![]() Boeing decided the only way to overcome the airlines' suspicion of the jet – and of itself – was to show them a completed aircraft. This market was dominated by Douglas which was adept at meeting the needs of airlines by refining and developing its range of propeller-driven aircraft, and in 1950 was marketing the forthcoming DC-7. The airlines were unconvinced because they had no experience with jet transports and were enjoying success with piston engined aircraft such as the Douglas DC-4, DC-6, Boeing Stratocruiser and Lockheed Constellation.īoeing was experienced at selling to the military but had not enjoyed the same success with civil airliners. In 1950, Boeing tentatively produced a specification for a jet airliner dubbed the Model 473-60C. The Boeing 367-80 during its roll-out in May 1954 ![]() Boeing felt it had mastered the swept wing and podded engines which it saw as key technologies that would enable it to improve on the Comet. Boeing President Bill Allen led a company delegation to the UK in summer 1950, where they saw the Comet fly at the Farnborough Airshow, and also visited the de Havilland factory at Hatfield, Hertfordshire, where the Comets were being built. The second was the maiden flight in 1949 of the world's first jet airliner, the de Havilland Comet. The first was the maiden flight in 1947 of Boeing’s B-47 Stratojet bomber. Only one example was built, which has been preserved and is currently on public display at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia.īy the late 1940s, two developments encouraged Boeing to begin considering building a passenger jet. Its US$16 million cost (equivalent to $174 million today) was an enormous risk for Boeing, which at the time had no committed customers. The Dash 80 first flew in 1954, less than two years from project launch. It served as basis for the design of the KC-135 tanker and the 707 airliner. The Boeing 367-80, known simply as the Dash 80, is an American quadjet prototype aircraft built by Boeing to demonstrate the advantages of jet propulsion for commercial aviation. National Air and Space Museum's Steven F.
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