari (THY) and Bouraq Indonesian Airlines before entering storage at Taipei in 1979.
This aircraft is a 707-328 and was delivered to Air France as F-BHSE "Chateau de Rambouillet" on the 20th of March 1960. She displays the original shorter fin and missing underfin prior to the design changes stipulated by the British certification body. 'This aircraft was never re-engined and kept it's JT4A-3 engines through out it's entire flying career. She was retrofitted with larger fin and underfin in 1961 and remained with Air France until March 1978. She ended her life with the Israeli Air Force going into storage in 1996. She is shown here as she appeared at 'Tokyo Haneda International airport in September 1960 operating the joint polar service to Paris with Japan Airlines, hence the additional JAL stickers on the fuselage.
Lufthansa D-ABOV "Duisburg" was delivered as D-ABOS on the 28th of February 1963. She was a 707-320B delivered with the now standard long fin, underfin and Pratt and Whittney JT3D engines. Lufthansa had also recieved the 420 series aircraft with Rolls Royce Conway engines. Before the event of the JT3D, the Rolls Royce engine gave greater range and was more economical than the early PW JT3C engines. This aircraft is featured in an older Lufthansa variant as she was seen at New York JFK during 1964. The aircraft was retrofitted during 1965, the underfin being removed. She was later leased out to Condor Flugdienst (Lufthansa's former charter airline) in 1967 before before being sold to Lan Chile in 1974. She went to a museum in Chile in 1996 where she is now on display.
EL AL 4X-ATA "Shehecheyanu" was the first 707-420 to be delieverd to the airline on the 22nd of April 1961. She served the airline for 23 years and flew a total of 36 million miles (58 million kilometers). She was with-drawn from airline use in 1984 being used as a cabin trainer at Tel Aviv. The original cockpit was removed and displayed in a museum in the U.S.A. The cockpit of cn 18056 was then attached (orginally Lufthansa D-ABOG) which was in the
This was the "Hot Rod" of the 707's The series 138B (and before it, the series 138) was developed for Qantas, to whom this particularaircraft was delivered on the 18th of August 1961. The version was 3 meters shorter then the 120 version and with the same power plant and take off weights had greater range. The 138B, compared to the 138 had greatly uprated engines, giving more range. Braniff acquired this aircraft, N105BN on the 28th of September 1969 flying the aircraft until November 1975. Braniff had a very bould livery from the mid sixties onwards. Every aircraft was painted in a bold colour, orange, red, yellow, purple or blue. This aircraft is depicted in a very fash red livery as seen at Love field Dalla in July 1970.
The Boeing E-3 AWACS Sentry aircraft was based on the 707-320B airframe. This E-3D, cn 24114 is a purpose built AWACS airframe and typifies that production of the 707 was solely military from the end of 1979 until the last airframe was completed in 1992. The E-3 was built in five versions. E-3A, 3B, 3C, 3D, 3F. This particular version utilised the CFM56 turbofan engine. ZH106 is shown as she appeared on approach to RAF Abbington on the 13th of November 2005. It was these RAF E-3D aircraft which were the first European AWACS to be deployed to the Yugoslavian conflict in 1992.