Willy
Administrator
Good thing I saved the text file that I cut and paste the original post from....
The Boeing Model 307 Stratoliner was the world's first high-altitude commercial transport and the first four-engine airliner in scheduled domestic service. With names like Rainbow, Comet, Flying Cloud and Apache, the Stratoliner set new standards for speed and comfort. Its pressurized cabin allowed the airplane to soar above rough weather at an altitude of 20,000 feet -- higher than any other transport of its time. Normally, the Stratoliner operated at around 14,000 ft. Its circular fuselage provided maximum space for the five crew members and 33 passengers. The nearly 12-foot-wide cabin had space for comfortable berths for overnight travelers. Each aircraft cost $315,000 in 1937 when ordered. Eleanor Roosevelt christened the first 307 with a bottle of water garnered from all the world's Seven Seas. The Stratoliner flew at 220 mph, had a range of 1250 miles. The maiden flight from Miami to Barranquilla, Colombia set a record of six hours and made history as the first inter-continental overwater landplane service.
Developed at the same time as the Boeing Model 299 (B-17 prototype) the Model 300 shared it wings, engines and tail assemblies with the early B-17s. It was renamed the Model 307 after the cabin pressurization system was installed. After the crash of the 307 prototype in early 1939, the vertical stabilizer on the Stratoliners was enlarged to provide additional rudder control authority. The larger stabilizer that had been designed for the Stratoliner was incorporated in the design of the B-17E and later Flying Fortresses.
The Boeing 307 was the first airplane to have a flight engineer as a member of the crew. The engineer was responsible for maintaining power settings, pressurization and other subsystems, leaving the pilot free to concentrate on other aspects of flying the aircraft.
Boeing only built 10 Stratoliners in the late 1930s as production was discontinued by government order at the outbreak of World War II in September 1939. Pan Am had 3 and TWA ended up with 5. In 1940, the 307s started flying routes to Latin America and from New York to Los Angeles, Calif. The TWA Stratoliners served on domestic U. S. routes, New York to Los Angeles and Pan Am based their Stratoliners in Miami and used them on Central and South American routes. Production stopped at the onset of war, and the five TWA 307s were drafted into the Army Transport Command as C-75 military transports. In 1944, the TWA Stratoliners were rebuilt with wings, engines and tails from B-17Gs and given back to TWA. They remained in service with TWA until 1951. Pan American's 3 Stratoliners were leased to the ATC and never converted to C-75 or recieved the same rebuild that the TWA 307s recieved. With the development during WW II of the C-97/B377 Stratocruiser, there was no further development of the 307 Stratoliner.
The last known remaining Stratoliner, Pan American's Clipper Flying Cloud, was purchased by the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in 1969. After being stored in the Arizona desert for 20 years, it was restored at Boeing in Seattle, Wash., and in August 2003, it flew to its new home on permanent display at the museum's new companion facility, the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington, D.C.'s Dulles International Airport.
The Stratoliners:
Prototype (c/n 1994) NX19901 First flew on December 31, 1938 and crashed on March 18, 1939. Representatives of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines were aboard for a demonstration flight. The KLM pilot asked the Boeing pilot to shut down two engines on one side of the airplane. The pilot lost control, and the airplane entered an unrecoverable spin. Ten people aboard were killed in the crash.
Pan American:
Clipper Flying Cloud (c/n 2003) NC19903 was delivered to Pan American Airlines (PAA) on March 22, 1940 at Brownsville, Texas. During World War II it flew South American routes under contract to the Army Air Transport Command. flying South American routes from 1942 until 1946, when it began to fly the daily round trip between Bermuda and New York. Pan Am sold it to Airline Training Incorporated of Homestead, Florida on November 1, 1948. The Haitian Army Air Corps acquired it on December 11, 1953 to be used as the personal transport of president "Papa Doc" Duvalier. Flight Investment Corporation of Dallas, Texas returned it to the U.S. register as N9307R on September 15, 1959. It was re-registered as N19903 in 1960. Ewell Nold Jr. of South Houston, Texas bought it on November 12, 1962. It flew for Arkansas Air Freight Incorporated until Inter-American Incorporated of Derby, Kansas bought it on November 23, 1965. Numerous liens were placed against Inter-American and it sold the Stratoliner to Aviation Specialties Company of Mesa, Arizona for $11,667 on May 28, 1969. The National Air and Space Museum traded a Lockeheed C-121 Constellation for N199093 on February 20, 1973. N19903 was restored to flying condition for a ferry flight from Falcon Field to Davis-Monthan AFB near Tucson. It was towed from the Air Force Base to the Pima Air Museum. After display to thousands of visitors to the Pima Air Museum over 23 years, Boeing employees "discovered" it while retrieving the 367-80 for restoration in 1996. It was flown to Boeing Field in June 1994. In the summer of 2001, a Boeing crew completed the complete restoration. On March 28, 2002 Clipper Flying Cloud was ditched in Elliot Bay near Seattle. The ditching was largely the result of inattention to the fuel gauges and poor assumptions about how long the Stratoliner could remain airborne with the amount of fuel on board. It appears that "dipping", the method used to determine the amount of fuel aboard, was not sufficiently precise. The pilot began the flight under the impression that they had two hours of fuel aboard. The unique antique airliner ran out of gas after about 45 minutes. They had already made a full-stop landing at Paine. They could have refueled at that time, but they expected to refuel after performing some touch-and-go landings. The number three engine suffered an overspeed on the first take-off from Paine, so the crew elected to return to Boeing field rather than land immediately at Paine Field. The landing at Boeing was delayed by problems extending the main landing gear. The fuel gauges were indicating correctly, but the attention of the crew members was diverted while the landing gear was being hand-cranked down. The Stratoliner's engines died of fuel starvation, so its pilot was forced to ditch the airplane in Elliot Bay, near Salty's Restaurant. The four-man crew suffered only minor injuries. The Stratoliner was carefully hoisted from the water on March 29, 2002. On June 14, Boeing announced that they intend to restore the Stratoliner to flightworthy condition within a year. Boeing rolled out the restored Stratoliner on June 13, 2003. It is displayed at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles International Airport.
Clipper Rainbow NC19902 (c/n 1995) Following its service with PAA, it passed through the hands of a series of operators. Over the years it was registered as ZS-BWU, HC-SJC-003, F-BHHR, and XW-TAC. It was being operated by the French-Indochina airline Aigle Azur Extreme Orient, registered again as F-BHHR, when it crashed during a storm at Tan Son Nhut Airport in Saigon, Vietnam on May 22, 1961
Clipper Comet NC19910 (c/n 2002), This aircraft was last on the United States registry as N75385 and crashed near Madras, OR on 10 May 1958 with no fatalities. From the Aviation Safety Network:
Cherokee (c/n 1998) NC1940 (rergistered from NC19906) of TWA impressed in 1942 as C-75 42-88623. Flew for a while with incorrect tail number of 288625. Returned to TWA in July 1944 and rebuilt as SA-307B-1 N1940. Sold to French Aigle Azur Transports Aeriens in May 1951 as F-BELU. To Air Laos in 1952 To Airnautic (GECA) Nov 1959, to CITCA 1965. Sold to Cambodia Air Commercial in 1974 as XW-TFP. Some reports are that it was written off in a forced landing in Mekong River in 1975, but reports persist that this plane may still be flying. A book by Alexander Frater reports a sighting in Indonesia in 1985 of a plane which may have been this aircraft.
Comanche (c/n 1996) NC19905 of TWA impressed in 1942 as C-75 42-88624 . Returned to TWA in July 1944 as NC19905. Sold to French Aigle Azur Transports Aeriens in May 1951 as F-BELV. To Air Laos in Sept 1960 as XW-TAB May have reverted to F-BELV Nov 1960. Missing Oct 18, 1965 on flight from Vientaine, Laos to Hanoi with 12 aboard. May have been shot down. All 12 occupants killed.
Zuni (c/n 1999) NC19907 of TWA impressed in 1942 as C-75 42-88625. Flew for a while with incorrect tail number 288624. Returned to TWA in July 1944 and rebuilt as SA-307B-1 and reregistered N19907. Sold to French Aigle Azur Transports Aeriens in May 1951 as F-BELX. Transferred to Aigle Azure Extreme-Orient in Saigon in 1956. In 1960, leased to Air Laos as XW-TAA. To CITCA as F-BELX Dec 1960. Sold to Cambodia Air Commercial as XW-TFR in 1974. Crashed June 27, 1974 near Battambang, Cambodia. 16 of 25 on board killed.
Apache (c/n 2000) NC19908 of TWA impressed in 1942 as C-75 42-88626. Returned to TWA in July 1944 and rebuilt as SA-307B-1 N19908. Sold to French Aigle Azur Transports Aeriens in July 1951 as F-BELY. Sold Air Laos in 1952, to Airnautic Nov 1959. To Air Laos as XW-PGR Apr 1970. Operated by Royal Air Lao as XW-PGR. Damaged on ground Feb 27, 1971 and sat derelict at Luang Prabang for several years. Sold to Cambodia Air Commercial in 1974. Believed to have been damaged in collision with C-47 Apr 20, 1971 at Luang Prabang and cut up for scrap.
Navajo (c/n 2001) NC19909 of TWA impressed in 1942 as C-75 42-88627. Returned to TWA in July 1944 and rebuilt as SA-307B-1 N19909. Sold to French Aigle Azur Transports Aeriens in June 1951 as F-BELZ. Later to Air Laos. Leased to Airnautic Nov 1959. Crashed Dec 29, 1962 into a cliff Monte Renosa, near Ajaccio, France, all 3 crew and 22 passengers killed.
Howard Hughes:
NC19904 (SB-307B) Howard Huges acquired his Stratoliner in 1939 as part of his purchase of TWA. Previously in 1938, Hughes shattered the around-the-world flight record in a twin-engined Lockheed 14 for which he received a tumultuous hero’s recognition. In an apparent effort to beat his own record he prepared the 307 with extra fuel tanks, but was forced to cancel the attempt with war in Europe. After denying use of the plane to the military during WWII, in 1948 Hughes had a new interior built by industrial design pioneer Raymond Loewy, with decor suggestions from Rita Hayworth to become one of the first conversions of a commercial airliner into a plush executive transport. The new interior included a master bedroom, two bathrooms, a galley, a bar and a large living room. Hughes sold his Stratoliner to an oil tycoon. In the 1970s, it was heavily damaged on the ground in a hurricane and later converted to a houseboat named "Cosmic Muffin".
The Boeing Model 307 Stratoliner was the world's first high-altitude commercial transport and the first four-engine airliner in scheduled domestic service. With names like Rainbow, Comet, Flying Cloud and Apache, the Stratoliner set new standards for speed and comfort. Its pressurized cabin allowed the airplane to soar above rough weather at an altitude of 20,000 feet -- higher than any other transport of its time. Normally, the Stratoliner operated at around 14,000 ft. Its circular fuselage provided maximum space for the five crew members and 33 passengers. The nearly 12-foot-wide cabin had space for comfortable berths for overnight travelers. Each aircraft cost $315,000 in 1937 when ordered. Eleanor Roosevelt christened the first 307 with a bottle of water garnered from all the world's Seven Seas. The Stratoliner flew at 220 mph, had a range of 1250 miles. The maiden flight from Miami to Barranquilla, Colombia set a record of six hours and made history as the first inter-continental overwater landplane service.
Developed at the same time as the Boeing Model 299 (B-17 prototype) the Model 300 shared it wings, engines and tail assemblies with the early B-17s. It was renamed the Model 307 after the cabin pressurization system was installed. After the crash of the 307 prototype in early 1939, the vertical stabilizer on the Stratoliners was enlarged to provide additional rudder control authority. The larger stabilizer that had been designed for the Stratoliner was incorporated in the design of the B-17E and later Flying Fortresses.
The Boeing 307 was the first airplane to have a flight engineer as a member of the crew. The engineer was responsible for maintaining power settings, pressurization and other subsystems, leaving the pilot free to concentrate on other aspects of flying the aircraft.
Boeing only built 10 Stratoliners in the late 1930s as production was discontinued by government order at the outbreak of World War II in September 1939. Pan Am had 3 and TWA ended up with 5. In 1940, the 307s started flying routes to Latin America and from New York to Los Angeles, Calif. The TWA Stratoliners served on domestic U. S. routes, New York to Los Angeles and Pan Am based their Stratoliners in Miami and used them on Central and South American routes. Production stopped at the onset of war, and the five TWA 307s were drafted into the Army Transport Command as C-75 military transports. In 1944, the TWA Stratoliners were rebuilt with wings, engines and tails from B-17Gs and given back to TWA. They remained in service with TWA until 1951. Pan American's 3 Stratoliners were leased to the ATC and never converted to C-75 or recieved the same rebuild that the TWA 307s recieved. With the development during WW II of the C-97/B377 Stratocruiser, there was no further development of the 307 Stratoliner.
The last known remaining Stratoliner, Pan American's Clipper Flying Cloud, was purchased by the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in 1969. After being stored in the Arizona desert for 20 years, it was restored at Boeing in Seattle, Wash., and in August 2003, it flew to its new home on permanent display at the museum's new companion facility, the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington, D.C.'s Dulles International Airport.
The Stratoliners:
Prototype (c/n 1994) NX19901 First flew on December 31, 1938 and crashed on March 18, 1939. Representatives of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines were aboard for a demonstration flight. The KLM pilot asked the Boeing pilot to shut down two engines on one side of the airplane. The pilot lost control, and the airplane entered an unrecoverable spin. Ten people aboard were killed in the crash.
Pan American:
Clipper Flying Cloud (c/n 2003) NC19903 was delivered to Pan American Airlines (PAA) on March 22, 1940 at Brownsville, Texas. During World War II it flew South American routes under contract to the Army Air Transport Command. flying South American routes from 1942 until 1946, when it began to fly the daily round trip between Bermuda and New York. Pan Am sold it to Airline Training Incorporated of Homestead, Florida on November 1, 1948. The Haitian Army Air Corps acquired it on December 11, 1953 to be used as the personal transport of president "Papa Doc" Duvalier. Flight Investment Corporation of Dallas, Texas returned it to the U.S. register as N9307R on September 15, 1959. It was re-registered as N19903 in 1960. Ewell Nold Jr. of South Houston, Texas bought it on November 12, 1962. It flew for Arkansas Air Freight Incorporated until Inter-American Incorporated of Derby, Kansas bought it on November 23, 1965. Numerous liens were placed against Inter-American and it sold the Stratoliner to Aviation Specialties Company of Mesa, Arizona for $11,667 on May 28, 1969. The National Air and Space Museum traded a Lockeheed C-121 Constellation for N199093 on February 20, 1973. N19903 was restored to flying condition for a ferry flight from Falcon Field to Davis-Monthan AFB near Tucson. It was towed from the Air Force Base to the Pima Air Museum. After display to thousands of visitors to the Pima Air Museum over 23 years, Boeing employees "discovered" it while retrieving the 367-80 for restoration in 1996. It was flown to Boeing Field in June 1994. In the summer of 2001, a Boeing crew completed the complete restoration. On March 28, 2002 Clipper Flying Cloud was ditched in Elliot Bay near Seattle. The ditching was largely the result of inattention to the fuel gauges and poor assumptions about how long the Stratoliner could remain airborne with the amount of fuel on board. It appears that "dipping", the method used to determine the amount of fuel aboard, was not sufficiently precise. The pilot began the flight under the impression that they had two hours of fuel aboard. The unique antique airliner ran out of gas after about 45 minutes. They had already made a full-stop landing at Paine. They could have refueled at that time, but they expected to refuel after performing some touch-and-go landings. The number three engine suffered an overspeed on the first take-off from Paine, so the crew elected to return to Boeing field rather than land immediately at Paine Field. The landing at Boeing was delayed by problems extending the main landing gear. The fuel gauges were indicating correctly, but the attention of the crew members was diverted while the landing gear was being hand-cranked down. The Stratoliner's engines died of fuel starvation, so its pilot was forced to ditch the airplane in Elliot Bay, near Salty's Restaurant. The four-man crew suffered only minor injuries. The Stratoliner was carefully hoisted from the water on March 29, 2002. On June 14, Boeing announced that they intend to restore the Stratoliner to flightworthy condition within a year. Boeing rolled out the restored Stratoliner on June 13, 2003. It is displayed at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles International Airport.
Clipper Rainbow NC19902 (c/n 1995) Following its service with PAA, it passed through the hands of a series of operators. Over the years it was registered as ZS-BWU, HC-SJC-003, F-BHHR, and XW-TAC. It was being operated by the French-Indochina airline Aigle Azur Extreme Orient, registered again as F-BHHR, when it crashed during a storm at Tan Son Nhut Airport in Saigon, Vietnam on May 22, 1961
Clipper Comet NC19910 (c/n 2002), This aircraft was last on the United States registry as N75385 and crashed near Madras, OR on 10 May 1958 with no fatalities. From the Aviation Safety Network:
TWA:
Cherokee (c/n 1998) NC1940 (rergistered from NC19906) of TWA impressed in 1942 as C-75 42-88623. Flew for a while with incorrect tail number of 288625. Returned to TWA in July 1944 and rebuilt as SA-307B-1 N1940. Sold to French Aigle Azur Transports Aeriens in May 1951 as F-BELU. To Air Laos in 1952 To Airnautic (GECA) Nov 1959, to CITCA 1965. Sold to Cambodia Air Commercial in 1974 as XW-TFP. Some reports are that it was written off in a forced landing in Mekong River in 1975, but reports persist that this plane may still be flying. A book by Alexander Frater reports a sighting in Indonesia in 1985 of a plane which may have been this aircraft.
Comanche (c/n 1996) NC19905 of TWA impressed in 1942 as C-75 42-88624 . Returned to TWA in July 1944 as NC19905. Sold to French Aigle Azur Transports Aeriens in May 1951 as F-BELV. To Air Laos in Sept 1960 as XW-TAB May have reverted to F-BELV Nov 1960. Missing Oct 18, 1965 on flight from Vientaine, Laos to Hanoi with 12 aboard. May have been shot down. All 12 occupants killed.
Zuni (c/n 1999) NC19907 of TWA impressed in 1942 as C-75 42-88625. Flew for a while with incorrect tail number 288624. Returned to TWA in July 1944 and rebuilt as SA-307B-1 and reregistered N19907. Sold to French Aigle Azur Transports Aeriens in May 1951 as F-BELX. Transferred to Aigle Azure Extreme-Orient in Saigon in 1956. In 1960, leased to Air Laos as XW-TAA. To CITCA as F-BELX Dec 1960. Sold to Cambodia Air Commercial as XW-TFR in 1974. Crashed June 27, 1974 near Battambang, Cambodia. 16 of 25 on board killed.
Apache (c/n 2000) NC19908 of TWA impressed in 1942 as C-75 42-88626. Returned to TWA in July 1944 and rebuilt as SA-307B-1 N19908. Sold to French Aigle Azur Transports Aeriens in July 1951 as F-BELY. Sold Air Laos in 1952, to Airnautic Nov 1959. To Air Laos as XW-PGR Apr 1970. Operated by Royal Air Lao as XW-PGR. Damaged on ground Feb 27, 1971 and sat derelict at Luang Prabang for several years. Sold to Cambodia Air Commercial in 1974. Believed to have been damaged in collision with C-47 Apr 20, 1971 at Luang Prabang and cut up for scrap.
Navajo (c/n 2001) NC19909 of TWA impressed in 1942 as C-75 42-88627. Returned to TWA in July 1944 and rebuilt as SA-307B-1 N19909. Sold to French Aigle Azur Transports Aeriens in June 1951 as F-BELZ. Later to Air Laos. Leased to Airnautic Nov 1959. Crashed Dec 29, 1962 into a cliff Monte Renosa, near Ajaccio, France, all 3 crew and 22 passengers killed.
Howard Hughes:
NC19904 (SB-307B) Howard Huges acquired his Stratoliner in 1939 as part of his purchase of TWA. Previously in 1938, Hughes shattered the around-the-world flight record in a twin-engined Lockheed 14 for which he received a tumultuous hero’s recognition. In an apparent effort to beat his own record he prepared the 307 with extra fuel tanks, but was forced to cancel the attempt with war in Europe. After denying use of the plane to the military during WWII, in 1948 Hughes had a new interior built by industrial design pioneer Raymond Loewy, with decor suggestions from Rita Hayworth to become one of the first conversions of a commercial airliner into a plush executive transport. The new interior included a master bedroom, two bathrooms, a galley, a bar and a large living room. Hughes sold his Stratoliner to an oil tycoon. In the 1970s, it was heavily damaged on the ground in a hurricane and later converted to a houseboat named "Cosmic Muffin".