A few good precision component manufacturers images I found:
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: South hangar panorama, like gangplank
Image by Chris Devers
Quoting Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Boeing 367-80 Jet Transport:
On July 15, 1954, a graceful, swept-winged aircraft, bedecked in brown and yellow paint and powered by 4 revolutionary new engines first took to the sky above Seattle. Constructed by the Boeing Aircraft Organization, the 367-80, better known as the Dash 80, would come to revolutionize industrial air transportation when its developed version entered service as the well-known Boeing 707, America’s first jet airliner.
In the early 1950s, Boeing had begun to study the possibility of generating a jet-powered military transport and tanker to complement the new generation of Boeing jet bombers entering service with the U.S. Air Force. When the Air Force showed no interest, Boeing invested million of its own capital to build a prototype jet transport in a daring gamble that the airlines and the Air Force would acquire it when the aircraft had flown and verified itself. As Boeing had carried out with the B-17, it risked the organization on one roll of the dice and won.
Boeing engineers had initially primarily based the jet transport on studies of enhanced styles of the Model 367, better known to the public as the C-97 piston-engined transport and aerial tanker. By the time Boeing progressed to the 80th iteration, the design bore no resemblance to the C-97 but, for safety causes, Boeing decided to let the jet project be identified as the 367-80.
Function proceeded speedily following the formal start off of the project on Might 20, 1952. The 367-80 mated a large cabin primarily based on the dimensions of the C-97 with the 35-degree swept-wing style based on the wings of the B-47 and B-52 but significantly stiffer and incorporating a pronounced dihedral. The wings were mounted low on the fuselage and incorporated higher-speed and low-speed ailerons as well as a sophisticated flap and spoiler system. Four Pratt & Whitney JT3 turbojet engines, every making ten,000 pounds of thrust, were mounted on struts beneath the wings.
Upon the Dash 80’s initial flight on July 15, 1954, (the 34th anniversary of the founding of the Boeing Firm) Boeing clearly had a winner. Flying 100 miles per hour faster than the de Havilland Comet and considerably larger, the new Boeing had a maximum variety of more than three,500 miles. As hoped, the Air Force purchased 29 examples of the style as a tanker/transport right after they convinced Boeing to widen the design and style by 12 inches. Happy, the Air Force designated it the KC-135A. A total of 732 KC-135s have been constructed.
Quickly Boeing turned its focus to promoting the airline market on this new jet transport. Clearly the sector was impressed with the capabilities of the prototype 707 but never a lot more so than at the Gold Cup hydroplane races held on Lake Washington in Seattle, in August 1955. During the festivities surrounding this event, Boeing had gathered numerous airline representatives to get pleasure from the competition and witness a fly past of the new Dash 80. To the audience’s intense delight and Boeing’s profound shock, test pilot Alvin "Tex" Johnston barrel-rolled the Dash 80 more than the lake in complete view of thousands of astonished spectators. Johnston vividly displayed the superior strength and overall performance of this new jet, readily convincing the airline sector to buy this new airliner.
In browsing for a industry, Boeing discovered a ready consumer in Pan American Airway’s president Juan Trippe. Trippe had been spending significantly of his time browsing for a appropriate jet airliner to allow his pioneering business to sustain its leadership in international air travel. Operating with Boeing, Trippe overcame Boeing’s resistance to widening the Dash-80 design, now known as the 707, to seat six passengers in every single seat row rather than 5. Trippe did so by putting an order with Boeing for 20 707s but also ordering 25 of Douglas’s competing DC-eight, which had but to fly but could accommodate six-abreast seating. At Pan Am’s insistence, the 707 was made four inches wider than the Dash 80 so that it could carry 160 passengers six-abreast. The wider fuselage created for the 707 became the regular design for all of Boeing’s subsequent narrow-physique airliners.
Even though the British de Havilland D.H. 106 Comet and the Soviet Tupolev Tu-104 entered service earlier, the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-eight had been larger, faster, had higher range, and were more lucrative to fly. In October 1958 Pan American ushered the jet age into the United States when it opened international service with the Boeing 707 in October 1958. National Airlines inaugurated domestic jet service two months later making use of a 707-120 borrowed from Pan Am. American Airlines flew the 1st domestic 707 jet service with its own aircraft in January 1959. American set a new speed mark when it opened the initial routinely-scheduled transcontinental jet service in 1959. Subsequent nonstop flights between New York and San Francisco took only five hours – 3 hours less than by the piston-engine DC-7. The a single-way fare, like a surcharge for jet service, was 5.50, or 1 round trip. The flight was nearly 40 % quicker and virtually 25 % less expensive than flying by piston-engine airliners. The consequent surge of traffic demand was substantial.
The 707 was originally created for transcontinental or one-stop transatlantic variety. But modified with added fuel tanks and more effective turbofan engines, the 707-300 Intercontinental series aircraft could fly nonstop across the Atlantic with full payload beneath any circumstances. Boeing built 855 707s, of which 725 had been bought by airlines worldwide.
Getting launched the Boeing Firm into the industrial jet age, the Dash 80 soldiered on as a very productive experimental aircraft. Till its retirement in 1972, the Dash 80 tested several sophisticated systems, numerous of which had been incorporated into later generations of jet transports. At 1 point, the Dash 80 carried 3 diverse engine sorts in its 4 nacelles. Serving as a test bed for the new 727, the Dash 80 was briefly equipped with a fifth engine mounted on the rear fuselage. Engineers also modified the wing in planform and contour to study the effects of various airfoil shapes. Numerous flap configurations have been also fitted such as a very sophisticated system of "blown" flaps which redirected engine exhaust more than the flaps to increase lift at low speeds. Fin height and horizontal stabilizer width was later elevated and at one point, a specific several wheel low pressure landing gear was fitted to test the feasibility of operating future heavy military transports from unprepared landing fields.
Following a long and distinguished profession, the Boeing 367-80 was finally retired and donated to the Smithsonian in 1972. At present, the aircraft is installated at the National Air and Space Museum’s new facility at Washington Dulles International Airport.
Present of the Boeing Business
Manufacturer:
Boeing Aircraft Co.
Date:
1954
Nation of Origin:
United States of America
Dimensions:
Height 19′ 2": Length 73′ 10": Wing Span 129′ 8": Weight 33,279 lbs.
Physical Description:
Prototype Boeing 707 yellow and brown.
• • • • •
Quoting Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Boeing B-29 Superfortress "Enola Gay":
Boeing’s B-29 Superfortress was the most sophisticated propeller-driven bomber of World War II and the very first bomber to house its crew in pressurized compartments. Though developed to fight in the European theater, the B-29 found its niche on the other side of the globe. In the Pacific, B-29s delivered a variety of aerial weapons: traditional bombs, incendiary bombs, mines, and two nuclear weapons.
On August 6, 1945, this Martin-constructed B-29-45-MO dropped the very first atomic weapon utilized in combat on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, Bockscar (on show at the U.S. Air Force Museum close to Dayton, Ohio) dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. Enola Gay flew as the advance climate reconnaissance aircraft that day. A third B-29, The Excellent Artiste, flew as an observation aircraft on both missions.
Transferred from the United States Air Force.
Manufacturer:
Boeing Aircraft Co.
Martin Co., Omaha, Nebr.
Date:
1945
Country of Origin:
United States of America
Dimensions:
General: 900 x 3020cm, 32580kg, 4300cm (29ft 6 five/16in. x 99ft 1in., 71825.9lb., 141ft 15/16in.)
Materials:
Polished general aluminum finish
Physical Description:
Four-engine heavy bomber with semi-monoqoque fuselage and high-aspect ratio wings. Polished aluminum finish all round, regular late-World War II Army Air Forces insignia on wings and aft fuselage and serial quantity on vertical fin 509th Composite Group markings painted in black "Enola Gay" in black, block letters on reduced left nose.
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: Space exhibit panorama (misc)
Image by Chris Devers
Uploaded by Eye-Fi.