First jet makes test flight - Jul 27, 1949 - HISTORY.com First jet makes test flight Share this: First jet makes test flight Author First jet makes test flight URL Publisher A+E Networks On this day in 1949, the world’s first jet-propelled airliner, the British De Havilland Comet, makes its maiden test-flight in England. The jet engine would ultimately revolutionize the airline industry, shrinking air travel time in half by enabling planes to climb faster and fly higher. The Comet was the creation of English aircraft designer and aviation pioneer Sir Geoffrey de Havilland (1882-1965). De Havilland started out designing motorcycles and buses, but after seeing Wilbur Wright demonstrate an airplane in 1908, he decided to build one of his own. The Wright brothers had made their famous first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in 1903. De Havilland successfully designed and piloted his first plane in 1910 and went on to work for English aircraft manufacturers before starting his own company in 1920.

De Havilland Aircraft Company became a leader in the aviation industry, known for developing lighter engines and faster, more streamlined planes. In 1939, an experimental jet-powered plane debuted in Germany. During World War II, Germany was the first country to use jet fighters. De Havilland also designed fighter planes during the war years. He was knighted for his contributions to aviation in 1944. Following the war, De Havilland turned his focus to commercial jets, developing the Comet and the Ghost jet engine. After its July 1949 test flight, the Comet underwent three more years of testing and training flights. Then, on May 2, 1952, the British Overseas Aircraft Corporation (BOAC) began the world’s first commercial jet service with the 44-seat Comet 1A, flying paying passengers from London to Johannesburg. The Comet was capable of traveling 480 miles per hour, a record speed at the time. However, the initial commercial service was short-lived, and due to a series of fatal crashes in 1953 and 1954, the entire fleet was grounded.

Investigators eventually determined that the planes had experienced metal fatigue resulting from the need to repeatedly pressurize and depressurize. Four years later, De Havilland debuted an improved and recertified Comet, but in the meantime, American airline manufacturers Boeing and Douglas had each introduced faster, more efficient jets of their own and become the dominant forces in the industry. By the early 1980s, most Comets used by commercial airlines had been taken out of service. Related Videos Boeing 707 Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 prototype Model 367-80 or "Dash 80". The Boeing 707 was not the first US transport aircraft to be jet-powered; that distinction belonged to the experimental military XC-123A powered assault glider. However, the 707 was the first production American jet airliner that allowed the US to gain the lead in commercial jet transportation. The 707 remained in continuous production from the mid-1950s until 1977 with more than 1,000 aircraft produced.

The 707 prototype, the Model 367-80 or "Dash 80", made its inaugural flight on July 15, 1954. Its main competitor at the time was the British De Havilland Comet, but the 707 had accommodations for approximately four times as many passengers as the original Comet I that had first flown on July 27, 1949—it was also 100 mph faster than the Comet. This, combined with a series of accidents for the Comet, helped establish the 707 in World-Wide service. (One year after the Comet went into service, three aircraft broke up in flight due to metal fatigue. Cracks originating from the window corners caused catastrophic failures.) The Comet 4 was first to open a transatlantic passenger jet service, on October 4, 1958, but this was followed by a Pan American 707 on October 26, 1958 and went on to inaugurate the first round the world jet passenger service on October 10, 1959.

Initial orders from the airlines were delayed because they were still flying fairly new piston-powered aircraft that they still needed to recoup their investment from, so the first 29 aircraft were built as KC-13A fuel tankers. It wasn�t long before the airlines started ordering jets and then a flood of orders came from airlines all over the world, after a large order was placed by Pan American. Production centered on two major series, the 707-120 medium-range versions for up to 181 passengers and the 707-320 long-range versions for 189 passengers. When production ended in 1977, a total of 1,011 Boeing 707 airliners were produced and were operating in every continent of the world. The story of the 707 begins with Boeing trying to develop an improved version of the Model 367 that the Air Force was currently using as the C-97. It was then realized that the performance of the C-97 with existing piston engines and the B-29 wing had reached its limits and that a whole new aerodynamic design was needed.

Boeing was looking to develop a commercial variant of the B-47 , but continued to work through the Model 367 or C-97 development line. The final form was the 80th configuration of the Model 367 and so designated as the Model 367-80. Boeing kept this designation as to not tip off its competitors. Word had a way of getting around in the industry and the 367-80 designation would give the allusion that it was just a further development of the C-97. It wasn�t until the aircraft was unveiled that Boeing designated it as the Model 707. The fuselage of the 707 had the same width as the C-97, but the sides were smoothed out and did not have the pronounced crease. The length of the tubular fuselage remained straight so that sections could be added for increased capacity. The wings and engine pylons were variants of the B-47 and B-52 but were more rigid with pronounced dihedral built in. Panels could be added at the wing roots to increase wing span.

A distinctive feature of the 707 was the High Frequency (HF) boom antenna pointing forward at the top of the vertical stabilizer. The horizontal stabilizer also had a pronounced dihedral. There were two sets of ailerons, inboard and outboard. With the flaps down, both sets of ailerons would operate. With the flaps retracted, only the inboard ailerons would be operated during cruise to dampen lateral control. Spoilers would also function for lateral control and as speed brakes. The flaps were located between the engines so as to not obstruct the jet exhaust. When commercial jets were first introduced, noise was a great problem and some jet airliners were barred from certain airports such as New York�s LaGuardia Airport. Stopping a heavy propellerless airplane was another consideration. Boeing spent $15 million to develop both engine noise suppressors and thrust reverser systems as a solution.1 An early Boeing 707 with JT4 engines, equipped with sound suppressors. The HF antenna on top of the vertical stabilizer was a distinctive feature of the 707.

The original Boeing 707 was followed by a series of 707 passenger and cargo variants, with different lengths, weights and engines. The passenger carrying 707-320B and passenger/cargo 707-320C models were still in production in 1977. Also developed was the short-to-medium-range version known as the Boeing 720 or the 720B with JT3D turbofans . By the end of October 1976, they had flown more than 30 million hours and carried just under 522 million passengers. In 1970 it was still not unusual for passengers to disembark on the airport ramp. Boeing 707 Model 120 Jet Transport The first production airplane of the Boeing 707 commercial jet series made its maiden flight December 20, 1957, with Pan American World Airways putting the airplane into transoceanic service October 26, 1958, and American Airlines following with transcontinental service January 25, 1959.

The prototype jet airliner, built as a private venture by Boeing at a cost of more than $16,000,000, amassed more than 1000 hours in its four years of flight testing, while the first three of the production airplanes used for Civil Aeronautics Administration certification testing raised the overall total to more than 1650 hours. In addition, the new jet transports benefited by the thousands of hours of flight time logged by their military counterpart, the Boeing KC-135 jet multipurpose tanker-transports which went into service in 1957. Including the prototype, there are eight Boeing jet airliners; the others are the 707-120, the 707-120B, the 707-220, the 707-320, the 707-420, the 720 and the 720B. Weighing in at 248,000 pounds as compared with the prototype's 190,000, the 120 is principally intended for continental use.

The 220 is identical in airframe and body size to the 120, but is powered by Pratt & Whitney JT4 turbojet engines, larger and of greater thrust than the JT3. The "B" airplanes use Pratt & Whitney JT3D turbofan engines. SPECIFICATIONS (120): Span 130 ft. 10 in.; Height 42 ft.; Length 144 ft. 6 in.; Engines Four Pratt & Whitney JT3C-6 turbojet, more than 10,000 lb. thrust; Gear tricycle, main undercarriage units, four-wheel trucks, dual nose wheels. PERFORMANCE: Cruise Speed 591 mph; Cruising Altitude 25,000 to 40,000 ft. Boeing 707 Intercontinental Jet Transport The 320 and the 420 are the Intercontinental 707s, which partially fulfill the growth potential Boeing designed into the basic 707 series.

Weighing more than 295,000 pounds, they are 8 feet, 5 inches longer overall than the 120, 220, and 720, have 11 feet 7 inches more wingspan, and 500 square feet of additional wing area. Fuselage diameter, 148 inches, is the same in all models. Only difference between the 320 and 420 is the engines, the former using Pratt & Whitney JT4s and the latter Rolls-Royce "Conways." SPECIFICATIONS INTERCONTINENTAL: Span 142 ft. 5 in.; Height 42 ft.; Length 152 ft. 11 in.; Engines Four Pratt & Whitney JT4 or Rolls Royce Conway turbojets, more than 10,000 Lb, thrust; Gear tricycle, main undercarriage units, four-wheel trucks, dual nose wheels. PERFORMANCE: Cruise Speed 591 mph; Cruising Altitude 25,000 to 40,000 ft.

Boeing 720 Jet Transport Designed to operate profitably in the medium range area, the Boeing 720 combines low cost with excellent operational flexibility. Associated with its capability to operate over existing route segments is the ability of the 720 to utilize present runways and terminal facilities throughout the entire airline system. The 720 offers a high level of safety, ease of maintenance and inspection, long life, minimum structural weight and reliability based on experience and extensive test programs. The seats are mounted on continuous tracks recessed in the floor, allowing use of four, five and six-abreast seating. In less than ten minutes each row of seats and its accompanying overhead service unit can be repositioned or replaced. Windows are spaced at 20-inch intervals to insure an unobstructed view regardless of seat spacing. This flexibility permits a choice of seating combinations ranging from the luxurious four-abreast interior to the six-abreast, 149-passenger tourist arrangement. SPECIFICATIONS: Span 130 ft. 10 in; Length 136ft. 2 in.; Height 41 ft.

6.5 in.; Empty Weight 103,145 Lb.; Engines Four Pratt & Whitney JT3C-7; Fuel Capacity 11,500 gal.; Wing Area 2433 sq. ft. PERFORMANCE: Maximum Speed more than 600 mph; Maximum Range 3300 mi.; Cruising Altitude 15,000 to 40,000 ft. Endnotes: History of Aviation - First Flights History of Aviation - First Flights Registration Options Deregulation Economics Glossary Environment Airports ATC How They Fly History Safety Structure History of Aviation - First Flights On December 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright capped four years of research and design efforts with a 120-foot, 12-second flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina - the first powered flight in a heavier-than-air machine. Prior to that, people had flown only in balloons and gliders. The first person to fly as a passenger was Leon Delagrange, who rode with French pilot Henri Farman from a meadow outside of Paris in 1908.

Charles Furnas became the first American airplane passenger when he flew with Orville Wright at Kitty Hawk later that year. History of Aviation - First Flights On December 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright capped four years of research and design efforts with a 120-foot, 12-second flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina - the first powered flight in a heavier-than-air machine. Prior to that, people had flown only in balloons and gliders. The first person to fly as a passenger was Leon Delagrange, who rode with French pilot Henri Farman from a meadow outside of Paris in 1908. Charles Furnas became the first American airplane passenger when he flew with Orville Wright at Kitty Hawk later that year. History of Aviation First Flights On December 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright capped four years of research and design efforts with a 120-foot, 12-second flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina - the first powered flight in a heavier-than-air machine. Prior to that, people had flown only in balloons and gliders.

The first person to fly as a passenger was Leon Delagrange, who rode with French pilot Henri Farman from a meadow outside of Paris in 1908. Charles Furnas became the first American airplane passenger when he flew with Orville Wright at Kitty Hawk later that year. The first scheduled air service began in Florida on January 1, 1914. Glenn Curtiss had designed a plane that could take off and land on water and thus could be built larger than any plane to date, because it did not need the heavy undercarriage required for landing on hard ground. Thomas Benoist, an auto parts maker, decided to build such a flying boat, or seaplane, for a service across Tampa Bay called the St. Petersburg - Tampa Air Boat Line. His first passenger was ex-St. Petersburg Mayor A.C. Pheil, who made the 18-mile trip in 23 minutes, a considerable improvement over the two-hour trip by boat. The single-plane service accommodated one passenger at a time, and the company charged a one-way fare of $5. After operating two flights a day for four months, the company folded with the end of the winter tourist season.

World War I These and other early flights were headline events, but commercial aviation was very slow to catch on with the general public, most of whom were afraid to ride in the new flying machines. Improvements in aircraft design also were slow. However, with the advent of World War I, the military value of aircraft was quickly recognized and production increased significantly to meet the soaring demand for planes from governments on both sides of the Atlantic. Most significant was the development of more powerful motors, enabling aircraft to reach speeds of up to 130 miles per hour, more than twice the speed of pre-war aircraft. Increased power also made larger aircraft possible. At the same time, the war was bad for commercial aviation in several respects. It focused all design and production efforts on building military aircraft. In the public's mind, flying became associated with bombing runs, surveillance and aerial dogfights. In addition, there was such a large surplus of planes at the end of the war that the demand for new production was almost nonexistent for several years - and many aircraft builders went bankrupt. Some European countries, such as Great Britain and France, nurtured commercial aviation by starting air service over the English Channel.

However, nothing similar occurred in the United States, where there were no such natural obstacles isolating major cities and where railroads could transport people almost as fast as an airplane, and in considerably more comfort. The salvation of the U.S. commercial aviation industry following World War I was a government program, but one that had nothing to do with the transportation of people. Airmail By 1917, the U.S. government felt enough progress had been made in the development of planes to warrant something totally new - the transport of mail by air. That year, Congress appropriated $100,000 for an experimental airmail service to be conducted jointly by the Army and the Post Office between Washington and New York, with an intermediate stop in Philadelphia. The first flight left Belmont Park, Long Island for Philadelphia on May 14, 1918 and the next day continued on to Washington, where it was met by President Woodrow Wilson. With a large number of war-surplus aircraft in hand, the Post Office set its sights on a far more ambitious goal - transcontinental air service.

It opened the first segment, between Chicago and Cleveland, on May 15, 1919 and completed the air route on September 8, 1920, when the most difficult part of the route, the Rocky Mountains, was spanned. Airplanes still could not fly at night when the service first began, so the mail was handed off to trains at the end of each day. Nonetheless, by using airplanes the Post Office was able to shave 22 hours off coast-to-coast mail deliveries. Beacons In 1921, the Army deployed rotating beacons in a line between Columbus and Dayton, Ohio, a distance of about 80 miles. The beacons, visible to pilots at 10-second intervals, made it possible to fly the route at night. The Post Office took over the operation of the guidance system the following year, and by the end of 1923, constructed similar beacons between Chicago and Cheyenne, Wyoming, a line later extended coast-to-coast at a cost of $550,000.

Mail then could be delivered across the continent in as little as 29 hours eastbound and 34 hours westbound - prevailing winds from west to east accounted for the difference which was at least two days less than it took by train. The Contract Air Mail Act of 1925 By the mid-1920s, the Post Office mail fleet was flying 2.5 million miles and delivering 14 million letters annually. However, the government had no intention of continuing airmail service on its own. Traditionally, the Post Office had used private companies for the transportation of mail. So, once the feasibility of airmail was firmly established and airline facilities were in place, the government moved to transfer airmail service to the private sector, by way of competitive bids. The legislative authority for the move was the Contract Air Mail Act of 1925, commonly referred to as the Kelly Act after its chief sponsor, Rep. Clyde Kelly of Pennsylvania. This was the first major step toward the creation of a private U.S. airline industry.

Winners of the initial five contracts were National Air Transport (owned by the Curtiss Aeroplane Co.), Varney Air Lines, Western Air Express, Colonial Air Transport and Robertson Aircraft Corporation. National and Varney would later become important parts of United Air Lines (originally a joint venture of the Boeing Airplane Company and Pratt & Whitney). Western would merge with Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT), another Curtiss subsidiary, to form Transcontinental and Western Air (TWA). Robertson would become part of the Universal Aviation Corporation, which in turn would merge with Colonial, Southern Air Transport and others, to form American Airways, predecessor of American Airlines. Juan Trippe, one of the original partners in Colonial, later pioneered international air travel with Pan Am - a carrier he founded in 1927 to transport mail between Key West, Florida, and Havana, Cuba. Pitcairn Aviation, yet another Curtiss subsidiary that got its start transporting mail, would become Eastern Air Transport, predecessor of Eastern Air Lines. The Morrow Board The same year Congress passed the Contract Air Mail Act, President Calvin Coolidge appointed a board to recommend a national aviation policy (a much-sought-after goal of then Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover).

Dwight Morrow, a senior partner in J.P. Morgan's bank, and later the father-in-law of Charles Lindbergh, was named chairman. The board heard testimony from 99 people, and on November 30, 1925, submitted its report to President Coolidge. The report was wide-ranging, but its key recommendation was that the government should set standards for civil aviation and that the standards should be set outside of the military. The Air Commerce Act of 1926 Congress adopted the recommendations of the Morrow Board almost to the letter in the Air Commerce Act of 1926. The legislation authorized the Secretary of Commerce to designate air routes, to develop air navigation systems, to license pilots and aircraft, and to investigate accidents. The act brought the government into commercial aviation as regulator of the private airlines spawned by the Kelly Act of the previous year. Congress also adopted the board's recommendation for airmail contracting, by amending the Kelly Act to change the method of compensation for airmail services. Instead of paying carriers a percentage of the postage paid, the government would pay them according to the weight of the mail.

This simplified payments, and proved highly advantageous to the carriers, which collected $48 million from the government for the carriage of mail between 1926 and 1931. Ford's Tin Goose Henry Ford, the automobile manufacturer, was also among the early successful bidders for airmail contracts, winning the right, in 1925, to carry mail from Chicago to Detroit and Cleveland aboard planes his company already was using to transport spare parts for his automobile assembly plants. More importantly, he jumped into aircraft manufacturing, and in 1927, produced the Ford Trimotor, commonly referred to as the Tin Goose. It was one of the first all-metal planes, made of a new material, duralumin, which was almost as light as aluminum but twice as strong. It also was the first plane designed primarily to carry passengers rather than mail. The Ford Trimotor had 12 passenger seats; a cabin high enough for a passenger to walk down the aisle without stooping; and room for a "stewardess," or flight attendant, the first of whom were nurses, hired by United in 1930 to serve meals and assist airsick passengers.

The Tin Goose's three engines made it possible to fly higher and faster (up to 130 miles per hour), and its sturdy appearance, combined with the Ford name, had a reassuring effect on the public's perception of flying. However, it was another event, in 1927, that brought unprecedented public attention to aviation and helped secure the industry's future as a major mode of transportation. Charles Lindbergh At 7:52 a.m. on May 20, 1927, a young pilot named Charles Lindbergh set out on an historic flight across the Atlantic Ocean, from New York to Paris. It was the first trans-Atlantic non-stop flight in an airplane, and its effect on both Lindbergh and aviation was enormous. Lindbergh became an instant American hero. Aviation became a more established industry, attracting millions of private investment dollars almost overnight, as well as the support of millions of Americans. The pilot who sparked all of this attention had dropped out of engineering school at the University of Wisconsin to learn how to fly. He became a barnstormer, doing aerial shows across the country, and eventually joined the Robertson Aircraft Corporation, to transport mail between St. Louis and Chicago.

In planning his trans-Atlantic voyage, Lindbergh daringly decided to fly by himself, without a navigator, so he could carry more fuel. His plane, the Spirit of St. Louis, was slightly less than 28 feet in length, with a wingspan of 46 feet. It carried 450 gallons of gasoline, which comprised half its takeoff weight. There was too little room in the cramped cockpit for navigating by the stars, so Lindbergh flew by dead reckoning. He divided maps from his local library into thirty-three 100-mile segments, noting the heading he would follow as he flew each segment. When he first sighted the coast of Ireland, he was almost exactly on the route he had plotted, and he landed several hours later, with 80 gallons of fuel to spare. Lindbergh's greatest enemy on his journey was fatigue. The trip took an exhausting 33 hours, 29 minutes and 30 seconds, but he managed to keep awake by sticking his head out the window to inhale cold air, by holding his eyelids open, and by constantly reminding himself that if he fell asleep he would perish.

In addition, he had a slight instability built into his airplane that helped keep him focused and awake. Lindbergh landed at Le Bourget Field, outside of Paris, at 10:24 p.m. Paris time on May 21. Word of his flight preceded him and a large crowd of Parisians rushed out to the airfield to see him and his little plane. There was no question about the magnitude of what he had accomplished. The Air Age had arrived. The Watres Act and the Spoils Conference In 1930, Postmaster General Walter Brown pushed for legislation that would have another major impact on the development of commercial aviation. Known as the Watres Act (after one of its chief sponsors, Rep. Laurence H. Watres of Pennsylvania), it authorized the Post Office to enter into longer-term contracts for airmail, with rates based on space or volume, rather than weight. In addition, the act authorized the Post Office to consolidate airmail routes, where it was in the national interest to do so. Brown believed the changes would promote larger, stronger airlines, as well as more coast-to-coast and nighttime service.

Immediately after Congress approved the act, Brown held a series of meetings in Washington to discuss the new contracts. The meetings were later dubbed the Spoils Conference because Brown gave them little publicity and directly invited only a handful of people from the larger airlines. He designated three transcontinental mail routes and made it clear that he wanted only one company operating each service rather than a number of small airlines handing the mail off to one another. His actions brought political trouble that resulted in major changes to the system two years later. Scandal and the Air Mail Act of 1934 Following the Democratic landslide in the election of 1932, some of the smaller airlines began complaining to news reporters and politicians that they had been unfairly denied airmail contracts by Brown. One reporter discovered that a major contract had been awarded to an airline whose bid was three times higher than a rival bid from a smaller airline. Congressional hearings followed, chaired by Sen. Hugo Black of Alabama, and by 1934 the scandal had reached such proportions as to prompt President Franklin Roosevelt to cancel all mail contracts and turn mail deliveries over to the Army. The decision was a mistake.

The Army pilots were unfamiliar with the mail routes, and the weather at the time they took over the deliveries, February 1934, was terrible. There were a number of accidents as the pilots flew practice runs and began carrying the mail, leading to newspaper headlines that forced President Roosevelt to retreat from his plan only a month after he had turned the mail over to the Army By means of the Air Mail Act of 1934, the government once again returned airmail transportation to the private sector, but it did so under a new set of rules that would have a significant impact on the industry. Bidding was structured to be more competitive, and former contract holders were not allowed to bid at all, so many companies were reorganized. The result was a more even distribution of the government's mail business and lower mail rates that forced airlines and aircraft manufacturers to pay more attention to the development of the passenger side of the business. In another major change, the government forced the dismantling of the vertical holding companies common up to that time in the industry, sending aircraft manufacturers and airline operators (most notably Boeing, Pratt & Whitney, and United Air Lines) their separate ways. The entire industry was now reorganized and refocused.

Aircraft Innovations For the airlines to attract passengers away from the railroads, they needed both larger and faster airplanes. They also needed safer airplanes. Accidents, such as the one in 1931 that killed Notre Dame Football Coach Knute Rockne along with six others, kept people from flying Aircraft manufacturers responded to the challenge. There were so many improvements to aircraft in the 1930s that many believe it was the most innovative period in aviation history. Air-cooled engines replaced water-cooled engines, reducing weight and making larger and faster planes possible. Cockpit instruments also improved, with better altimeters, airspeed indicators, rate-of-climb indicators, compasses, and the introduction of artificial horizon, which showed pilots the attitude of the aircraft relative to the ground - important for flying in reduced visibility Radio Another development of enormous importance to aviation was radio. Aviation and radio developed almost in lock step. Marconi sent his first message across the Atlantic on the airwaves just two years before the Wright Brothers? first flight at Kitty Hawk. By World War I, some pilots were taking radios up in the air with them so they could communicate with people on the ground.

The airlines followed suit after the war, using radio to transmit weather information from the ground to their pilots, so they could avoid storms An even more significant development, however, was the realization that radio could be used as an aid to navigation when visibility was poor and visual navigation aids, such as beacons, were useless. Once technical problems were worked out, the Department of Commerce constructed 83 radio beacons across the country. They became fully operational in 1932, automatically transmitting directional beams, or tracks, that pilots could follow to their destination. Marker beacons came next, allowing pilots to locate airports in poor visibility. The first air traffic control tower was established in 1935 at what is now Newark International Airport in New Jersey The First Modern Airliners Boeing built what generally is considered the first modern passenger airliner, the Boeing 247. It was unveiled in 1933, and United Air Lines promptly bought 60 of them. Based on a low-wing, twin-engine bomber with retractable landing gear built for the military, the 247 accommodated 10 passengers and cruised at 155 miles per hour.

Its cabin was insulated, to reduce engine noise levels inside the plane, and it featured such amenities as upholstered seats and a hot water heater to make flying more comfortable to passengers. Eventually, Boeing also gave the 247 variable-pitch propellers, that reduced takeoff distances, increased the rate of climb, and boosted cruising speeds Not to be outdone by United, TWA went searching for an alternative to the 247 and eventually found what it wanted from the Douglas Aircraft Company. Its DC-1 incorporated Boeing's innovations and improved upon many of them. The DC-1 had a more powerful engine and accommodations for two more passengers than did the 247. More importantly, the airframe was designed so that the skin of the aircraft bore most of the stress on the plane during flight. There was no interior skeleton of metal spars, thus giving passengers more room than they had in the 247.The DC-1 also was easier to fly. It was equipped with the first automatic pilot and the first efficient wing flaps, for added lift during takeoff. However, for all its advancements, only one DC-1 was ever built.

Douglas decided almost immediately to alter its design, adding 18 inches to its length so it could accommodate two more passengers. The new, longer version was called the DC-2 and it was a big success, but the best was still to come The DC-3 Called the plane that changed the world, the DC-3 was the first aircraft to enable airlines to make money carrying passengers. As a result, it quickly became the dominant aircraft in the United States, following its debut in 1936 with American Airlines (which played a key role in its design). The DC-3 had 50 percent greater passenger capacity than the DC-2 (21 seats versus 14), yet cost only ten percent more to operate. It also was considered a safer plane, built of an aluminum alloy stronger than materials previously used in aircraft construction. It had more powerful engines (1,000 horsepower versus 710 horsepower for the DC-2), and it could travel coast to coast in only 16 hours - a fast trip for that time. Another important improvement was the use of a hydraulic pump to lower and raise the landing gear. This freed pilots from having to crank the gear up and down during takeoffs and landings.

For greater passenger comfort, the DC-3 had a noise-deadening plastic insulation, and seats set in rubber to minimize vibrations. It was a fantastically popular airplane, and it helped attract many new travelers to flying. Pressurized Cabins Although planes such as the Boeing 247 and the DC-3 represented significant advances in aircraft design, they had a major drawback. They could fly no higher than 10,000 feet, because people became dizzy and even fainted, due to the reduced levels of oxygen at higher altitudes. The airlines wanted to fly higher, to get above the air turbulence and storms common at lower altitudes. Motion sickness was a problem for many airline passengers, and an inhibiting factor to the industry's growth. The breakthrough came at Boeing with the Stratoliner, a derivation of the B-17 bomber introduced in 1940 and first flown by TWA. It was the first pressurized aircraft, meaning that air was pumped into the aircraft as it gained altitude to maintain an atmosphere inside the cabin similar to the atmosphere that occurs naturally at lower altitudes.

With its regulated air compressor, the 33-seat Stratoliner could fly as high as 20,000 feet and reach speeds of 200 miles per hour. The Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938 Government decisions continued to prove as important to aviation's future as technological breakthroughs, and one of the most important aviation bills ever enacted by Congress was the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938. Until that time, numerous government agencies and departments had a hand in aviation policy. Airlines sometimes were pushed and pulled in several directions, and there was no central agency working for the long-term development of the industry. All the airlines had been losing money, since the postal reforms in 1934 significantly reduced the amount they were paid for carrying the mail. The airlines wanted more rationalized government regulation, through an independent agency, and the Civil Aeronautics Act gave them what they needed. It created the Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA) and gave the new agency power to regulate airline fares, airmail rates, interline agreements, mergers and routes.

Its mission was to preserve order in the industry, holding rates to reasonable levels while, at the same time nurturing the still financially-shaky airline industry, thereby encouraging the development of commercial air transportation. Congress created a separate agency - the Air Safety Board - to investigate accidents. In 1940, however, President Roosevelt convinced Congress to transfer the accident investigation function to the CAA, which was then renamed the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB). These moves, coupled with the tremendous progress made on the technological side, put the industry on the road to success. World War II Aviation had an enormous impact on the course of World War II and the war had just as significant an impact on aviation. There were fewer than 300 air transport aircraft in the United States when Hitler marched into Poland in 1939. By the end of the war, U.S. aircraft manufacturers were producing 50,000 planes a year. Most of the planes, of course, were fighters and bombers, but the importance of air transports to the war effort quickly became apparent as well. Throughout the war, the airlines provided much needed airlift to keep troops and supplies moving, to the front and throughout the production chain back home.

For the first time in their history, the airlines had far more business - for passengers as well as freight - than they could handle. Many of them also had opportunities to pioneer new routes, gaining an exposure that would give them a decidedly broader outlook at war's end. While there were numerous advances in U.S. aircraft design during the war, that enabled planes to go faster, higher, and farther than ever before, mass production was the chief goal of the United States. The major innovations of the wartime period - radar and jet engines - occurred in Europe. The Jet Engine Isaac Newton was the first to theorize, in the 18th century, that a rearward-channeled explosion could propel a machine forward at a great rate of speed. However, no one found a practical application for the theory until Frank Whittle, a British pilot, designed the first jet engine in 1930. Even then, widespread skepticism about the commercial viability of a jet prevented Whittle's design from being tested for several years. The Germans were the first to build and test a jet aircraft.

Based on a design by Hans von Ohain, a student whose work was independent of Whittle's, it flew in 1939, although not as well as the Germans had hoped. It would take another five years for German scientists to perfect the design, by which time it was, fortunately, too late to affect the outcome of the war. Whittle also improved his jet engine during the war, and in 1942 he shipped an engine prototype to General Electric in the United States. America's first jet plane - the Bell P-59 - was built the following year. Radar Another technological development with a much greater impact on the war's outcome (and later on commercial aviation) was radar. British scientists had been working on a device that could give them early warning of approaching enemy aircraft even before the war began, and by 1940 Britain had a line of radar transceivers along its east coast that could detect German aircraft the moment they took off from the Continent. British scientists also perfected the cathode ray oscilloscope, which produced map-type outlines of surrounding countryside and showed aircraft as a pulsing light.

Americans, meanwhile, found a way to distinguish between enemy aircraft and allied aircraft by installing transponders aboard the latter that signaled their identity to radar operators. Dawn of the Jet Age Aviation was poised to advance rapidly following the war, in large part because of the development of jets, but there still were significant problems to overcome. In 1952, a 36-seat British-made jet, the Comet, flew from London to Johannesburg, South Africa, at speeds as high as 500 miles per hour. Two years later, the Comet's career ended abruptly following two back-to-back accidents in which the fuselage burst apart during flight - the result of metal fatigue. The Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, following World War II, helped secure the funding needed to solve such problems and advance the jet's development. Most of the breakthroughs related to military aircraft that later were applied to the commercial sector. For example, Boeing employed a swept-back wing design for its B-47 and B-52 bombers to reduce drag and increase speed. Later, the design was incorporated into commercial jets, making them faster and thus more attractive to passengers.

The best example of military - civilian technology transfer was the jet tanker Boeing designed for the Air Force to refuel bombers in flight. The tanker, the KC-135, was a huge success as a military plane, but even more successful when revamped and introduced, in 1958, as the first U.S. passenger jet, the Boeing 707. With a length of 125 feet and four engines with 17,000 pounds of thrust each, the 707 could carry up to 181 passengers and travel at speeds of 550 miles per hour. Its engines proved more reliable than piston-driven engines - producing less vibration, putting less stress on the plane's airframe and reducing maintenance expenses. They also burned kerosene, which cost half as much as the high-octane gasoline used in more traditional planes. With the 707, first ordered and operated by Pan Am, all questions about the commercial feasibility of jets were answered. The Jet Age had arrived, and other airlines soon were lining up to buy the new aircraft.

The Federal Aviation Act of 1958 Following World War II, air travel soared, but with the industry's growth came new problems. In 1956 two aircraft collided over the Grand Canyon, killing 128 people. The skies were getting too crowded for existing systems of aircraft separation, and Congress responded by passing the Federal Aviation Act of 1958. The legislation created a new safety regulatory agency, the Federal Aviation Agency, later called the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) when Congress created the Department of Transportation (DOT) in 1967. The agency was charged with establishing and running a broad air traffic control system, to maintain safe separation of all commercial aircraft through all phases of flight. In addition, it assumed jurisdiction over all other aviation safety matters, such as the certification of aircraft designs, and airline training and maintenance programs. The Civil Aeronautics Board retained jurisdiction over economic matters, such as airline routes and rates. Wide-bodies and Supersonics 1969 marked the debut of another revolutionary aircraft, the Boeing 747, which, again, Pan Am was the first to purchase and fly in commercial service.

It was the first wide-body jet, with two aisles, a distinctive upper deck over the front section of the fuselage, and four engines. With seating for as many as 450 passengers, it was twice as big as any other Boeing jet and 80 percent bigger than the largest jet up until that time, the DC-8. Recognizing the economies of scale to be gained from larger jets, other aircraft manufacturers quickly followed suit. Douglas built its first wide-body, the DC-10, in 1970, and only a month later, Lockheed flew its contender in the wide-body market, the L-1011. Both of these jets had three engines (one under each wing and one on the tail) and were smaller than the 747, seating about 250 passengers. During the same period of time, efforts were underway in both the United States and Europe to build a supersonic commercial aircraft. The Soviet Union was the first to succeed, testing the Tupolev 144 in December of 1968.

A consortium of West European aircraft manufacturers first flew the Concorde two months later and eventually produced a number of those fast, but small, jets for commercial service. U.S. efforts to produce a supersonic passenger jet, on the other hand, stalled in 1971 due to public concern about it's expense and the sonic boom produced by such aircraft. Navigate Aviation History the jet airliner the jet airliner the jet airliner The De Havilland Comet was the world's first jet airliner Like perhaps no other single technology, the jet engine revolutionized air travel around the world. Unlike the old propeller-driven planes that were powered by piston engines, jet planes could fly at tremendous speeds, thus cutting down travel time. Jet-equipped airplanes also could climb faster and fly higher. Both the U.S. Air Force and civil aircraft builders found these capabilities attractive in the years after World War II when international contacts stretched across the globe. There were, however, major concerns about transferring jet engine technology to the commercial aviation sector. Airline executives in the post-war era were aware that, although jet engines were simpler than the old piston engines, they also had high operating temperatures that required very expensive metal alloy components that ultimately would affect an aircraft's longevity and reliability.

Moreover, jet engines used far greater amounts of fuel. The initially low takeoff speed would also require longer runways. All of this added up to increased costs. As a result, U.S. passenger air carriers did not support the building of jet airliners in the immediate post-war years, and adopted a ï¿½wait-and-seeï¿½ approach before embarking on this risky path. The British Overseas Aircraft Corporation (BOAC), the national British carrier, first introduced a commercial jet airliner into service. The 36-seat Comet 1, built by De Havilland, flew for the first time on July 27, 1949. BOAC inaugurated the world's first commercial jet service on May 2, 1952. Initial flights took passengers from London to Johannesburg in South Africa, with stops in Rome, Beirut, Khartoum (in Sudan), Entebbe (in Kenya), and Livingstone, near Victoria Falls. At the time, the top cruising speed of the most well known piston-engine aircraft, the DC-3, was about 180 miles per hour (290 kilometres per hour).

With the Comet, passengers could travel comfortably at 480 miles per hour (772 kilometres per hour), making it a revolutionary leap in air travel. The Comet also provided conditions that contrasted sharply to piston-engine planes: the planes were vibration-free and relatively quiet. Unfortunately, the Comet was the victim of a number of tragic accidents, and BOAC suspended flights within two years. Engineers found that the planes suffered from metal fatigue, especially around rivet holes, due to the need to repeatedly pressurize and depressurize the aircraft. In 1952, Pan American Airways had already put in an order for the new 76-seat Comet 3, but the crashes of the earlier Comet put the contract into doubt. By this time, domestic U.S. companies had begun their own programs to build jet airliners. Several factors, such as improved jet engines, now convinced these companies to reconsider their initial reluctance to build commercial jet planes. Of all the airlines in the United States, Pan American, which the U.S. government considered its ï¿½chosen instrumentï¿½ to represent the American commercial air fleet abroad, was undoubtedly a pioneer in embracing jet aviation.

Juan Trippe, the airlines' legendary chief executive officer, had early on expressed a keen interest in operating a passenger jet service capable of flying nonstop across the North Atlantic. Having seen the bright promise of the British Comet fade, Trippe played off two of the biggest domestic airplane builders, Boeing and Douglas. Both companies vied to appeal to Pan American's needs and offered the Boeing 707 and DC-8, respectively. In October 1955, Trippe signed contracts with both companies to buy 45 of these jets (20 707s and 25 DC-8s). Exactly two years later, Boeing rolled out the first operational 707, a Boeing 707-120, and on October 26, 1958, amid much fanfare, Pan American inaugurated its New York-London route, ushering in a new era in the history of passenger aviation. On the very first flight, which made a stopover in Newfoundland, there were 111 passengers, the largest number ever to board a single regularly scheduled flight.

Coach fares were $272, about the same as one would expect to pay for a piston-engine flight across the Atlantic. At first, BOAC competed hard with Pan American. In fact, in order to pre-empt the Americans, BOAC had rushed ahead and inaugurated its own transatlantic service on October 4, 1958, just three weeks ahead of Pan American. BOAC used the new De Havilland Comet 4, which incorporated improvements to remedy the problems with the older Comet 1. Although BOAC fared quite well, its success was nothing compared to Pan American's. With its rapidly expanding use of the Boeing 707, especially on the transatlantic route, Pan American began a period of almost unchallenged success in the international airline industry. The airline, for example, was the first to recognize the importance to passengers of non-stop flights on long trips; it negotiated with Boeing for a version of the 707 that could fly for a longer time without refuelling, known as the 707-320.This allowed the airline to introduce true intercontinental service with non-stop London-to-New York flights on August 26, 1959.

This was a perfect case of a dominant air carrier playing the lead role in defining the characteristics of a new class of jets that the industry would produce. The 707-320 was eventually adopted by as many as eleven other airlines within a year. Pan Am inaugurated its New York-London route with a Boeing 707 on October 26, 1958 Within the United States, National Airlines became the first to begin jet service, using leased Boeing 707s, on December 10, 1958. American Airlines offered the first domestic jet service using its own aircraft on January 25, 1959 with a flight from New York to Los Angeles. With this coast-to-coast service, American had a big competitive coup; the two other major domestic U.S. airlines, Trans World Airlines (TWA) and United Airlines, had not anticipated the imminent use of jets for domestic service. TWA quickly scrambled to catch up, and using a single Boeing 707, it joined the coast-to-coast flight market in March 1959. The last minute move helped keep TWA afloat through a difficult period of economic loss.

Not all airlines pinned their hopes on the Boeing 707, however. Douglas had unmatched experience in building the best passenger airliners of the world. United Airlines and Delta both began flying the DC-8 passenger jets in September 1959ï¿½latecomers to the domestic jet market precisely because they had depended on Douglas, which introduced jets after Boeing. Eastern Airlines joined them in domestic jet services in January 1960. Aeroflot began the world's first sustained jet airline service using Tupolev Tu-104 'Camel' jets on an extensive internal route network from the summer of 1955. The Tu-104 saw service until the mid-1970s One of the more unusual aspects of the coming of the jet era was the speed with which airlines internationally adopted these new aircraft. Partly because of Pan American's example, airlines from all over the world replaced piston-engine aircraft with jets at an unprecedented pace. The Soviet national airline Aeroflot was part of this explosion. In fact, Aeroflot held the distinction of offering the world's first regularly scheduled and sustained passenger jet service with its Tupolev Tu-104 aircraft.

Aeroflot opened service from Moscow to Irkutsk (in the Soviet far east) in September 1956. Elsewhere, by 1961, just three years after Pan Am's first jet flight, jets were flying routes over the North and South Atlantic and the Pacific; in the domestic United States, Europe, and East Asia; North-to-South America routes; Europe-to-Africa routes; Europe-to-Australia routes; and even to the Arctic regions. International airlines such as Air France, Lufthansa (Germany), KLM (Netherlands), Iberia (Spain), QANTAS (Australia), SABENA (Belgium), Air India, SAS (Scandinavia), Swissair, El Al (Israel), and JAL (Japan) were all using the Boeing 707, the DC-8, or in lesser numbers, the Corvair CV-880 jet on major international routes. Although many other airlines were the first to offer regular services on various international routes, it was Pan American Airways that set the standards for service in the new jet era.

Pan American's pioneering partnership with Boeing, its ambitious routesï¿½such as its round-the-world jet service inaugurated in October 1959, its flashy advertising campaigns, and its reputation for good service, all made the company a leader and a trendsetter. Jet travel revolutionized air travel throughout the world. For the airlines, jet travel forced them to establish much higher standards of maintenance that required better facilities on the ground and highly trained employees. For passengers, flights meant more comfort, less noise, and most important, less travel time. Once again, as with the introduction of piston engines into civil aviation in the 1920s, a new revolution in technology made the world an even smaller place. Your browser does not support inline frames or is currently configured not to display inline frames. Timeline of Commercial Aviation | 2011 | Aviation Special Report | Insights & News | Burns & McDonnell Timeline of Commercial Aviation First passenger flight: Wilbur Wright takes an employee along for a ride 1909 Army Airfield established at College Park, Md., by Wilbur Wright, making it the longest continuously operating airport in the world today 1910 Orville Wright opens the first commercial flight school in Montgomery, Ala.

1911 Burgess Co.

becomes the first licensed commercial aircraft manufacturer 1913 Silas Christofferson carries passengers by hydroplane between San Francisco and Oakland harbors 1918 National Air Mail service inaugurated 1919 KLM begins operation, making it the oldest carrier in the world still operating under its original name 1920 Sydney Airport opens for commercial service 1920 Minneapolis-St.Paul International Airport opens for commercial service 1920 International air service is offered by Aeromarine West Indies Airways between Key West, Fla., and Havana, Cuba 1922 First permanent airport and commercial terminal used solely for commercial flights opens at Flughafen Devau near Konigsberg, East Prussia 1922 Aeromarine Airways of Cleveland, Ohio, is established as the first airline ticketing agency 1923 First transcontinental non-stop flight 1926 Congress adopts the Air Commerce Act of 1926, which authorized the Secretary of Commerce to designate air routes, develop air navigation systems, and license pilots and aircraft 1926 Deutsche Luft Hansa (now known as Lufthansa) begins scheduled service in Germany 1926 First flight lands at Candler

 Field, today's busiest U.S.

airport - Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport 1929 Pan American Airlines inaugurates its first passenger flight from Miami to San Juan by way of Belize and Managua 1930 First female flight attendant, Ellen Church, is hired by Boeing Air Transport (now United Airlines) 1933 United Airlines begins flying coast to coast with a Boeing 247 flight lasting nearly 20 hours 1935 Boeing designs the 307 Stratoliner, the first commercial aircraft with a pressurized cabin 1935 Amelia Earhart dedicates the Newark Airport Administration Building, North America's first commercial airline terminal 1936 Pan American inaugurates passenger flights across the Pacific Ocean 1939 Pan American begins transatlantic passenger service 1939 New York Municipal Airport opens, later renamed LaGuardia Airport after New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, who refused to deplane at Newark, N.J., because his ticket read "New York" 1940s Many commercial airlines and airports go offline to commercial traffic to support World War II military efforts 1950 Transatlantic route is the world's most traveled air route 1952

 De Havilland Comet becomes the world's first commercial jet airliner 1958 Pan American initiates its New York to London route with the Boeing 707 1958 Today's second busiest airport internationally, Beijing Capital International Airport, opens 1959 American Airlines offers first domestic jetliner flights with routes from New York to Los Angeles 1962 Attorney General Robert Kennedy swears in the first FAA peace officers, who act as air marshals on requested flights 1967 The modern-day FAA is established as part of the U.S.

Department of Transportation 1973 The first female airline pilot, Emily Warner, flies as second officer for Frontier Airlines 1976 Concorde jet flies first supersonic passenger flight 1978 Airline Deregulation Act is signed into law, removing government control over fares, routes and market entry 1979 First frequent flier program introduced 1980 Almost half of total flights worldwide took place in the U.S.

1981 11,400 air traffic controllers are fired by President Reagan after walking off the job on strike when labor negotiations fail 1993 First ticketless travel becomes available 1995 Boeing produces twin-engine 777, the first aircraft produced via computer-aided design and engineering 1995 First airline tickets are sold via the Internet 1998 Smoking is banned on all domestic flights 1999 First web-based passenger check-in and online boarding passes 2001 Transportation Security Administration established in response to September 11 attacks 2007 Airbus A380 enters commercial service capable of carrying 850 passengers 2009 Transportation Security Administration formally accepts airport scanners as the primary method of pre-flight screening 2009 Branson Airport opens; designed by Burns & McDonnell, it is the only privately owned and operated commercial service airport in the U.S.

2011 Airbus announces signing of the largest aircraft deal in history based on aircraft ordered: 200 planes ordered by AirAsia 1st American jet passenger airliner flies, July 15, 1954 | EDN 1st American jet passenger airliner flies, July 15, 1954 PRINT PDF EMAIL On this day in tech history, the first American jet passenger airliner took flight. After debuting in May, the Boeing 367-80, painted brown and yellow, took its first flight over Seattle on July 15, 1954. The Boeing 367-80 or Dash 80, was a prototype, which was developed into the 707 airliner that would go on to revolutionize commercial air travel. In the 1950s Boeing began looking into creating a jet-powered military transport and tanker aircraft to go alongside their US Air Force jet bombers. The company decided to invest $16 million of its own money to build a prototype without any buyers lined up.

The prototype was named the 367 after the Model 367, or C-97 Stratofreighter, so it could be developed in secret and disguised as an improved version of the straight-wing, propeller-powered model. The design used the dimensions of the C-97's large cabin and the 35-degree swept wing design of the B-47 and B-52, but had stiffer wings set at an increased upward horizontal angle. The wings were mounted low on the fuselage and had high-speed and low-speed ailerons for flight-control as well as an advanced flap and spoiler system. Four Pratt & Whitney JT3 turbojet engines were mounted on struts beneath the wings. Each engine produced 10,000 pounds of thrust. It flew 100 mph faster than the first commercial jetliner, the British de Havilland Comet, and was significantly larger, with a maximum range over 3500 miles. The Dash 80 established the classic configuration for jetliners to come. The impressive debut convinced the Air Force to invest and the prototype became the KC-135, the first jet aerial tanker.

To convince the airline industry to invest in jet transport, the Dash 80 took part in the Gold Cup hydroplane races in Seattle in August 1955. Test pilot Alvin "Tex" Johnston showed off its strength and performance when he barrel-rolled the airliner in front of thousands of spectators. The Dash 80 also set new speed records each time it flew. On March 11, 1957, it flew nonstop on a press demonstration flight from Seattle to Baltimore in 3 hours 48 minutes at an average speed of 612 mph. After Boeing worked with Pan American Airway to widen the design to fit six seats per row, it had its first commercial customer. Pan American put the 707 jet airliner to work in October 1958. A flight from New York to San Francisco became 40% faster and 25% cheaper in a jet-engine airliner. The Boeing 367-80 went on to test many advanced experimental systems for jet transports until its retirement in 1972.

It took its final flight on August 27, 2003 when it flew to Virginia to take its place at the Steven F Udvar-Hazy Center , part of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Also see: BBC ON THIS DAY | 2 | 1952: Comet inaugurates the jet age 1952: Comet inaugurates the jet age The world's first ever jet airliner has begun its maiden flight from London to Johannesburg. Crowds cheered as the BOAC Comet G-ALYP took off from London airport at 1512 local time carrying 36 passengers. The De Havilland Comet 1 is regarded as a feather in the cap for British design and innovation and promises to usher in a new era of faster, smoother air travel. The plane's sleek design incorporates its four De Havilland Ghost 50 Mk1 engines inside the wing of the plane. The total journey of nearly 7,000 miles is expected to take 23 hours 40 minutes, allowing for five stops at Rome, Beirut, Khartoum, Entebbe and Livingstone.

Sir Miles Thomas, the operator's chairman, will join the flight at Livingstone, Northern Rhodesia. BOAC's regular flights to Johannesburg on piston-engine Hermes airliners take 27 hours and 55 minutes to reach their destination on a route 1,000 miles shorter than the Comet's. Because of the length of the journey, the crew will be replaced at Beirut and then at Khartoum. Each passenger on this historic flight will receive a special first flight certificate signed by the pilot of the first part of the flight, Captain AM Majendie. A single fare costs �175 and a return �315 - the same price as for BOAC's piston-engine aircraft. Comet facts

Question: What was the world's 1st commercially produced jet airliner?
Answer: Comet