Since I don't see a registration on it, I presume that this was the first production 707-120 at rollout, before it was delivered to Pan American. The photo of the Dash 80 rollout is much better known.
I think that you are correct, Jim. That photo was taken in front of the paint shop. If I remember, the fin and rudder were painted as a unit for rudder balance.
Experimental, quickly abandoned. Image Unavailable, Please Login . The B-36 tricycle landing gear system's initial main gear design, with huge single wheels found to cause significant ground pressure problems, limited it to operating from just three air bases in the US. Image Unavailable, Please Login .
One of those humongous wheels is on display at the museum in Dayton. The earlier XB-19 had the same problem.
Correct. The livery that was first put on the initial 707 was similar to Pan Am but it was an interim scheme with white upper fuselage, window belt blue stripe, and a red cheat stripe over that in the white area (I think that is what they call it). It made it's first take off to the south in the rain and landed 7.5 minutes later at Boeing Field. It wore this color scheme through initial flight tests and eventually received the PAA colors for final flight tests. I think that one of the most monumental incidents in the entire program was Lew Wallick's interruption of the first flight of the DC-8 with his impromptu buzz job with 707 PA at Long Beach. I reread his account of it when I need a lift. It's in my book. One of the best test pilots ever and a dear friend. RIP Lew.
Wallick's daughter wrote a very entertaining book, which I enjoyed reading. Image Unavailable, Please Login
That's all of the 1963 British Formula 1 cars being loaded for a Grand Prix on the continent or in North America. Quite a valuable cargo!
During the war, my dad traveled on an escort carrier which was loaded with P-47 Thunderbolts packed in like that.
The Demoiselle replica in "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines" was my favorite airplane in the movie. Think of it as the first aerial sports car!
Since the B-17 was a Heavy Bomber, the B-29 was initially called a Very Heavy Bomber. But the B-36 was so huge that it knocked the Superfortress down TWO notches, all the way down to Medium Bomber!
I saw a B-36 take off from San Diego when I was on a stop over in 1952. The right hand landing gear had two of the rear wheels locked up when it took off. They skidded along and eventually broke into flames as the B-36 continued its take off. I wondered what the landing was like. In 1953 we heard the dishes rattling in the kitchen one night for no reason until the throbbing sound of a B-36 coming over answered the cause. We could hear it for twenty minutes or more as it past by. I learned later from a friend who was a controller that they tracked it with a ground speed of 120 MPH.
