Boeing Jets

Boeing entered the jet age in 1947 with the B-47 Stratojet, a swept-wing bomber with six jet engines. Its “big brother” was the B-52 Stratofortress (1952), which became the U. S. Air Force’s primary strategic bomber. The B-52’s success showed that manned airplanes still had roles in the missile age and that a good design could be updated several times. In 1952, Boeing also built its first missile, the Bomarc.

Boeing was the first manufacturer in the United States to see the potential in commercial jet travel. In 1952 Boeing’s designers began work on a jet airliner, known as “Dash-80” to employees but marketed as the Boeing 707. Like most Boeing designs, it built on earlier experience: the 707’s wings were similar to the wings of the B-47, but it had four engines, each one separately mounted on an under­wing pylon.

О A Boeing 777 was on display at the Paris Air Show in France in 2005. The 777, released in 1994, was the first Boeing civil airplane with a fly-by-wire (electronic) control system.

William Boeing, the company founder, lived to see the new 707 fly in 1954; he died two years later. In 1958 the 707 started transatlantic services, capturing a lead for Boeing in the com­mercial jetliner market that the company retained for a half century. The 707 had a cruising speed of 605 miles per hour (973 kilometers per hour) and could carry 147 passengers over a distance of 5,755 miles (9,260 kilometers). Boeing’s 707 design led to other successful air­planes, such as the E-3A Sentry AWACS airplane. It also resulted in the develop­ment of the KC-135 tanker, used by the U. S. Air Force for inflight refueling.