This Date in Aviation History: April 8 - April 10

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 04/10/2020 at 12:35 • Filed to: wingspan, Planelopnik, TDIAH

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Welcome to This Date in Aviation History , getting of you caught up on milestones, important historical events and people in aviation from April 8 through April 10.

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A Boeing 737-823 lands at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. (Tim Shaffer)

April 9, 1967 – The first flight of the Boeing 737. At the start of the commercial jet era, the emphasis was on big airplanes. The four-engine !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! was the world’s first jet airliner but, when that aircraft began suffering from an alarming string of fatal crashes, Boeing was poised to step in with its own four-engine airliner, the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . The 707 went on to become one of the most successful airliners of the era and an icon of the early jet age. But a new trend began to develop in the airline industry, one that called for smaller airliners to operate on shorter routes. Boeing followed the 707 with the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! tri-jet, but airlines still wanted something smaller that would complement Boeing’s other offerings.

The prototype Boeing 737 in flight over Washington (Boeing)

Development of the 737 began in 1964 with plans to create an airliner that would accommodate 50-60 passengers. The German carrier Lufthansa signed on as the launch customer a year later, and requested that Boeing increase the seating capacity to 100 passengers. When United Airlines signed on to the project, they wanted an airliner with still more capacity. So the 737 was lengthened again, with the Lufthansa version becoming the 737-100 and the United version becoming the 737-200. However, Boeing found themselves lagging behind competing airliners such as the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , all of which had advanced to the point of flight certification testing.

To speed the development process, Boeing based the fuselage of their new airliner largely on the 727, using 60% of the 727's fuselage shape, particularly the upper lobe. This gave the 737 the same cross section as its predecessor and allowed for the use of the same cargo pallets as the earlier airliner. Bringing in the 727 fuselage also meant the adoption of 6-across seating in coach, which gave the 737 a distinct advantage over its rival Douglas and the 5-across seating in their DC-9. The relatively short fuselage, when mated to its swept wings, resulted in an aircraft that was just about as long as it was wide, and the 737 was dubbed the “square airplane.” Boeing also eliminated the flight engineer position, helping to set a new industry standard for only two crew members in the cockpit. The company also purposely made the airliner as close to the ground as possible to facilitate ground servicing, and even included an optional air star in the rear of the airliner. The first 737 was constructed at Boeing’s Plant 2 in Seattle, and was the last new airliner to be produced in the same building where the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! had been built. Despite the building’s size, the tail of the first 737 couldn’t be attached inside, so it was fitted outdoors using a crane before the airliner was rolled to the production facility known as the Thompson Site.

Though the 737 has since become the best selling airliner in history, its early days were less rosy. By 1970, Boeing had received orders for only 37 aircraft, and they were considering shutting down production and selling the 737 design to Japanese aircraft manufacturers. But, with the cancellation of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! supersonic transport (along with the loss of 50,000 jobs), reduction in the production of the 747, and an order for the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! version of the 737 from the Air Force, Boeing was able to keep production going. They were also able to continue development of the 737 into a wider range of variants, including the convertible 737C model with accommodations for palletized freight, and the 737QC (Quick Change) variant that featured palletized seating and allowed for a rapid switch from cargo to passenger configurations.

One of the secrets of the 737s success has been the airliner’s ability to continually adapt to changing times in a volatile airliner industry. Following the production of the 737-100 and -200, the last of which was delivered in 1988, Boeing began developing the -300/-400/-500 series, which would later be known as the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , each offering improvements in range, economy and passenger capacity. Most importantly, the Classic moved the 737 into the age of modern high-bypass turbofan engines, leaving behind the cigar-shaped !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! low-bypass turbofans in favor of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

American Airlines Boeing 737 Next Generation, with larger turbofan engines and added winglets to improve the efficiency of the wing and save fuel (Tim Shaffer)

In the early 1990s, Boeing undertook further development of the 737 to compete with rival Airbus and followed the Classic with the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which encompasses models -600/-700/-800/-900ER. While much of the 737NG is essentially new, it retains enough commonality with earlier aircraft to make it attractive to airlines with older fleets of 737s. Faced with even stiffer competition from Airbus, development of the venerable 737 airframe continued into the 21st century with the arrival of the 737 MAX beginning in 2011. The MAX 7, MAX 8 and MAX 9 are basically re-engined -700, -800, and -900 airliners with a few additional aerodynamic tweaks such as a tail cone borrowed from the 787 and new split scimitar winglets. It features still more efficient !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! engines for greater range and fuel economy, and the MAX 9 seats a maximum of 220 passengers, a load that exceeds even the highest capacity of the 707. Deliveries of the MAX began in 2017, and Boeing has orders on the book for more than 4,300 aircraft, though two crashes late in 2018 and early 2019 caused the type to be grounded until updates to flight control software and other modifications can be made.

A 737 MAX 9 of United Airlines prepares to take off from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (Tim Shaffer)

In July 2012, the 737 earned the distinction of being the first airliner to surpass 10,000 orders, and nearly 9,000 have been delivered so far. Today, two 737s are landing or departing every five seconds somewhere in the world. As for the prototype, it never entered commercial service, though it did operate as a flying laboratory for NASA for 20 years, and is now on display at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington.

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Short Takeoff

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(US Navy)

April 8, 1944 – The first flight of the Douglas BTD Destroyer. The Destroyer was designed in response to a 1941 US Navy request for a single aircraft to replace both the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Designed by noted Douglas engineer !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the Destroyer featured a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! wing and, in a first for a carrier aircraft, a tricycle landing gear. When the Navy changed its requirements, Douglas removed the extra crew member and the defensive armament. Still, only 28 were delivered before the war ended and production was canceled.

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April 9, 1964 – The first flight of the de Havilland Canada DHC-5 Buffalo, a cargo and transport aircraft developed from the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and designed for extremely short takeoffs from rugged or unimproved airstrips. Unlike its piston-powered predecessor, the Buffalo features a pair of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! turboprop engines. It was originally pursued by the US Army as a replacement for the Caribou before all fixed-wing aircraft were transferred to the US Air Force. However, the Air Force wasn’t interested in adopting it and only 122 were built. The type certificates for all the de Havilland transports were purchased by !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in Canada who plans to restart production of a newer, more powerful version of the Buffalo as the Buffalo NG (Next Generation).  

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From left to right: Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton. (NASA)

April 9, 1959 – NASA announces the Mercury Seven, the first American astronauts. America’s first astronaut class was selected to take part in the manned !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! spaceflights from May 1961 to May 1963. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! was the first Mercury astronaut to travel in space in 1961, just one month after Soviet Cosmonaut !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . He was followed by !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , then !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , who was America’s first astronaut to orbit the Earth. They were followed by !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . The seventh member of the group, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , was grounded for health reasons, but served as NASA’s Director of Flight Crew Operations until 1972 and finally went to space as part of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in 1975. The Mercury Seven formed the core of American astronauts, and members of the group played a role in all NASA space missions of the 20th century.

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April 10, 1963 – The first flight of the EWR VJ 101, a supersonic vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) interceptor developed as a replacement for the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Two aircraft, designated X-1 and X-2, were completed during the five-year test program. The X-1 performed the first successful hover in April 1963, then the first transition to forward flight five months later. In all, a total of 40 level flights, 24 hover flights and 14 full transitions were performed. On July 29, 1964, the X-1 reached Mach 1.04 without using an afterburner and, though the program showed promise, it was canceled in 1968 after its role was changed from interceptor to fighter.

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Connecting Flights

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If you enjoy these Aviation History posts, please let me know in the comments. You can find more posts about aviation history, aviators, and aviation oddities at !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

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For Sweden > ttyymmnn 04/10/2020 at 12:39

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Anyone who speaks poorly of the 737 gets to meet Mr. Torpedo

TheRealBicycleBuck > ttyymmnn 04/10/2020 at 12:47

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“Today, two 737s are landing or departing every five seconds somewhere in the world.”

Well, maybe not today.

A s always, excellent work!  

Chariotoflove > ttyymmnn 04/10/2020 at 12:48

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... but airlines still wanted something smaller that would complement Boeing’s other offerings...

then

... and requested that Boeing increase the seating capacity to 100 passengers. When United Airlines signed on to the project, they wanted an airliner with still more capacity...

It must be frustrating to try and make a plane that pleases everyone’s conflicting requirements.

facw > ttyymmnn 04/10/2020 at 12:49

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Here are some (bad) pictures I took of that first 737 (Boeing/The Museum of Flight probably should repaint it in the original yellow and brown, but the NASA livery looks good too):

ttyymmnn > For Sweden 04/10/2020 at 12:53

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I photographed a Poseidon at Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene, of all places. 

ttyymmnn > TheRealBicycleBuck 04/10/2020 at 12:55

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Yeah, not so much, and I considered making some mention of the current state of the aviation industry, but this is a history post and not a news article. So I left it alone. 

ttyymmnn > Chariotoflove 04/10/2020 at 12:55

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Indeed. Just ask Boeing how their plans for the 797 are going. 

For Sweden > ttyymmnn 04/10/2020 at 12:55

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An Air Force Base? Were the swabbies looking for luxury accommodations ?

ttyymmnn > facw 04/10/2020 at 12:56

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Ooh, I’d love to see that. I’ve got some shots of the Dash 80 at the U-H Center. 

ttyymmnn > For Sweden 04/10/2020 at 12:56

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Actually, they were just dong touch-and-gos. This one was based in FL.

facw > ttyymmnn 04/10/2020 at 13:03

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They’ve got the first 747 as well (though they don’t let you go up to the top deck):

Also a bunch of other stuff:

(and those don’t even show their Concorde, B-17, B-52, Constellation, plus a whole bunch of fighters)

The Dash 80 is very cool though. Hard not to see it as the prototype for not just the 707, but most of modern air transportation.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Chariotoflove 04/10/2020 at 13:18

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Just i magine what the military division is dealing with.

ttyymmnn > facw 04/10/2020 at 13:50

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And it was the B-47 that was the inspiration for all of it.

Dat 247 doe! The ASM has Roscoe Turner’s 247D , which was the first production 247. The website says it’s not on display right now, though. I do like that super retro UAL livery. 

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > ttyymmnn 04/10/2020 at 14:14

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I remember those rickety airstairs quite well. My local hometown airport (SNA) didn’t have jetbridges until they replaced the terminal in the late ‘80s. The weather in SoCal was generally quite good, so walking across the ramp to board your aircraft wasn’t a big deal.

I loved the old terminal, mostly for that easily-accessible observation deck. With no jetbridges in use it was easy to get great pictures, and I spent a lot of time hanging out up there and over and at the local McDonald’s just on the other side of the 405 from the airport. They had a separate little room (more like a booth) for us pilot types and it was equipped with a scanner and charts; there was a lock on the door, and the combination was the field elevation of the airport, 54 feet.

When you mentioned rear airstairs, my first thought was those on the 727, and I thought that’s what you were referring to, not realizing that the rear airstairs were an option on the 737. Those things on the 727 are strong as hell, unlike the ones on the 737, but that’s probably because they needed to function as a tailstand as well. Having nearly tipped a 727 on its tail, I have waaay too much first-hand knowledge of aft CG issues on the 727; thankfully my fat ass in the copilot’s seat prevented disaster by keeping us in a very precarious balance.

I tend to forget that the 737 is often used as a freighter, mostly because there hasn’t been a dedicated cargo version from the factory (if you exclude the convertible and combi versions) and I’ve only worked widebody freighters. When you mentioned cargo pallets I first thought of lower-lobe cargo, and the only narrowbody I’ve seen with lower containerized cargo is the A320/A321, although it’s not terribly common.

ttyymmnn > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 04/10/2020 at 14:21

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I’m old enough to have crossed a few tarmacs to board planes in my lifetime. I think the last one, though, was maybe mid-90s getting on an ATR to go somewhere. 

facw > ttyymmnn 04/10/2020 at 15:47

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I think it might be in the restoration hangar at Udvar-Hazy. A bunch of stuff from the commercial aviation exhibit on the mall was there, and I think that was one of them (though I’m not 100% sure). I assume that’s one of the spaces on the mall currently being renovated.

ttyymmnn > facw 04/10/2020 at 16:50

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Yes, I think ASM is undergoing a massive restoration and much has been moved at least temporarily. We went to the ASM the summer it opened, and went to the U-H Center right after it opened. I like the U-H better because it’s often not as crowded as the ASM. The ASM is one, if not the, most visited museums in the world.