"Grindintosecond" (Grindintosecond)
10/08/2015 at 23:55 • Filed to: #planelopnik
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"Grindintosecond" (Grindintosecond)
10/08/2015 at 23:55 • Filed to: #planelopnik | 6
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It’s design is right out of a modern steampunk novel of Fallout franchise game. Boeing’s 377 Stratocruiser. Pressurized travel made possible by their B-29 program advances, yet short lived as jet engines came online. It flew with Pan Am starting in 1949 and by 1960 the last commercial flight it was performing was a weekly Hawaii to Singapore trip. United was ditching it by 1954, six years into it’s life, finding that in 57 passenger configuration it made little to no money. It typically carried 63-84 people but cold carry up to 100 and had a lower deck lounge.
I don’t care how expensive it was to operate. It’s beautiful and amazing to see. It could reach just over 400mph which isn’t bad at all, even Boeing set a max never seceed speed of 375 out of structure worry, it could handle it.
The flight deck here looks like a fishbowl. This is what the future dreams of flight in large vehicles became. Finally. This flight deck could have been in a blimp or starship of the day. Nope, ust an airplane.
I can only imagine part of the operating cost being so high would be the payments made to the mechanics to change the 56 spark plugs on each engine’s 28 cylinders. That’s right, a total service of all four engines would require 224 spark plugs and 120 gallons of oil (That’s 480 bottles of oil) Never mind how much oil it burned off along the way between major services.
I love the design, the idea, the shape, its lines, everything about it was the pinnacle of what the future should have been. If it wasn’t for those darn jets like the Comet and the 707 and deregulation, we would all be travelling in luxurious sky barges in smoking jackets. Paying something like $5,000 per ticket.
samssun
> Grindintosecond
10/09/2015 at 00:11 |
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It's no
Boeing 929
, that’s for sure.
Amoore100
> samssun
10/09/2015 at 00:31 |
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I prefer the streamlined look of the Soviet Eurofoil myself...
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mattc993
> Grindintosecond
10/09/2015 at 02:43 |
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This is the coolest, thank you for sharing.
McMike
> Grindintosecond
10/09/2015 at 08:24 |
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The 377’s hardest job?
Flying fast enough to refuel a B-52.
...or was it the B-52s hardest job to fly that slow?
These guys often had to hook up and complete the fueling in a slight dive, just to keep enough airspeed for the B-52.
These two didn’t hook up that often.
Same went for others
ttyymmnn
> McMike
10/09/2015 at 16:32 |
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Which shows why the KC-135 was such a desperately needed aircraft. Fun fact: The
Boeing 367-80
, the prototype of both the KC-135 and 707, was designed first as a refueling aircraft. The famous airliner came later.
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ttyymmnn
> Grindintosecond
10/09/2015 at 16:39 |
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While the design is clearly from the past, the looks ooze the bright, shiny aluminum future. It almost looks like something out of Buck Rogers.
In case you missed it:
http://oppositelock.kinja.com/a-boeing-377-s…