Tag Archives: Boeing 707

Aviation Industry is 1958: Commercial Aviation (Turbojet and Turboprop Aircraft)

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With the inauguration of Boeing 707 jet service between New York and Paris by Pan American World Airways on October 26, a new era opened up for commercial aviation. This means that the commercial airlines are faced with a virtual revolution in their financial and mechanical operations. With no previous experience, airlines will have to use cut-and-try methods to find out how to live with the new situation. The airlines were already having trouble financing jet aircraft now on order, since current Civil Aeronautics Board restrictions make it hard for them to attract venture capital. Early in 1958, the CAB allowed a six per cent fare increase, the first in some 10 years. For jet operation, however, many felt this wasn’t enough. Braniff, for example, requested permission to impose a 15 per cent premium charge for jet flights. The airlines tried to solve some problems among themselves by lease arrangements, such as the one agreed upon by Pan American (PAWA) and National Air Lines (NAL). In this case, PAWA uses the jets during the summer for its European runs and turns them over to NAL for use on the New York-Florida route during the winter slack season.

All of these factors tended to put a damper on new orders for jets and turboprops. Thus, to obtain new orders the plane manufacturers had to agree, in some cases, to take back the used piston-engine planes currently in operation. As a result, the backlog of new planes has increased by only about 15-20 per cent since 1956. For the medium- to long-range planes, current backlogs are: Douglas DC-8‘s, 140; Boeing 707′s, 160: Convair 880′s and 600′s, 73; Lockheed Electras, 161. Piston-engine production has almost ended, with a total of about 100 piston-engine planes delivered in 1958.

Looking beyond the jets, which will span the United States coast-to-coast in a little over four hours in 1959, such firms as Boeing disclosed that their advanced research sections were examining the possibility of designing transports to operate at speeds up to 2,000 mph and over, requiring a little over an hour to cross the United States.

 

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Aviation Industry in 1957: Nonmilitary Aviation (Turbojet and Turboprop Aircraft)

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On Oct. 28, 1957, the first of the new turbojet planes, the Boeing 707, rolled out. This plane, destined for Pan American Airlines, is scheduled to begin flight tests in Feb. 1958. Next in line is the first Lockheed Electra turboprop transport. Scheduled to come off the line in 1958 are the Douglas DC-8 and Convair 440 turbojets. The last two and the 707 will have top speeds of about 600 mph and will span the United States coast-to-coast in a little over four hours.

There was a marked slowdown in the number of new jet transports ordered during 1957, partly because the bulk of the orders had been placed the previous year. However, at the end of the year, the orders for new jets included: 44 Convair 440′s; 123 Douglas DC-8′s; 144 Lockheed Electras; and 151 Boeing 707′s.

 

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Aviation in 1955: Airline Developments (Jet Transports)

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Biggest news of the year in the field of long-range scheduled airline operation was the multimillion-dollar program of re-equipment and conversion to jet transport announced by several major airlines. In the fall, Pan American World Airways announced an order for 45 jet-powered airliners costing $269,000,000. Of these, 25 are the Douglas DC-8, and 20 are the Boeing 707. These aircraft will begin to go into service in 1958 and will cut flying time approximately by half between major world cities. Passengers leaving London, for example, at noon will fly 7 hr. and 15 min. and arrive in New York at 2:15 p.m., due to the 5-hour time difference as the plane flies westward; flying time between New York and Paris will be cut from 11 hr. to 6 ¾ hr.

Following the Pan American announcement came one from United Airlines, confirming an order for 30 Douglas DC-8 aircraft, costing $175,000,000. Soon after, word of a $135,000,000 order for 30 Boeing 707 Jetliners came from American Airlines.

The DC-8 has a span of 138.6 ft., a length of 140.6 ft., and a height overall of 40.2 ft. It will carry 130 or more passengers at a gross weight of 257,000 lb., cruising at 575 mph for a nonstop distance of 5,000 mi. The Boeing 707 is somewhat smaller, but has the same performance. Since these planes will normally operate at altitudes above 30,000 ft., they will be above most of the bad weather. This condition, added to the greatly reduced vibration of jets as compared with piston engines, will assure greater comfort during air travel.

The announcement of orders for jet transports does not, however, solve the problem of transition to the jet age. The effect of such expenditures upon the financial structures of the airlines can be far-reaching. Operating techniques and, in fact, the existing world airline map must be changed to conform to the higher speeds and altitudes of operation of the jets. By no means will the least of the problems be those of traffic control at the international airports from which these jet transports will operate. Most of these terminals already are overcrowded and, in bad weather, stacking to wait turn for landing is the practice. The fuel consumption of jet engines is so much higher at low speeds than it is in cruising that stacking can be prohibitive in terms of reserve fuel supply. A solution to the problems of landing delay must be found before jet-powered transports can operate economically in and out of existing terminal facilities.

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Air Transportation in 1956: Jet Airplanes

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The jet and turbojet airplanes are the most sensational in performance. On many long-distance routes they will cut flying time almost in half, enabling passengers to travel from Los Angeles to New York in 4y hours and from New York to Paris in 6y hours. Two airplanes of this type, the Douglas DC-8 and the Boeing 707, are competing for supremacy in the jet market. By October 1956, more than 100 of each had been ordered. Each costs about $5,000,000, flies at a speed of about 575 mph, and will seat about 95 to 135 passengers, depending upon the interior arrangements of the plane. They may be contrasted with the largest and fastest of the piston-engine airplanes, the Douglas DC-7, which costs about $2,000,000, flies at about 350 mph and carries 64 to 99 passengers. The jets achieve their lowest fuel consumption at altitudes of 30,000 ft. or higher; they can be operated economically only for long hops. If necessary, they can fly more than 5,000 mi. nonstop. American Airlines plans to begin daily transcontinental jet service on June 1, 1959.

 

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Air Transportation in 1958: The Jet Age (Pan American)

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On Oct. 26, 1958, Pan American World Airways inaugurated jet service between New York and Paris. On November 9, the flights were extended to Rome. The airplanes were Boeing 707‘s, with a capacity ranging from 86 to 165 passengers; the exact number that could be accommodated would depend on the relative numbers of passengers taking low-cost economy service and high-cost deluxe service. The intermediate-price services — first-class and tourist — were not offered initially. New York-to-Paris scheduled jet flight time is 7 hr., in contrast to about 11 hr., 40 min. for piston-engine planes. Because of adverse winds, the westbound transatlantic jet flights require more time than the eastbound. The airplanes generally have to stop at an intermediate joint for refueling. Pan American, for example, began its New York-London jet service in November 1958 with an eastbound scheduled time of 6 hr., 35 min. and a westbound time of 8 hr., 45 min.

 

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Air Transportation in 1958: The Jet Age (American)

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In 1958 American Airlines received its first jet airplane, a Boeing 707, and operated it in a noncommercial, record-breaking flight of 4 hr., 43 min. from Los Angeles to New York, averaging 630 mph. The scheduled time in their DC-7‘s was 7 hr., 20 min. American planned to start commercial jet service between these points in January 1959.

 

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