United Airlines Boeing 2707 Supersonic Transport
As supersonic speeds for fighter aircraft became commonplace, aircraft researchers began looking into ways supersonic speed could be incorporated into commercial travel. A supersonic transport (SST) would be able to significantly reduce travel times, especially across the Atlantic, and would in turn allow for higher aircraft utilization and faster turnaround times. Britain, France, and the USSR began research into SST projects, but the US lagged behind. Finally, in 1963, the Kennedy administration began a design competition for an American SST.
Boeing was the front-runner before the competition even began, due to its long history of airliner design, and the fact that it had quietly worked on SST designs since 1959. The 2707, as it was marketed (to keep Boeing's "7x7" nomenclature), was ahead of its time. It used a wide-body style fuselage a decade before the 747, offered inflight personal televisions 40 years before they became common, and an advanced variable-sweep wing that offered good low-speed and high-speed capability. Boeing was named the winner of the competition in 1967.
The 2707 was already in trouble. To meet the proposed passenger capability, the 2707's fuselage was the longest ever considered at that time, making the airliner unstable. Range was an issue--the 2707 could not fly transatlantic--and the swing-wing was becoming expensive and heavy, and promised to be a maintenance nightmare. Boeing tried to solve these problems by adding canards to the nose and moving the engines back to the tailplane for better takeoff performance, but these only added weight. Finally Boeing abandoned the swing-wing for a more conventional delta wing. Nonetheless, 122 were ordered by airlines in 1969.
The entire SST idea was in trouble by that time. Though the Concorde and the Soviet Tu-144 were already in service by the time Boeing built its first full-scale mockup, environmental concerns over sonic booms and spiraling fuel costs had already resulted in cutbacks to Concorde orders. With the post-Vietnam budget cuts and Boeing's increasing concentration on the far more lucrative 747, the 2707 was cancelled in 1971. For many years, the 2707 mockup fuselage languished in museums (and at one point in a church) before being purchased in 2013 by the Museum of Flight for eventual restoration and display.
In the late 1960s, Revell issued a model of the second 2707 proposal, still with swing-wings but with the engines moved back to the tail. Bary Poletto bought two of them, building one with wings swept and one wings spread--this is the former.
United Airlines Boeing 2707 Supersonic Transport
As supersonic speeds for fighter aircraft became commonplace, aircraft researchers began looking into ways supersonic speed could be incorporated into commercial travel. A supersonic transport (SST) would be able to significantly reduce travel times, especially across the Atlantic, and would in turn allow for higher aircraft utilization and faster turnaround times. Britain, France, and the USSR began research into SST projects, but the US lagged behind. Finally, in 1963, the Kennedy administration began a design competition for an American SST.
Boeing was the front-runner before the competition even began, due to its long history of airliner design, and the fact that it had quietly worked on SST designs since 1959. The 2707, as it was marketed (to keep Boeing's "7x7" nomenclature), was ahead of its time. It used a wide-body style fuselage a decade before the 747, offered inflight personal televisions 40 years before they became common, and an advanced variable-sweep wing that offered good low-speed and high-speed capability. Boeing was named the winner of the competition in 1967.
The 2707 was already in trouble. To meet the proposed passenger capability, the 2707's fuselage was the longest ever considered at that time, making the airliner unstable. Range was an issue--the 2707 could not fly transatlantic--and the swing-wing was becoming expensive and heavy, and promised to be a maintenance nightmare. Boeing tried to solve these problems by adding canards to the nose and moving the engines back to the tailplane for better takeoff performance, but these only added weight. Finally Boeing abandoned the swing-wing for a more conventional delta wing. Nonetheless, 122 were ordered by airlines in 1969.
The entire SST idea was in trouble by that time. Though the Concorde and the Soviet Tu-144 were already in service by the time Boeing built its first full-scale mockup, environmental concerns over sonic booms and spiraling fuel costs had already resulted in cutbacks to Concorde orders. With the post-Vietnam budget cuts and Boeing's increasing concentration on the far more lucrative 747, the 2707 was cancelled in 1971. For many years, the 2707 mockup fuselage languished in museums (and at one point in a church) before being purchased in 2013 by the Museum of Flight for eventual restoration and display.
In the late 1960s, Revell issued a model of the second 2707 proposal, still with swing-wings but with the engines moved back to the tail. Bary Poletto bought two of them, building one with wings swept and one wings spread--this is the former.