[This is the first entry in a series about planes whose names lie.]
In the early 1950’s, jet engines were loud, unreliable, inefficient and the future. Plane-makers were stuck between the evolutionary (tried and true propeller-based planes) and the revolutionary (high-risk/high-reward jets). A (then-)minor manufacturer called Boeing chose revolution.
The result was the Boeing 707 (first flight 1957), the Model T of the Jet Age. Everything before it is a horse-pulled plane; everything since is a tweak.
Boeing’s huge reward from the 707 makes it easy to forget the risk involved. Airlines didn’t believe in jetliners, so Boeing built a proof-of-concept on its own dime. Boeing would need a plane to sell quickly, before more-established competitors could enter the market. Boeing ensured their head-start by keeping the project secret.
One piece of deception was naming the prototype “367-80”, which implies the 80th rework of the Boeing 367 (a pre-jet, 1942 design). These planes shared a fuselage diameter (132 inches) and little else. Boeing hoped competitors would dismiss any leaks as a warming-over of a tired concept. Boeing insisted they were bringing a knife to a knife fight while they were building the world’s first gun.
Today’s plane buffs can’t bring ourselves to pigeonhole this seminal plane as a derivative of the 367, ignoring the alleged ancestor and focus on the advance. We call it the “Dash 80”.
In the early 1950’s, jet engines were loud, unreliable, inefficient and the future. Plane-makers were stuck between the evolutionary (tried and true propeller-based planes) and the revolutionary (high-risk/high-reward jets). A (then-)minor manufacturer called Boeing chose revolution.
The result was the Boeing 707 (first flight 1957), the Model T of the Jet Age. Everything before it is a horse-pulled plane; everything since is a tweak.
Boeing’s huge reward from the 707 makes it easy to forget the risk involved. Airlines didn’t believe in jetliners, so Boeing built a proof-of-concept on its own dime. Boeing would need a plane to sell quickly, before more-established competitors could enter the market. Boeing ensured their head-start by keeping the project secret.
One piece of deception was naming the prototype “367-80”, which implies the 80th rework of the Boeing 367 (a pre-jet, 1942 design). These planes shared a fuselage diameter (132 inches) and little else. Boeing hoped competitors would dismiss any leaks as a warming-over of a tired concept. Boeing insisted they were bringing a knife to a knife fight while they were building the world’s first gun.
Today’s plane buffs can’t bring ourselves to pigeonhole this seminal plane as a derivative of the 367, ignoring the alleged ancestor and focus on the advance. We call it the “Dash 80”.
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