Civil version of B-17 This one was once owned by Howard Hughs. Glad to see that it is still in use. Regards, Art S.
My mistake. The airplane pictured above is a 307 Stratoliner, NOT the 377 Stratocruiser which was based on the B-29/B-50. The Boeing Model 307 Stratoliner was the first commercial transport aircraft with a pressurized cabin. This feature allowed the plane to cruise at an altitude of 20,000 ft (6,000 m), well above weather disturbances. The pressure differential was 2.5 psi (17 kPa), so at 14,700 ft (4,480 m) the cabin altitude was 8,000 ft (2,440 m). The Model 307 had capacity for a crew of five and 33 passengers. The cabin was nearly 12 ft (3.6 m) across. It was the first plane to include a flight engineer as a crew member. A total of 10 Stratoliners were built. The first flight was on December 31, 1938. Boeing 307 prototype NX 19901 crashed on March 18, 1939 during a test flight. By 1940 it was flying routes between Los Angeles and New York, as well as to locations in Latin America. Multi-millionaire Howard Hughes purchased a model for his personal use, and had it transformed into a luxurious "flying penthouse". This plane was later sold to oil tycoon Glenn McCarthy in 1949.[2] Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
And that very 307 is shown in the photos of it in the Air and Space Museum after the second rebuild. The engines and nacelles, landing gear, empennage, and wing were basically B-17. The fuselage as described by Spasso was new. and pressurized. The 377 was a maintenance nightmare due to the R4360 engines and it was basically a commercial failure. I worked on the B-50 and KC-97G in 1950-52 and both were the ultimate in mechanical and systems complexity. The jets are a HUGE advance in simplicity, reliability, and performance. Switches
