Boeing 727...................................................................................Specifications

This Boeing 727 series 200, which had a fuselage stretch compared to the original 100 series of 20 ft, first flew for the Italian airline Alitalia on the 05 of October 1978. Registered  I-DIRD and named "Ciita di Bergamo", she was sold off to People express of the USA in July 1984. She ended her career in Brazil after a time with the airline Fly L.A.  Since 28 August 2005 she has been in storage at Rio De Janeiro airport. She is seen here as she appeared at Stockholm Arlanda airport, Sweden during June 1982.

The versatile Boeing 727 flew for the first time in February 1963. It was concepated as a short to medium range passenger jet aircraft with an original market forcast for 250 airframes. It went into service with Eastern Airlines in February 1964 and was an immediate success. It had the same cockpit and cabin width as the 707 (and later also the 737) and shared many other common features with the "70", making crew training and maintenence easier. The 100C , with cargo door and handling system was flown in December 1964, entering service with Northwest Orient in January 1965. The basic 727-100 frame was a best seller in it,s own right selling far more than the 250 originaly invisiged. With it's sophisticated, triple-slotted trailing edge flaps (Kruger Flaps) and new leading-edge slats, the 727 had unprecedented low-speed landing and take off performance for a big jet airliner and could be used at smaller airports than could the 707. The type was also used extensively in Europe, notibly with Lufthansa who pioneered the QC model (Quick Change) series. Seats fitted on moveable pallets, loaded throuh the foreward fuselage cargo door, making conversion from a freight aircraft into a passenger aircraft very fast indeed.

The series 200 first flew in 1967, being delivered to Northwest Orient and flying with them a few months later. The fuselage was stretched by 20 ft and the aircraft had increased gross weight and could carry up to 189 passengers, with a flight crew of 3 and a maxium range of 9,447 km. The 200 Advanced with improved engines and later automatic thrust reversers first flew in 1972 with All Nippon Airways, the ATR version flying in 1976. The first 200F Freighter (as opposed to a converted passenger maschine) for Federal Express flew in 1983.

With the event of the 200 series, 727 sales really took off, by September 1984, when deliveries finished, 1,831 aircraft had been sold, of these 1,249 were 200s. Out of these some 1,500 aircraft of all series are still flying today, many still with there original owners. On January 13 1991, the very first 727 ever built, continually in service with United Airlines since 1964, was finally retired and donated to the Museum of flight at Everett, Seatle, Washington State.

The very first Boeing 727 to fly, a series 022 and registered N7001U for United Airlines, first flew on the 9th of February 1963 and spent it's entire working life with the airline until 1991 when it was sold to the Museum of flight at Everett, Washington. She is seen here as seen at Denver during August 1964. (cn 18293)

This 727 series 029C was delivered new to Sabena on the 22nd of July 1967. She was sold off to the Belgium Air Force in 1976. Clearly shown is the side freight door of this type, she could be flown in passenger or freight configuration. The aircraft is shown here as she appeared at London Heathrow airport during August 1970. (cn 19987)

EC-CFA, "Jerez Xerès-Sherry" was a 727 series 256 of Iberia, the Spanish national carrier, was delivered new to the airline on the 15th of January 1974 and remained with Iberia until September 2001. This aircraft shows the longer fuselage of the 200 streched version. She is seen here as she appeared at Paris Orly on the 19th of August 1978. (cn 20811)

PR-LGC of Varig Log, shows the 727-200 in freighter configuration. This aircraft was orginally delivered to VASP in April 1977 as a passenger aircraft. She came to Varig Log on the 10th of May 2003 after a time with UPS who had converted the aircraft to freighter configuration in 1985. She is shown here as seen at Belo Horizonte in Brazil on the 8th of August 2006. Note the engine refinements. These modifications or hush kits are necessary in order to allow the aircraft to meet the latest international noise reduction levels. This aircraft was withdrawn from use in 2011(cn 21342)

The orginal Pan American World Airways company ceased operations in 1991 after it had been taken over by Delta Airlines. The "Pan Am" logo and name were sold in 1996 to an investor group who after a short airline operation went bankrupt in 1997, selling the logo and name off again to the railway company Guilford Transportation of New Hampshire in 1998. This company, and later it's subsidiary Boston Maine operated Pan American Airways from 1999 to 2004, the name of the airline being changed to Pan Am Clipper Connection in 2005.This 727-200 of Pan American Airways (Boston Maine), a series 2J0, shows the third engine only as being hush kitted as opposed to all three engines on the Varig Log aircraft above. This machine started off life with Air Jamaica in 1975, being leased out to Boston Maine "Pan American Airways" in January 1999. The winglets were added in April 1999. She has been in storage since 2005 and is shown here carrying the name "Clipper Lady Thatcher" as she appeared at Manchester New Hampshire on the 13th of October 2003.