Boeing 707

Boeing 707
A Qantas 707 at the 2007 Paris Air Show. This plane is owned by John Travolta.
Role	Narrow-body jet airliner
National origin	United States
Manufacturer	Boeing Commercial Airplanes
First flight	December 20, 1957[1]
Introduction	October 1958 with Pan American World Airways
Status	In service
Primary users	Trans World Airlines Continental Air Lines Pan Am BOAC
Produced	1958–1979
Number built	1,010[2]
Unit cost	US$4.3 million (1955 dollars)[3][4] US$36.5 million (2012 dollars)
Developed from	Boeing 367-80
Variants	Boeing 720 Boeing C-137 Stratoliner
Developed into	Boeing E-3 Sentry Boeing E-6 Mercury Northrop Grumman E-8 Joint STARS

The Boeing 707 is a jet airliner. It was made by Boeing Commercial Airplanes from 1958 until 1979. It only has two rows of seats, which means it is a narrow-body plane. It also has four engines. The name is often said as "Seven Oh Seven". There are many different types of 707, and they can hold from 140 to 189 passengers.^[5] They can also fly from 2,500 to 5,750 nautical miles (4,630 to 10,650 km).^[6]

The Boeing 707 was Boeing's first jet airliner. It was the most common plane in the 1960s and it was still used a lot during the 1970s. The 707 was the first jet to have a lot of passengers fly on it.^[7][8] The 707 was not the first jet airliner, but it was the first one to make a lot of money. It made Boeing one of the biggest makers of airliners. It also started the group of planes with "7x7" names. The Boeing 727, Boeing 737 and Boeing 757 have some parts of the 707's design.

The 707's design came from the Boeing 367-80, which was a prototype jet. The very first 707, the 707-120, had Pratt & Whitney JT3C turbojet engines. Pan American World Airways started using the 707 on October 26, 1958. Other types of 707 are the 707-138 and the 707-320. Both of these started being used in 1959. A smaller version, the Boeing 720, was made in 1960. The 707-420 had Rolls-Royce Conway 508 turbofan engines. It was made in 1960.

The 707 has been used for many different types of flights. Versions of the 707 used by militaries are the E-3 Sentry, KC-135 Stratotanker, and the C-137 Stratoliner. Boeing made 1,011 707s (including the 720). More than 800 military planes were made. In August 2011, 10 707s were being used by airlines.^[9] By August 2012, there were only two.^[10]

1. ↑ "Boeing 707 Jet Transport." aviation-history.com. Retrieved December 27, 2009.
2. ↑ "707 Model Summary". Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Archived from the original on July 24, 2013. Retrieved December 10, 2010. {{cite web}}: More than one of |archivedate= and |archive-date= specified (help); More than one of |archiveurl= and |archive-url= specified (help)
3. ↑ Bowers 1989, p. 434
4. ↑ "Boeing 707." Archived 2021-03-17 at the Wayback Machine airlinercafe.com. Retrieved December 27, 2009.
5. ↑ "Tech data sheet at Boeing.com"
6. ↑ Best source for range is http://www.boeing.com/commercial/airports/acaps/707sec3.pdf, which shows 2800 nm for a 707-120B with maximum payload and 5750 nm for a −320B with zero payload. It doesn't include a graph for the −120, for which range would be 2500 nm or less with full payload.
7. ↑ Wilson, p. 13. Quote: "The Boeing 707, the airliner which introduced jet travel on a large scale."
8. ↑ Wilson 1999, p. 48. Quote: "The USA's first jetliner, the 707 was at the forefront of jet travel revolution..."
9. ↑ "World Airliner Census" (PDF). Flight International. August 2011. p. 15. Retrieved September 13, 2011.
10. ↑ "World Airliner Census" (PDF). Flight International. August 2012. p. 13. Retrieved September 13, 2012.