Introducing the Jet Age the Boeing 707 Barry Latter January 2015 Good evening. The story of PanAm’s transition from piston engine airplanes to the jet age and the story of introducing the Boeing 707 airplane is played out against a backdrop of three stories. We will discuss the Commercial Aviation world, the Military Aviation world and the Aviation Technological world.

As always, the story is not just one of technological development but is one of the people who made it happen. Two people with whom we will get quite familiar are these two gentlemen, Henry, (Hap) Arnold who was one of the founders of Pan American and was offered the presidency in 1927, and Juan Trippe who assumed the presidency in 1928 when Hap decided to stay in the Army. Trippe, as we have seen from the previous two briefings, had gone on to pioneer worldwide aviation almost single handedly. As we shall see, both these men had definite ideas about the future of air transport and didn’t always agree!

Brabazon Committee December 1942 Study global aviation needs post war “Airline Committee on International Routes” (Committee of Seventeen Airlines) July 1943 Objective to Maximize support of Air Transport Command In the year after the United States entry to WW2, thinkers on both sides of the Atlantic were considering what should happen with aviation post war. The British assumed that since the Douglas DC-3 had emerged as the dominant military transport airplane, that the US would dominate the post war transport market. Lord Brabazon of Tara (first licensed pilot in Britain) was asked to form a committee to decide what, outside of war production, the British aircraft industry should be thinking about. Six months later, Hap Arnold, convened a group of US domestic airlines with the idea of garnering as many airlines as possible to transport troops and cargo throughout the theaters of war without relying on one carrier – the only one! PanAm

Brabazon Committee conclusions: Type I - large transatlantic airliner serving the high-volume routes like London-New York, seating its passengers in luxury for the 12-hour trip. Type II was a short haul feeder liner intended to replace the Douglas DC-3 and de Havilland Dragon Rapide. Type IIA was a piston-powered aircraft, and the Type IIB would use the new turboprop engine. Type III medium-range aircraft for various routes serving the British Empire. Type IV a jet-powered 100-seat design. The Type IV would be able to replace the Type III outright. Whittle’s engine was running. It was also shared with the United States. The promise of pure jet flight was recognized and also the benefits of using a gas turbine to drive a propeller - a turboprop engine. The technical world (primarily Dr. A.A Griffith of RAE Farnborough and later, Rolls-Royce) recognized moving large amounts of air slowly , with a prop was more fuel efficient that pure jets. Brabazon committee reports were published between August 1943 and November 1945.

Composed of many Airlines Air Transport Command Composed of many Airlines “Open Skies” philosophy Post War single U.S. flag carrier airline “Chosen Instrument” regulated philosophy So here we see two diametrically opposed philosophies taking shape in the air transport world. Arnold had tried to recruit Trippe into ATC when America entered the war. Trippe refused (because that would mean he reported to Arnold). That did not endear him to Arnold. C. (Cyrus) R.Smith (AA) was offered the job and accepted. Arnold convened a conference in 1942 to invite all US airlines to discuss post war international air transport. Most were domestic carriers and jumped at the chance to break PAA’s dominance. No mention of jets at this stage. However, Trippe surmised that post war, foreign governments would identify and no doubt subsidize their own national flag carrying airlines. He foresaw KLM, Sabena, Air France, Iberia and BOAC as well as the likes of Qantas and South African Airways……. ……. and he thought, not unreasonably, that the US should do the same and PanAm was the obvious choice as flag carrier. The domestics thought otherwise and immediately filed for international routes with the CAB. “Monopoly” was on all their lips!

Domestically, the Douglas DC-3, was the first airliner that could fly profitably without government subsidies (air mail routes). The 21-seat DC-3 was a long-range aircraft for its time, able to fly across the US stopping just three times. By 1941, 80% of all commercial aircraft in the US were DC-3s. (http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch3en/conc3en/ch3c5en.html) Trippe pointed out that he had established Pan American terminals in thirteen US cities. “It is not reasonable” he said, “that a PAA passenger arriving on the west coast, bound for Europe, should have to transfer tickets and baggage from PAA to a domestic carrier for a multiple stop trip across the continent, before transferring back to PAA for the ongoing journey?” Apart from that, he (reasonably) emphasized that no domestic airline was offering direct transcon services between his cities. So, with the land airplanes he envisaged post war (the Republic Rainbird and the Convair CV-37) not only was he not usurping another carriers timetables, he was going to offer to knock five hours off the transcon travel time! The domestics were incensed and doubled their efforts to break into the international market. Immediately following Hap Arnold’s 1942 conference, several domestics filed immediate requests to the CAB for international routes. Trippe likewise filed for US domestic routes, non-stop between (his) cities. He lobbied for what he called the “Chosen Instrument” to act as post war USA international flag carrier. Trippe also proposes a Senate Bill to define a “Community Company” as sole US flag carrier internationally. Backed by three senators – Bailey (D-NC), McCarran (D-NV) and Owen Brewster (R-ME). Known as McCarran Bill “All American Flag Line” bill submitted to Congress mid 1944. Both Congress and the CAB didn’t want to touch this hot potato, so they stonewalled PanAm for some twenty months, while granting limited permission for several domestic airlines to fly international routes in support of ATC.

International Civil Aviation Organisation Convened the “Chicago Convention” in December of 1944 Fifty Two nations participated to define the charter of a new body established to guide and develop international civil aviation The arguments raged back and forth but culminated in a US hosted “Chicago Convention” Chaired by the US Assistant Secretary of State, Adolph Berle. Fifty two nations participated to define a charter for post war international cooperation on commercial aviation.

Here we see Berle (in the middle) and delegates signing off on the committee’s report. Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Aviation starts public hearings March thru’ May 1945. Committee vote scheduled July 6. CAB rules on “North Atlantic Routes Case” July 5. On July 5, 1945, CAB grants approval for American Airlines acquisition of AEA. Later renamed American Overseas Airlines TC&W (TWA) granted routes to Paris, Rome, Lisbon, Switzerland and Greece AEA granted UK, Holland, Northern Germany, Scandinavia, Baltic States, Poland and Russia access PanAm granted London, Brussels, Marseille, Southern Germany, Austria, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Northern India PanAm was still denied domestic routes within USA All-American Flag Liner bill had a tied vote and essentially died!?

AEA (AA) TC&W (TWA) PanAm 1957 CAB Route Grants PanAm awarded polar route – California to London and Paris PanAm awarded San Juan to Madrid and on to Rome Avianca – Columbia, San Juan, Lisbon, Madrid, Paris, Frankfurt TWA – California to Europe EAL - Miami to San Juan Trans Caribbean – New York/New Jersey to San Juan PanAm denied Seattle - Tokyo

Getting into the jet business SAC formed within USAAF USAF founded War dept Spec for jet bomber. LeMay SAC command KC-97 EIS 1944 1948 1952 B-47 First flight DeH Comet 1 first flight B-47 EIS So! We’ve seen how the commercial world was maneuvering. Now let’s take a look at what was happening in the military and technical world…. In early 1943, the War dept. issued the first call for a jet bomber and issued a formal spec in early 1944. Several manufacturers showed interest. The North American B-45 Tornado was the first bomber for the USAF flying in March of 1947 The long range characteristics of the B-29 spawned the foundation of SAC in the USAAF in 1944 with the idea of developing worldwide offensive deployment for the Air Force. Finally, in the fall of 1947, the USAF was formed and a year later, Curtis LeMay was assigned as Chief of SAC. LeMay took the charter of SAC very seriously, realizing he needed a worldwide inflight refueling capability, Boeing had developed a flying boom refueling adaptations of the B-29 to the B-50 capability and then adapted the B-29 to create the KC-97 stratotanker. Boeing wartime designs of a jet bomber all featured straight wings. In 1944 Hap Arnold asked Theodore von Karman (professor of aerodynamics at Caltec) to organize a group of engineers and scientists to follow the allied armies into Germany and find out what the Germans had been up to in the aeronautical world during the war. George Shairer, then head of technology at Boeing, was invited to represent American Industry. The group visited Deutsche Versuchsanstalt für Luftfahrt (DVL; German for "German Laboratory for Aviation") and discovered the German research reports on the benefits of sweeping wings backwards to allow flight at higher airspeeds before air over the cambered part of the wing gets close to sonic. Shairer wrote a seven page letter to Ben Cohn, his chief of aerodynamics at Boeing. Sweep the wings back and hang the engines in pods under and forward of the wings. The result was the B-47.Ther airplane wasn’t without its difficulties as evidenced by the three and a half years before it‘s entry into service. So lets take a look at some of these early birds ………….. Shairer letter to Cohn Getting into the jet business

Boeing XB-47 first flight December 17, 1947

Vickers Viscount First flight July 16, 1948 Accelerating a large mass flow to low velocity is more efficient than accelerating a small amount of airflow very quickly. Turboprops emerged as the solution. The Vickers Viscount flew in 1948 and Lockheed Electra nine years later. The US Domestics, in company with the rest of the world, plumped for propjets. Trippe’s group of engineers didn’t like gear boxes and propellers – greatest headaches from maintenance experience. Trippe decided to go jets only!!

DeHavilland Comet 1 first flight July 27, 1949 July 27, 1949 first flight

Boeing XB-52 First flight April 15, 1952

Lockheed L-188 Electra First flight, December 6, 1957

Propeller reduction gear The Alison T56 and the Rolls-Royce Dart both had reduction gears for the prop. All of Trippe’s engineering team distrusted gearboxes as the main cause of maintenance problems and delays. They all knew that jet engine gas generators rotated faster than typical piston engines which meant greater gear ratios. The Domestics all flocked to the turboprops destined to enter service in 1955. Trippe listened to his engineers and voted for jets out of the box. Propeller reduction gear

Jets gained a bad reputation post war! The industry was learning about Compressibility effects Metal fatigue Powered controls/yaw damping Jet engine handling/surging - Flutter Take off techniques Lightning Cabin Pressurization Yet Trippe wanted to go for jets out of the box! The world in general regarded jets as a trifle dangerous

B-52 EIS KC135 EIS 367-80 First Flight KC135 Rollout 1952 1954 1956 1958 1959 707-121 EIS with PanAm So now let us really get into the nitty gritty of PanAm’s genius. How did Trippe and his staff get from367-80 to flying the inaugural flight of the 707? PanAm orders jets DeH Comet EIS

“…All we need for an immediate go ahead is a customer” Wellwood Beall (1949 quote) V-P Engineering and Sales The Boeing Company In November of 1949, Wellwood Beall, from Boeing, sent Trippe a letter – relating military large airplane experience to ability to produce a large commercial transport airplane. Compared to prop engined airplanes, Jets gulped fuel. Even given the Comet’s boundary busting, jets had no range! B-47 had set the stage for swept wing construction and engine nacelle placement. There were many challenges yet to be overcome – not least of which was stopping the brute – Boeing employed a drag chute as their solution – no good for commercial use. December 31 1951, BOAC took delivery of its first Comet. Lindbergh’s assessment – again, too small and no range.

1946 appointed Chief Project Engineer PanAm John Borger (1913-2011) 1946 appointed Chief Project Engineer PanAm 1963 appointed Chief Engineer PanAm In 1952, Borger visits all the airframers. His report to Gledhill and Trippe expressed his disappointment with Douglas’s choice of fuselage diameter. PAA wanted enough to seat six abreast which translated to 144”diameter cabin. Lockheed was working much smaller – only 130” diameter. The visits and data gathering went on. Speed wasn’t the issue. Economy was! Comet, flying west required two stops but was still five hours faster than the Stratocruisers. Boeing had an oval cabin – 164” high but only 132 wide- five abreast! September 1952, Trippe orders three Comets! Trippe had introduced tourist seating, in a attempt to get traffic up but recognized at the same time he had to get fares down. Trans Atlantic travel was up 30% largely as a result! – i.e. bigger airplanes were required. July 1954 Boeing flew the 367-80 flies for the first time. Borger sensed P&W were just being conservative about the new J-75 engine. At this point Trippe told his team to “go quiet”……. To everyone, inside PanAm and outside. ………………. And this is where Trippe’s genius shone through……….

Boeing 367-80 Rollout May 14, 1954

Courtesy The Boeing Company Boeing model 367-80 First flight July 15, 1954 Courtesy The Boeing Company

So! These are the principle players: At war’s end, Charles Lindbergh, still a consultant to P&W, visited Germany in search of jet airplanes. He found, as Hap Arnold’s team had also found, jet engines and swept wings. He talked with old acquaintances – like Willy Messerschmitt – and they discussed long range commercial jets. On return to the US, CL went immediately to see Trippe and Andre Priester. Aug 13 1945, Trippe sent Philip B. Taylor on a round robin world tour to assess jet status. Taylor identified the British being out in front. July 27, 1949, Comet first flight He returned to announce that the British were leading the parade with the Comet design.

So next Trippe goes to see Douglas – they talk jets – but bigger ones than contemplated. Borger has reported Douglas is only thinking 5-abreast Douglas argues he’s doing very nicely thank you with the DC-7 – and BTW the DC-7C which PanAm persuaded him to build for non stop trans Atlantic service. Douglas says no to the J-75 and sticks with the DC-8 position

This is where Trippe – the poster boy of monopoly, raised the free enterprise game to a fine art. He first sends his emissaries to Bill Allen at Boeing. He tells him he’s aware of the J-75 and presses Bill Allen for a larger airplane to carry the J-75. Bill says No!

Lockheed sees little future and great risk in competing for jet orders with Boeing and Douglas. He says No!

So now what. Trippe calls Fred Rentschler at PW So now what? Trippe calls Fred Rentschler at PW. He says no to the J-75 – it’s secret still and they know very little about it in a commercial environment. He says No! So it seems Trippe is at a dead end? Not Trippe! What does he do? He picks up the phone and calls Rolls-Royce. He is interested in what they can offer. – the Conway 5 is already running and rapidly growing in thrust capability. Trippe lets this action leak and PW have a predictable response – The thought that the first American jet transport airplane should be powered by a British engine was anathema to Rentschler. Within a couple of days he reviews the risks of taking on a commercial version of the J-75 with his technical people but is still reluctant to commit to Trippe. Trippe invited Rentschler to PanAm’s headquarters in New York. Trippe committed to buy 120 engines plus spares for a quarter of a million dollars apiece!! An offer Rentschler couldn’t refuse …… but Trippe still didn’t have an airplane to hang them on.

…. After all, the J-75 was really just a higher airflow version of the J-57. Its Pressure ratio was the same as J-57 and the turbine inlet temperature was not appreciably different at commercial rating levels. Yet P&W were being reticent since they didn’t have massive amounts of test bed time and were conscious of the risks involved with reliability and durability. However, Borger had confidence and didn’t mind saying so! Meanwhile Trippe sent his emissaries to Douglas and Lockheed to ensure their management understood he was ready to sign for an airplane as soon as one emerged. Lockheed bailed but Douglas didn’t! While the airline industry was terrified of jets, Douglas decided to go for it, settled on the J-75 and Trippe immediately ordered 24 DC-8s. Trippe told them not to announce until he was ready. Then he went back to Boeing and told Allen he had the J-75 and that there was a distinct danger that Douglas would do to Boeing what they had done in the thirties by building the DC-3!! However, he would buy 21 of the smaller 707 airplanes with the J-57s…….. But again Boeing, don’t announce.

Trippe’s apartment, Gracie Square, Manhattan Cocktail party for IATA delegates Trippe announces purchase of 45 jets Then the coup de gras - On the evening of October 15,1955, Trippe hosted a cocktail party for members of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) executive committee in his Gracie Square apartment in Manhattan. Everyone was having a drink and a grand time enjoying themselves while admiring the view of the East River. The airline executives were patting themselves on the back, because they had secured orders for turbo-prop aircraft for their airlines to replace their propeller fleets. It was at this party that Trippe announced that Pan American was going all jet. Trippe had just forced the jet age upon them, without warning. His  guest were stunned and as they grasped the importance of this announcement, they all fell silent. They just realized they had been had, their propeller fleets were obsolete. Now they understood why Trippe had not ordered more propeller planes. All the other airlines would be forced to dump their propeller planes at discounted prices, and take a bath in the process. It was like dropping the mother of all bombs on this gathering. It was as if someone deposited a foreign object in the punch bowl and no one wanted a drink anymore. For most of the guest, the taste of the drinks turned sour and the gourmet hors d' oeuvres were left uneaten and the party atmosphere turned sullen. Guests left and returned to their hotels to book space on the next day's flights to Seattle (Boeing) and Santa Monica (Douglas). They wanted to reserve places on the jet production lines, behind Pan American. What sweet revenge it must have been – to quietly let the same domestics who had previously tried to break PanAm’s monopoly.

Courtesy The Boeing Company 707-120 Courtesy The Boeing Company

Courtesy The Boeing Company N707PA – 100 series Courtesy The Boeing Company

Courtesy The Boeing Company Bruce Connelly, Boeing V-P Sales

PanAm started a massive publicity campaign to advertise jets

New York Idlewild to Paris Le Bourget (stopping at Gander to refuel) The big day – inaugural flight October 26, 1958, with Boeing 707-121 Clipper America (N711PA) with 111 passengers.

Captain Samuel H. Miller lifts off from Idlewild’s wet runway outbound for Paris. A watercolor by John McCoy.

Courtesy The Boeing Company The meeting area …. Notice no overhead PSU’s, although gaspers, lights and oxygen was there in the ceiling

Courtesy The Boeing Company Later PSUs and the “hat rack” for carry on. Trippe was determined to continue the service for which PanAm was famed – the finest food, wine and served by the smartest cabin crews in the business. Courtesy The Boeing Company

As with the clippers of old, fine china, cutlery and exotic food. Competition for entry as a PanAm stewardess was fierce and only the best made it. But again, Trippe didn’t finish there. The stewardesses went to the PanAm charm school and emerged even more polished.

Here’s a graduating class from Trippe’s finishing school

There was the “Up side” of world travel in the spotlight There was the “Up side” of world travel in the spotlight. But there was also a “downside” -- weighing in and very strict rules on carriage and turnout. Trippe knew his crews were the face of PanAm to the world and he was determined that it should reflect his ideals.

Courtesy The Boeing Company

Jet Routes as of October, 1960 Introduction of the 320 allowed PanAm to reassert itself as the leader in international jet travel. PanAm’s 707 fleet numbered 137 airplanes. Jet Routes as of October, 1960 Pan Am inaugurated it's first jet service in October, 1958 with Boeing 707-121 flights across the Atlantic from New York to Paris. two months after the airline took delivery of the first aircraft from Boeing. Two years on, with advent of an updated B-707 model with longer range and more powerful engines, Pan Am was set to dominate global international air travel as the jet fleet expanded, eventually numbering 137 aircraft in the 707 family.

The JT3D – 1.4:1 turbofan.

Was Trippe finished with the 320. No Was Trippe finished with the 320? No! Jet passenger growth had been so great in the late fifties and early Sixties that there was serious concern about running out of airport capacity. Yet bigger airplanes were needed! And Trippe wanted one two and a half times bigger than the 320 – but, as they say, that’s another story.

Backup slides

Courtesy The Boeing Company Trippe hadn’t finished. He recognized competition would be there soon from other airlines. Here are a couple of interior shots from the early birds …. Courtesy The Boeing Company

Pam (Hutchinson) Schell Michelle Moison Flight Attendant awards Miami 1988 Pam (Hutchinson) Schell

Courtesy The Boeing Company August 15, 1958. Sanford Kaufmann is offered the keys to the first PanAm 707 121

Consolidated Vultee CV-37 in PanAm colors Republic Rainbow Consolidated Vultee CV-37 in PanAm colors

Insert Gledhill image

The Dash 80 airplane was the prototype of the Boeing 707 commercial airliner. It featured sweptback wings and turbine engines. Major specifications and performance included the following: Wingspan. . . . . . . 130 feet Wing area. . . . . . . 2,400 square feet Sweepback. . . . . . . 35 degrees at 0.25 chord Aspect ratio. . . . . . 7 Taper ratio. . . . . . . 0.34 (wingtip/wing root) Dihedral . . . . . . . 7 degrees Horizontal tail area. . . 500 square feet Airplane length. . . . 128 feet Gross weight. . . . . . 190,000 pounds Empty weight. . . . . 75,630 pounds Engines. . . . . . . . . 4 Pratt & Whitney J-57/JT-3 Engine rating. . . . . . 11,000 pounds sea level static thrust Design load factor. . . 2.5 Lift coefficient, stall. . 1.8 Takeoff field length. . 7,000 feet Cruise altitude. . . . . 35,000 feet (typical) Cruise Mach number. . 0.80 (economical speed) Cruise range. . . . . . 3,000 nautical miles Fuel mileage. . . . . . 25 seat-miles/gallon (at 100 seats) Fuel capacity. . . . . . 12,600 gallons Maximum speed. . . . 575 mph Landing field length. . 6,300 feet

Maneuvering during wartime ………………1944 British and US were equally concerned about capturing civilian aviation markets after war. In the US, Asst. Secy. of State Adolph Berle pressuring FDR’s administration to face potential problems. Stokeley Morgan became aviation policy advisor – having fallen out with Trippe. He managed Latin American Div. of PanAm for 8 yrs. Relations between RAF and USAAC were not good following arguments about troop transport with Lend-Lease airplanes

Berle persuades USG to convene “Interdepartmental Committee on International Aviation” – Berle chairs! High priority on defining organization for post war air transport. Berle distrusts Trippe! Atlantic Charter defined US and British war aims but advocated open seas, free trade (and essentially, open skies) Implication to Trippe is that USG is out to destroy PanAm monopoly. VP Wallace espoused an international peace keeping air force post war (1943)

Clare Boothe Luce advocates protection of America’s heritage in the civil transport market Trippe and Albert Critchley (MD BOAC) meet secretly in Baltimore and work a postwar quid pro quo to share international market for two national flag carriers. Discovery several weeks later just increases suspicion of Trippe and PanAm Berle’s committee concludes that American foreign aviation is too big a proposition for any single company Air Transport Command has granted international routes to several US domestic airlines. Cat is out of the bag! Hard to put it back in!

Prototypes/ flight test airplanes/experimental Jet accidents 1945 – 1950 Prototypes/ flight test airplanes/experimental Horton Ho229 Bachen B-349 Natter Lockheed XP-80 Me 262 Curtiss XF15C MiG I-250 Mitsubishi J8M1 McDonnell XFD-1 Northrop Xp-79B He162 Bell XP-83 Avia 8-92-1 DH 108 B-36 Martin XB-48 Gloster E1/44 Saab J.21R Westland Wyvern Douglas Skystreak Attacker XB-49 F-86 Sabre

Notable Jet Airplane Casualties 1945 – 1950 (fatalities, accidents and bail outs) Johannes Steinhoff “Willy” Hoffman Richard Bong ”Pappy” Herbst Geoffrey deHavilland Don Gentile Raymond Wetmore “Wimpy” Wade “Jo” Lancaster “Pappy” Fruin