wanttaja
En-Route
My EAA chapter has a "White Elephant" gift exchange as part of its Christmas party. People drop unwanted aviation stuff in a box, wrap it, and get them awarded randomly.
Most years, I end up with junk I just throw out anyway...a broken LORAN, a 40-year-old book on the airline industry, etc.
This year, though, I made out like a bandit: A copy of Gene Kranz's book, "Failure Is Not an Option". Always meant to read it; now I can.
The present came with some photos, though... some neat Boeing historical pictures, mostly involving testing aircraft.
Don't pay attention to the label on the tail....this is NOT a Boeing 707!
Rather, it is the Boeing 367-80, the prototype of what would become the 707 line. The fuselage has a tighter diameter (only fits five seats across), and the 707 had a six-seat-wide one (at the demand of one of the potential first customers).
Boeing cognoscenti refer to this plane as the "Dash 80."
The wings are slightly different as well.
But you see, Boeing also had military contracts as well... the Air Force wanted a jet tanker. The Dash 80 spawned the incredibly successful KC-135 Stratotanker as well. Which had the narrower fuselage of the Dash 80, as well as the different wing.
This picture is interesting for a couple of other reasons. First, the Dash 80 doesn't appear to be landing at a "normal" airport. Note the lack of concrete or asphalt. Not sure if the Dash 80 is landing on a dirt strip, or whether there's a paved runway behind the Cessna.
The Cessna, by the way, appears to be an early Cessna 210. Likely some employees used it to reach the place where the landing was to be done.
My WAG is that this is Moses Lake, where Boeing does a lot of its test work (in Eastern Washington, with better weather than the Seattle area).
Finally, I'll like my car-nut friends identify the car, but look...there's a big whip antenna on the back bumper, and some sort of pattern on the truck lid. Don't know what the pattern might be for.
Note that everyone seems to be wearing short-sleeve shirts, and no jackets. But long pants....
This is a good shot of flight test engineers at work. Note the seated man has a slide rule (NOT an aviation computer), and all four men are wearing parachutes (often required for flight testing).
Note the man in the foreground has a cigarette, and he and the man behind him are wearing ties.
Caption on the back of the photo says, ""Seattle to Wash DC -- Bell Whitehead, Ralph Bell".
Bel (only one "L") Whitehead was a test engineer for the Dash 80. His biggest claim to fame? He was aboard when Tex Johnston rolled the Dash 80 over the Lake Washington....and he took the famous photo in mid-roll.
When I saw this picture, I *knew* I'd seen the airplane before, but for the life of me, I couldn't remember its name.
The Internet comes to the rescue: It's the Boeing Quiet Short Haul Research Aircraft (QRSA). It was developed to study the feasibility of a powered-lift, short take-off and landing (STOL) transport airplane. A de Havilland DHC-5 Buffalo propeller turbine transport was modified at the Developmental Center at Boeing Field (where I started my Boeing career!) in 1978
And guess what: This plane is up for sale. NASA has it listed, with the highest bid at this time at $10,000!
Nothing major here...just the prototype Boeing 747 in formation with a Grumman F-111.
It's possible (albeit unlikely) that the 'Vark was being used as a chase plane during testing, but I have my doubts. The F-111 was an expensive airplane to operate, and Boeing always had a good stock of F-86 Sabres and T-33s.
In fact, the photo was probably taken by someone in the back seat of one of Boeing's T-33s ("T-Bird").
My guess was that this was just a publicity shot. The F-111 and the 747 entered service at about the same time.
The only clue on the back of this photo is "Flip W." I'm guessing that was the name of one of the people involved.
Ron Wanttaja
Most years, I end up with junk I just throw out anyway...a broken LORAN, a 40-year-old book on the airline industry, etc.
This year, though, I made out like a bandit: A copy of Gene Kranz's book, "Failure Is Not an Option". Always meant to read it; now I can.
The present came with some photos, though... some neat Boeing historical pictures, mostly involving testing aircraft.
Don't pay attention to the label on the tail....this is NOT a Boeing 707!
Rather, it is the Boeing 367-80, the prototype of what would become the 707 line. The fuselage has a tighter diameter (only fits five seats across), and the 707 had a six-seat-wide one (at the demand of one of the potential first customers).
Boeing cognoscenti refer to this plane as the "Dash 80."
The wings are slightly different as well.
But you see, Boeing also had military contracts as well... the Air Force wanted a jet tanker. The Dash 80 spawned the incredibly successful KC-135 Stratotanker as well. Which had the narrower fuselage of the Dash 80, as well as the different wing.
This picture is interesting for a couple of other reasons. First, the Dash 80 doesn't appear to be landing at a "normal" airport. Note the lack of concrete or asphalt. Not sure if the Dash 80 is landing on a dirt strip, or whether there's a paved runway behind the Cessna.
The Cessna, by the way, appears to be an early Cessna 210. Likely some employees used it to reach the place where the landing was to be done.
My WAG is that this is Moses Lake, where Boeing does a lot of its test work (in Eastern Washington, with better weather than the Seattle area).
Finally, I'll like my car-nut friends identify the car, but look...there's a big whip antenna on the back bumper, and some sort of pattern on the truck lid. Don't know what the pattern might be for.
Note that everyone seems to be wearing short-sleeve shirts, and no jackets. But long pants....
This is a good shot of flight test engineers at work. Note the seated man has a slide rule (NOT an aviation computer), and all four men are wearing parachutes (often required for flight testing).
Note the man in the foreground has a cigarette, and he and the man behind him are wearing ties.
Caption on the back of the photo says, ""Seattle to Wash DC -- Bell Whitehead, Ralph Bell".
Bel (only one "L") Whitehead was a test engineer for the Dash 80. His biggest claim to fame? He was aboard when Tex Johnston rolled the Dash 80 over the Lake Washington....and he took the famous photo in mid-roll.
When I saw this picture, I *knew* I'd seen the airplane before, but for the life of me, I couldn't remember its name.
The Internet comes to the rescue: It's the Boeing Quiet Short Haul Research Aircraft (QRSA). It was developed to study the feasibility of a powered-lift, short take-off and landing (STOL) transport airplane. A de Havilland DHC-5 Buffalo propeller turbine transport was modified at the Developmental Center at Boeing Field (where I started my Boeing career!) in 1978
And guess what: This plane is up for sale. NASA has it listed, with the highest bid at this time at $10,000!
Nothing major here...just the prototype Boeing 747 in formation with a Grumman F-111.
It's possible (albeit unlikely) that the 'Vark was being used as a chase plane during testing, but I have my doubts. The F-111 was an expensive airplane to operate, and Boeing always had a good stock of F-86 Sabres and T-33s.
In fact, the photo was probably taken by someone in the back seat of one of Boeing's T-33s ("T-Bird").
My guess was that this was just a publicity shot. The F-111 and the 747 entered service at about the same time.
The only clue on the back of this photo is "Flip W." I'm guessing that was the name of one of the people involved.
Ron Wanttaja
(that's my story and I'm stickin' with it)
