In Australian Service – Boeing 707

The enormous changes which followed the introduction of the Boeing 707 have been permanent. The shipping companies which had previously been the mainstay of travel to and from Australia have all but disappeared from this role. Air travel which was once the domain of the comparatively wealthy has now tapped a huge new market.

The Boeing 707 has become synonymous with all these changes. Quite remarkable when one considers that the aircraft that created such a revolution came from a manufacturer which had previously produced relatively few airliners. Civil airliners from the Boeing stable had been mainly restricted to the piston-engined 247, 307 and 377 Stratocruiser. However, if Boeing did appear to lack a production background of churning out vast numbers of civil aircraft, their huge experience in the heavy military aircraft sphere was unmatched. The list runs to 12,731 B-17s, 3970 B-29s (World War II’s heaviest production aircraft), 370 8-50s, 888 C-97s, 1941 B-47s and 744 B-52s. Some features of the C-97 and 852 were incorporated in the civil jet airliner design which was to follow.

This project was initially known as the Boeing Model 367-80 in the early 1950s. Preliminary studies had foreshadowed an aircraft with a substantially modified C-97 fuselage married to a B-52 style of wing. Boeing had hoped to obtain US Air Force financial support for the project. When this did not eventuate, Boeing made a decision on May 20, 1952, to proceed with the construction of a prototype using their own funds. What at that time seemed a huge financial outlay (US $16,000,000 was involved) was in retrospect the best investment Boeing ever made.

When the prototype 367-80 emerged on May 22, 1954, the forerunner of the 707/727/737 series had arrived. Experience gained from the construction of some of their other aircraft was obvious. The fuselage was of double bubble format similar in cross-section dimension to that of the C-97 although the external crease had been eliminated. Power was provided by the Pratt & Whitney JT3 which was a civil version of the J-57 installed in the B-52s. If ever a reliable jet engine was needed by Boeing this was the time. They were indeed fortunate that the JT3 was available. This was the perfect example of a good aerodynamic design combined with an efficient powerplant.

Although Boeing drew on the 8-52 for the wing design it had been modified to fit in with the performance requirements of the 367-80. To allow the installation of a conventional undercarriage the dihedral of the wing was increased to provide better ground clearance for the outer engines.

When Boeing introduced a new system of model numbers in 1951 the production version was known as the model 707. Despite this, the prototype was always affectionately referred to as the Dash Eighty. The maiden flight took place on July 15, 1954, with the prototype carrying the appropriate registration N70700. The much hoped-for military orders were not long in coming when in September, 1954, the USAF signed up for 29 KC-135A Stratotankers. Many more substantial USAF orders were to follow. Pan American launched the civil order book with a contract for 20 aircraft. The manufacturing capabilities of Boeing were certainly considerable. The production line at the Renton plant was geared to produce up to 1 o 707s and 15 KC-135s per month.

The first aircraft to be delivered to Pan American was N709PA “Clipper America” on August 15, 1958, which made a proving flight to London on September 8. Regular services commenced on October 26 on the New York-Paris-Rome route followed by New York-London on November 16. The 707 era had begun.

Over the period of its production, the 707 underwent several changes which resulted in a variety of models tailored for different requirements. Broadly the initial version was the 707-120 available for use mainly on US domestic routes. Operators had the option of purchasing it with either a long fuselage (144′ 6″) or a short one (134′ 6″). Wing span was 130′ 1O”, gross weight 248,000 lb and range with maximum payload of 2670 miles (figures for long fuselage model).

The long-range version was heralded by the arrival of the 707-320 series. This mark was the basis of all the intercontinental 707s to follow. Wing span was 142′ 5″, length 152′ 11″, gross weight 316,000 lb, range 4020 miles. The first flight was on July 15, 1959, and the first 707-320 entered service with Pan American on August 26.

A major improvement was the “B” version, available in both the 120B and 3208 series. On the 320B, Boeing modified the wing in several ways. Full span leading edge flaps were fitted and improvements were made to the trailing edge flaps. Wing span was increased to 145′ 9″ a result of the addition of new wing tips which decreased drag. Powerplants were the Pratt & Whitney JT3D-3 of 18,000 lb static thrust and gross weight was lifted to 338,000 lb. The various modifications benefited operators by extending the range by 15 per cent. The maiden flight of the 707-3208 was on February 1, 1962.

The final significant improvement was the 707-320C which incorporated a strengthened floor and undercarriage and a large forward door. This version was used extensively as an all cargo aircraft or alternatively in a mixed cargo/passenger configuration.

One other important model was the 720. This was a lightweight aircraft designed for short-haul operations. By reducing the aircraft skin thickness and using lighter undercarriage forgings combined with a special lightweight JT3C with no provision for water injection gross weight was pared to 213,000 lb. This increased to 235,000 lb when improvements were incorporated in the later “B” models. The passenger load was up to 170 depending on the pitch of the seats.

Meanwhile, in Australia, Qantas were completing their evaluation of aircraft to replace the Lockheed Super Constellation. The main contenders were the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8. Other airliners that were under consideration were the DH Comet 4, Bristol Britannia and the long-range version of the Lockheed Electra. Although Qantas had been offered early delivery of the Comet 4 commencing February 1959 it was not an attractive proposition even when compared with the existing Super Constellations. The Comet actually would have been a backward step as it had 12 per cent less passenger and freight capacity than the Super Constellation. As the new generation of jets were expected to be able to handle the predicted traffic growth the Comet was too small compared with the US alternatives. The turbo props were not seriously considered as they would have not been competitive on main routes when Qantas’ contemporaries were operating pure jets.

The clue to the final shortlist was perhaps best deduced from a comment made by Qantas chief executive Mr C. 0. Turner when he said “Qantas was very interested in the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8” after returning from a tour overseas in mid-1956.

The decision was not long in coming when in September 1956 Qantas announced the purchase of seven Boeing 707-138 aircraft at a total cost of £18,800,000. The choice of the 707 was not so much as surprising as the actual model selected. The 707-138 was a short body variant of the 120 and Qantas was the only airline to acquire this version. The fuselage was constructed 1O feet shorter by removing 5 feet sections both fore and aft of the wing.

The 707-138 was particularly selected because of its excellent airfield performance. Many of the airports that Qantas operated out of were incapable of handling the long-bodied version without the imposition of substantial weight penalties. For example had the long-bodied version of the 707-120 been selected, coupled with the 1-2,500 lb engine thrust rating being offered at the time, the aircraft would have flown the Honolulu-Nadi sector with only a 15,000 lb payload. However, the short fuselage model combined with engines of 13,000 lb thrust would have increased the payload to 28,000 lb, a much more attractive proposition. Planned runway extensions at Nadi would enable this larger payload to be carried on the entire Southern Cross route.

At that time, Sydney Airport, Qantas’ home base could only offer a maximum runway length of 7898′ on runway 07/25 and 5,500′ on 16/34 with a 200-foot over-run at each end. Sydney in common with many major airports had inadequate runway lengths to cater for the needs of jet transports.

Both Boeing and Pratt & Whitney realised that the fuselage shortening and engine thrust increase were essential if Qantas were to be able to economically operate the 707 on trans-Pacific services. Boeing were most helpful in building a small number of short fuselage 707-120s exclusively for Qantas and Pratt & Whitney accelerated the development of the JT3 to deliver the power needed. The end product of all this work was Qantas’ 707-138, a perfect example of a made-to-measure aircraft.

Delivery had been expected between May and September 1959 to enable them to be introduced into service on the Pacific route in the middle of that year to compete with the Pan American Douglas DC-7Cs. Had Qantas selected the DC-8, delivery would have been several months later. Another disappointment for the British industry was the choice of the Pratt & Whitney JT3C-6 for the aircraft instead of the Rolls Royce Conway. However, Qantas opted for the Pratt & Whitney engined version as Conway-powered aircraft were not available until January 1960.

All the planning became a reality when on July 2, 1959, Qantas’ first 707, VH-EBB, arrived in Sydney. Qantas in fact was the first airline outside of the USA to take delivery of and operate an American jet airliner. Production was on schedule so by the end of September all the aircraft had arrived in Sydney. Qantas had accepted a delay in the delivery of its fleet as they had requested the fitting of a hydraulically boosted rudder. This modification became necessary to provide better control at full take-off weight at slow speeds. The shorter fuselage had necessitated the need for more positive rudder leverage.

The 707-138 aircraft were; VH-EBA “City of Canberra” later changed to “City of Melbourne”, VH-EBB “City of Sydney”, VH-EBC “City of Melbourne” later changed to “City of Canberra”, VH-EBD “City of Brisbane”, VH-EBE “City of Perth”, VH-EBF “City of Adelaide” and VH-EBG “City of Hobart”.

Intensive flight training was underway at Avalon in Victoria. By mid July approximately 200 training flight hours had been accumulated, an average of eight hours per aircraft per day.

The first trans-Pacific service was on July 29, 1959 and to London on the Kangaroo route from October 29, 1959.

As was to be expected there were initial teething problems in introducing the aircraft into airline service. In addition, the limited runway lengths at some airports did not help much either. On August 16, 1959, a Qantas 707 took off from Sydney at the start of a flight to San Francisco at 7. 25 pm. The pilot reported at 7. 45 pm that an engine had been shut down and he was returning to Sydney. Strong winds at Kingsford Smith Airport prevented an immediate landing. After circling Sydney for several hours at 29,000 feet the captain set course to Brisbane where he eventually landed at 11. 25 pm. Continuing strong cross winds had prevented a landing on the then main east-west runway at Sydney.

The fleet gradually settled down to establish an enviable record for reliability which prompted Qantas to order additional aircraft. On March 15, 1960, approval was given to Qantas to order three 707-138Bs and to modify its existing aircraft to 707-1388 standard at a total cost of £20,500,000.

All seven 707-138 aircraft were returned to Boeing between July and November 1961 for upgrading to 707-138B standard. Some of the modifications were, fitting of leading edge flaps, increase in fuselage length by 7 inches to 135′ 1″, and in height by 3′ 1″ to 41′ 8″. Although empty weight was up from 110,600 lb to 114,900 lb gross weight was increased from 247,000 lb to 257,000 lb. The conversion of all of Qantas’ 29 JT3-6C engines delivering 13,500 lb thrust to JT3D-1 turbofan standard of 17,000 lb thrust was carried out by American Airlines and the engines were then refitted to the Qantas aircraft.

Substantial improvements in performance were in cruising speed up from 550 mph to 600 mph and in better airfield characteristics. The 707-1388 was able to operate out of airports without the weight restrictions previously imposed. The runway length required for a similar load was reduced by 2000 feet. Fuel consumption was decreased by 1 O per cent.

The first new 707-138B VH-EBH arrived in Sydney on August 6, 1961, at the end of a record-breaking delivery flight in which a jet aircraft flew Honolulu-Sydney non-stop for the first time. The 5185 miles were flown in 9 hours 45 mins. The initial scheduled service of a 138B was Sydney-San Francisco on September 24. On November 13 VH-EBG flew Sydney-San Francisco on the last commercial 138 flight. It then continued on to Seattle for conversion.

Following introduction of the 707-1388 Qantas were able to revise their timetables to take advantage of the improved performance. For example on the Sydney-London via Middle East service, flying time was reduced by 2 hours and elapsed time by 4½ hours. On the Pacific route Canton Island was no longer needed as a refuelling stop because of the better range. All 707-1388 aircraft were referred to as V-JETS by Qantas and a new colour scheme was adopted which gave prominence to V-JET on the tail.

As Qantas’ services were expanded the need for additional aircraft arose. Three more 707-1388 aircraft were acquired bringing the total fleet to 13 (7 modified 707-138s and 6 new 707-138Bs. The new aircraft were VH-EBH “City of Darwin”, VH-EBI “Winton”, VH-EBJ “Longreach”, VH-EBK “City of Newcastle”, all delivered July/August 1961 and VH-EBL “City of Geelong” and VH-EBM “City of Launceston” delivered in August and September 1964.

With such a large fleet Qantas were able to update equipment on some routes and pioneer others. They replaced Lockheed Electras with 707-138Bs on the Sydney-Hong Kong-Tokyo route in November 1961 and Sydney-Noumea in December 1961. An interesting new service inaugurated in November 1964 was Sydney-Mexico City-London. Sydney-Christchurch was flown from April 1965 and Sydney-Port Moresby-Manila-Hong Kong from 1966.

It was becoming obvious that Qantas needed greater capacity to cope with the ever-increasing passenger and cargo loads. A series of orders for the larger 707-338C version began in 1963. Qantas eventually took delivery of these aircraft between February 1965 and September 1968. The 707-338C was a larger more versatile aircraft compared with the 707-1388. Powered by four Pratt & Whitney JT3D-38 turbo fans of 18,000 lb thrust each and with a gross weight of 333,000 lb, cruising speed was 570 mph, a decrease of 30 mph compared with the 1388. However, this was more than compensated for by its increased capacity. Passenger load was a mixture of 20 first class plus 120 economy or 165 all economy. Wingspan was 145’9″, length 152’11” and height 42’5½ “. One other noticeable external difference was the deletion of the ventral fin.

The first 707-338C VH-EBN arrived in Sydney on February 15, 1965. All 338Cs had a large 11’x 7′ 6” cargo door fitted and could be used as an all cargo aircraft if necessary. Aircraft VH-EBN to VH-EBS were initially delivered with a 630 cubic ft upper deck cargo compartment located on the port side. As the volume of freight being lifted increased these aircraft were modified during 1967 to allow them to carry mixed loads. Either all freight, a combination of freight and passengers (for example four loaded pallets each 108 inches x 88 inches plus 96 economy class passengers), or all passenqers.

As the 707-338C fleet grew Qantas gradually phased out its 707-1388 machines between 1967 and 1969. VH-EBA went to Pacific Western as CF-PWV, VH-EBB, VH-EBC, VH-EBE and VH-EBF to Standard Airways Inc as N790SA, N791SA, N793SA and N792SA respectively, VH-EBD and VH-EBG to British Eagle as G-AVZZ “Enterprise” and G-AWDG “Phoenix”, VH-EBH and VH-EBK to British West Indies Airways Ltd as 9Y-TDC and 9-Y-TDB and VH-EBI, VH-EBJ, VH-EBL and VH-EBN to Braniff Airways as N105BN-N108BN.

With its even larger 707-338C fleet Qantas made many innovative marketing decisions. The Jetabout tourist program to South-East Asia was launched in 1972. This gave the Australian traveller an opportunity to travel overseas at bargain rates. The tours offered initially were one week in Singapore for $299 (including fares and accommodation) or with a one-week extension in Malaysia for $399. Needless to say these flights were exceedingly well patronised. Other trail blazing flights were to China on a charter basis to the Australian Government and to South America for migrant flights to Australia. To demonstrate their range the 707-338Cs even flew Sydney-Buenos Aires nonstop.

With Boeing 747 deliveries commencing in 1971, the 707-338C gradually became surplus to requirements and were disposed of between 1972 and 1979. With the passing of the 707 Qantas has moved into the position of being an all-47 airline. Although the larger more glamorous Jumbo seems destined to overshadow its predecessor the 707 will always Be fondly remembered as the aircraft which gave most of us our first taste of big jet travel.

The Qantas Boeing 707 era came to a close on March 25, 1979 when VH-EAG made the last scheduled flight from Auckland to Sydney. The nostalgia of the occasion was best summed up by the following communications between the captain of VH-EAG and Sydney Tower. The service was QF 44.

QF 44. “For your information this will be the last scheduled landing of a Boeing 707 in Qantas service. ”

Sydney Tower. “Roger”.

Sydney Tower. “OF 44, with a tear in my eye, clear to land” oF 44. “I know how you feel”.

However, you can’t keep a good aircraft down for long.

Shortly after landing at 7. 30 pm, VH-EAG set off again on a charter basis taking a group of passengers on a flight centred on an area around Sydney. On the following day, it flew a return flight to Melbourne and back carrying passengers who had been stranded by an air traffic controllers’ strike. Following that, it was used for crew training by the RAAF prior to them taking delivery of it in its new Royal Australian Air Force guise.

A word of explanation should be made of the Boeing operator designation system. Each customer is allocated a two-digit number which is incorporated in the basic sub-type. The number for Qantas is 38. Hence when Qantas initially ordered the 707-138. When the later 707-120B and 707-320C were obtained they were accordingly identified as the 707-138C respectively in Qantas use.

This identifying customer number is used for all Boeing aircraft purchased by that particular operator. Consequently, Qantas’ current Boeing 747 fleet also has the 38 suffix in their designation, for example the 747-238B and 747-SP-38.

Details of the Qantas 707-338C fleet are as follows, including details of disposal.

In addition two other 707-320 series aircraft were leased by Qantas. These were VH-EBZ “City of Swan Hill”, a 707-349C leased from Aer Lingus (ex EI-ASO) from September 15, 1970, to September 1971, and N7099 a 707-327C leased from Braniff Airways from January 1, 1971, to September 30, 1971. It was returned to Braniff on October 16, 1971. This latter aircraft was used solely for freight services between Australia and the USA carrying the identifying markings “Qantas Cargo”. In the reverse direction, VH-EAC was chartered to British Caledonian as a freight aircraft for three months in late 1975 carrying the British registration G-BDKE.

Although the 707 no longer flies with Qantas, there are of course the two aircraft now in service with the RAAF as the remaining examples of the type in Australian use. They are used as either VIP transports or to carry RAAF personnel when required, particularly to Butterworth in Malaysia. The two 707s are A20-624 ex VH-EAD and A20-627 ex VH-EAG.

Although the 707 has largely disappeared from Australian skies it is very much in evidence around the world generally. At the beginning of 1981 of the 962 Boeing 707s ordered, 509 were still in airline service, as were 72 of the 154 Boeing 720s built. In addition, when one considers the vast numbers of other aircraft that can trace their lineage to the 707, such as the 727/737 and KC-135, the off-spring of the immortal Boeing 367-80 seem destined to be in use for many decades to come.

Specifications of the three versions which saw service with Qantas are as follows.