The Dash 80 - 707 Prototype - made it's First Flight from Renton - 60 years ago today. It was a flight that changed Boeing - and the world - forever.
On Saturday, July 12, I led a walk-around tour at the Museum of Flight - covering the history of Boeing jetliners. My thrust was perhaps a little different from that which some may have expected. For me, the success of Boeing's jet transport line was not the designing, and building, and flying of the 707 - it was something else - a subtle but profound attitude change inside Boeing. And the critical event was not the kick-off order for the 707 from Pan Am, but rather the later order from American Airlines.You can read all about it here:
http://www.rbogash.com/Boeing/707-is-60.htmlAnd here is Tex Johnston doing his famous barrel roll:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KNbKFMBsQE
