In 1958 Boeing and Pan American Airways revolutionized travel with the Boeing 707-120

 

 

begin quote from:https://www.boeing.com/news/frontiers/archive/2008/july/i_history.pdf

50 years ago, Boeing and Pan Am revolutionized travel with ...

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50 years ago, Boeing and Pan Am
revolutionized travel with the 707
B y M ichael loMBardi
This year marks the 50th anniversary of successful scheduled
jet travel—made possible with Boeing commercial jets,
starting with the pioneering 707.
Boeing, its employees and stakeholders are celebrating this aus-
picious anniversary with the introduction of the latest member of
the “7” family—the revolutionary 787 Dreamliner. The advances
in passenger experience that the 787 will introduce are reminiscent
of the advances first experienced 50 years ago when Pan Ameri-
can World Airways blazed a trail across the Atlantic Ocean with its
brand-new Boeing 707.
On Aug. 15, 1958, Pan Am took delivery of the United States’
first commercial jet airliner, a Boeing 707-120, and began plans for
Oct. 26, 1958, when Pan Am and the 707 would make history by
inaugurating the first 707 service and the first daily transatlantic jet
service from New York to Paris.
Great Britain had been first with
jet service in May 1952, flying
the DeHavilland Comet I between
London and Johannesburg, South
Africa. Unfortunately a series of
accidents grounded the Comet.
Determined to maintain the lead
for Britain and in order to stay
ahead of Pan Am and Boeing,
British Overseas Airways
Corporation inaugurated its
own weekly transatlantic
service on Oct. 4, 1958,
with the new Comet 4.
It was able to perform
two Atlantic cross-
ings before Pan Am
began service.
Historical Perspective BOEING FRONTIERS
Seventh heaven

Another airline to introduce jet service,
and the first to offer regularly scheduled
and sustained passenger jet service, was the
Soviet Union’s Aeroflot. In September 1956,
the carrier started flying from Moscow to
Irkutsk with its Tupolev Tu-104 aircraft.
Although they were first, neither
Aeroflot nor BOAC captured the public
imagination and success of Pan Am and
the Boeing 707.
The world had been anticipating the mo-
ment when the first 707 would begin sched-
uled service and open a new era of travel.
Boeing had helped build the anticipation
with an ad campaign that highlighted the
comfort, speed and safety of jet travel. In-
deed, one ad proclaimed: “Only seven hours
to brush up on your French.”
When the day of the first 707 service
arrived, there was a great deal of pub-
lic excitement and media attention. There
was also consternation from Pan Am com-
petitors that operated fleets of propeller-
powered airliners. These carriers thought
they could hold off the jet age by requir-
ing higher fares for passengers who flew
jets, but Pan Am kept the fare for the 707
at the same level it was charging for its
piston powered planes: $505 for first class
and $272 for economy.
Among the 12 crew and 111 passengers
lucky enough to get tickets for the inaugu-
ral flight were Steve Eastman, a Boeing em-
ployee, and his wife Hazel. “My father was
well aware of the historical significance of
the flight, and made reservations two years
in advance to be on it,” said Louisa Eastman,
their daughter and a Boeing employee to-
day. The Eastmans would also fly on Pan
Am’s inaugural 747 service and even had
reservations for the SST inaugural flight be-
fore that program was cancelled.
Steve Eastman wrote an article for the
former Boeing News newspaper describ-
ing his experience. First was a ceremony
at New York’s Idlewild Airport (now John
F. Kennedy International Airport) that fea-
tured a gala at the Golden Door restaurant.
After Juan Trippe, then Pan Am’s presi-
dent, addressed the gathering, passengers
were escorted to the plane by Pan Am
flight attendants.
The 707, known as “Clipper America,”
was bathed in flood lights. The passengers
crossed the ramp following a path flanked
by the U.S. Army’s 42nd (Rainbow) Infantry
Division band and marked with flags from
countries around the world. Actress Greer
Garson, also a passenger on the flight, per-
formed the ribbon cutting, and at 7:20 p.m.,
the sleek 707 climbed into the night sky.
Historical Perspective BOEING FRONTIERS
In his Boeing News account, Eastman
described the passengers’ excited conversa-
tions concerning the lack of noise and vi-
bration. He noted that in a piston-powered
airliner, many experienced travelers “nor-
mally would have been settled down with
ear plugs, blankets and pillows to endure
the 12 or more hours of punishment from
noise, vibration and buffeting in rough air at
lower altitudes.”
Knowing from the passenger list that
Eastman was a Boeing employee, many
of the passengers sought him out. “Their
remarks invariably were prefaced by the
statement, ‘You tell those people at Boeing
...’ followed by glowing and in many cases
downright emotional comments of the very
highest complimentary value,” he wrote.
After an unscheduled 71-minute stop in
Gander, Newfoundland, due to headwinds,
the flight landed at Paris’ Le Bourget
Airport at 10:01 am, 8 hours and 41 min-
utes after leaving New York.
Eastman described the crowds in Paris
marveling at the airplane and summed up
BOEING FRONTIERS JULY 2008 9
that “every Boeing employee would and
should be extremely proud of the airplane.
... Certainly everyone with whom we have
come in contact, whether on board, in ser-
vice crews, among the many Pan Am people
whom we have met, or among the public, is
proud to have any connection with the 707.”
Although Pan Am and the 707 was not
the first airline-jetliner combination, it was
the most successful in this era. Two highly
respected companies—Boeing and Pan Am,
with their reputations and strong brands—
helped build confidence and excitement for
the future of commercial jet travel.
After the inaugural flight, Pan American
began a period of almost unrivaled success
in international air travel. For Boeing, it was
the beginning of a highly successful busi-
ness in designing and building the world’s
finest commercial jet. That story continues,
50 years later, as public anticipation and ex-
citement grow for another new era in air
travel that’s about to begin with the 787. n
michael.j.lombardi@boeing.com