The Stratocruiser set a new standard for luxurious air travel with
its tastefully decorated extra-wide passenger cabin and gold-appointed
dressing rooms.
Rollout of the first Boeing 707, May 15, 1954.
SAM 26000, as it is commonly known (SAM stands for Special Air Missions),
arrived at Andrews Air Force Base on Oct 10,1962. Known to the civilian
world as a Boeing 707, the aircraft was the first jet ever designed
exclusively for presidential use and used the call sign Air Force
One, whenever the President was aboard.
The 727 was designed to service smaller airports with shorter runways
than those used by the 707s.
The smaller, short-range 737 twinjet was the logical airplane to
complement the 707 and the 727.
The 747 jumbo jet is undoubtedly Boeing’s most famous airplane.
When World
War II ended in August 1945, the U.S. government cancelled most
orders for bomber aircraft, which had been a mainstay of the aircraft
industry. Total industry production dropped from 96,000 airplanes
in 1944 to 1,330 military aircraft in 1946. Companies like Boeing
turned to the commercial market to try to supplement whatever military
orders they could find, as well as find ways to diversify into
entirely non-aeronautical activities such as building automobiles.
The Stratocruiser,
a luxurious version of the C-97 transport plane, was Boeing’s first
commercial venture after the war. First flying in 1947, it was moderately
successful
