Boeing 707

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. They can also fly from .

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. 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.
By August 2012, there were only two.

## Designing
### Model 367-80
During World War II, and after it, Boeing was known for its military planes. Boeing had made very important bombers, like the propeller B-17 Flying Fortress and B-29 Superfortress and the jet B-47 Stratojet and B-52 Stratofortress. However, Douglas and other companies were far ahead of Boeing in the airliner market. The only successful airliners Boeing made before the 707 were the Boeing 314 Clipper and Boeing 307 Stratoliner. During 1949–1950, Boeing started looking at jets. Back then, aerial refueling (when a plane can get more fuel while flying) was being used a lot. The United States Air Force had ordered 800 KC-135 Stratotankers. Since planes were beginning to use jet engines, the USAF needed a jet tanker.

Boeing looked at many wing designs and engines for the new tanker. Eventually, it chose the 367–80. The "Dash 80" took less than two years to make. It first took off on July 15, 1954. It had Pratt & Whitney JT3C engines.

Nobody knew if the 707 would make money. Back then, Boeing was making almost all of its money from military planes. The last airliner it made, the Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, lost the company $15 million before the United States Air Force bought some and called them the KC-135 Stratotanker. In a demonstration flight over Lake Washington outside of Seattle, on August 7, 1955, test pilot Tex Johnston performed a barrel roll in the 367-80 prototype.

The Dash 80 was  wide. This meant that it was wide enough to have two seats on each side of the plane. Boeing decided to make it  wide. However, Douglas had made the DC-8, which was  wide. Because of this, Boeing made the 707 wider again, so it was  wide.

### Making and testing
The first flight of the 707 happened on December 20, 1957. The FAA allowed it to fly on September 18, 1958.

### More changes
The very first type of 707 was the 707-120. Qantas ordered a shorter version, which was called the 707-138. The -138 could fly for as long as Qantas needed.

In his autobiography, Tex Johnston said he was flying on a 707 and he thought that there was something wrong with the yaw damper, because the plane was moving strangely. He went to the cockpit and helped fix the plane.

### Engines
 side of a British Caledonian Boeing 707-320C]]

The 707 used air from the engines to pressurize the cabin.

The P&W JT3D-3B engines have special doors which open when the plane is taking off. The doors help to give more air to the engines. The doors close when the plane is in the air.

#### Better engines
Pratt & Whitney decided to make the JT8D-219 the new engines for planes made from the Boeing 707. A lot of these are for military planes which were designed from the Boeing 707.

## History
The first orders for the 707 happened on October 13, 1955. Pan Am ordered 20 707s. There was a lot of competition between the 707 and the Douglas DC-8. A lot of big airlines only used the DC-8. Boeing decided to make some more changes to the 707's wing so that it could fly further. The new version was called the 707-320.

Pan Am was the first airline that used the 707. The plane's first flight was from New York to Paris on October 26, 1958. It stopped for fuel in Gander, Newfoundland. Qantas was the first airline from outside the United States to use the 707.

 Boeing 707–328 at Hannover-Langenhagen Airport in 1972]]

The 707 became a very popular jet airliner. It helped air travel grow a lot. Air traffic control was also upgraded.

At the end of the 1960s, the 707 was too small to fly all the passengers that wanted to fly. Boeing made the Boeing 747 because of this. The 707's engines were also too old.

During the Falklands War the Argentine Air Force used 707s to patrol. Some of them were caught by Royal Navy Sea Harriers.

Trans World Airlines was the last U.S. airline to fly passengers on a 707. The flight happened on October 30, 1983.

The last Boeing 707 that was used to fly people was in Saha Airlines from Iran until the year 2013.

Most 707s are now private jets or cargo planes.

## Different types of Boeing 707
### 707-020
What the Boeing 720 was first called. American Airlines always called its 720s 707s.

### 707-120
The *707-120* was the first type of 707. The plane could hold 179 passengers. This type often had to stop for fuel in the North Atlantic. It had four Pratt & Whitney JT3C-6 turbojets. The first flight with passengers was on October 26, 1958. 56 were built, plus 7 short body −138s; the last −120 was delivered to Western in May 1960.

The *707-138* was a −120 which was ten feet shorter than the others. It could also fly further.

The *707-120B* had Pratt & Whitney JT3D-1 turbofan engines. They were a lot better than the others. The −120B had some changes made to the wings. 72 were made.

### 707-220
The *707-220* had more powerful Pratt & Whitney JT4A-3 turbojet engines. Five of these were made, but only four were delivered. The first one began being used in December 1959.

### 707-320
The *707-320 Intercontinental* is a longer version of the 707-120. This type could hold more passengers, and had some changes made to the wings.

707s are not used anymore by big airlines. However, as of December 2012, 10 707s were being used. John Travolta owns a 707-138B.

## Deliveries
## Accidents
As of May 2011, the 707 has had 170 hull-loss accidents. 2,739 people have died in Boeing 707 accidents. A hull-loss accident is when the plane is damaged so much that it cannot be fixed.

## Details
Sources:

## Related pages
## References
### Notes 
### Bibliography 
* 
* 
* Breffort, Dominique. *Boeing 707, KC-135 and Civilian and Military Versions*. Paris: Histoire & Collections. .
* Caidin, Martin. *Boeing 707*. New York: Bantam Books, 1959.
* Cearley, George Walker. *Boeing 707 & 720: A Pictorial History.* Dallas, TX: G.W. Cearley Jr, 1993. No ISBN.
* Francillon, René. *Boeing 707: Pioneer Jetliner*. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Motor Books International, 1999. .
* Cook, William H. *Road to the 707: The Inside Story of Designing the 707*. Bellevue, WA: TYC Publishing Company, 1991. .
* 
* Lloyd, Alwyn T. *Boeing 707 & AWACS in Detail and Scale*. Falbrook, CA: Aero Publishers, 1987. .
* Pither, Tony. *The Boeing 707, 720 and C-135*. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd., 1998. .
* Price, Alfred. *The Boeing 707*. Leatherhead, Surrey, UK: Profile Publications, 1967.
* Proctor, Jon. *Boeing 720*. Miami, FL: World Transport Press, 2001. .
* Schiff, Barry J. *The Boeing 707*. Blue Ridge Summit, PA: Tab Books, 1982, First edition 1967, . .
* Smith, Paul Raymond. *Boeing 707 – Airline Markings No. 3*. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Swan Hill Press, 1993. .
* Stachiw, Anthony L. and Andrew Tattersall. *Boeing CC137 (Boeing 347C) in Canadian Service*. St. Catherines, ON: Vanwell Publishing Ltd., 2004. .
* Whittle, John A. *The Boeing 707 and 720*. Tonbridge, Kent: Air Britain (Historians), 1972. .
* 
* 
* Winchester, Jim. *Boeing 707*. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife, 2002. .

## Other websites 
* Boeing 707 family on Boeing.com
* Boeing 707 page on Airliners.net