For most avgeeks, the Concorde showed the pinnacle of commercial aircraft design. However, many don’t realize that America had their own SST: The Boeing 2707.
Had it been introduced, it would’ve arguably changed the industry forever. However, it was never introduced. Since then, it has been dubbed the “American Concorde” by the media. But why did you never get to fly on it?
Pre-Concorde
Ever since Hans von Ohain and/or Frank Whittle invented the jet engine, and Chuck Yeager subsequently breaking the sound barrier. Aircraft manufacturers have been looking for a way to transport people supersonically.
Following WWII, most major aircraft manufacturers had small-scale supersonic transport (SST) projects. However, supersonic technology was not advanced enough to safely and effectively transport large amounts of people.
As such, most aircraft manufacturers turned the majority of their gaze to jet-powered airliners. The first of these being the de Havilland Comet and BAC 1-11, and later the Boeing 367-80 (basis for the 707).
Following their introduction, jet-powered aircraft began to seem like a viable business until SSTs become viable on their own. Many of the discoveries these studies made were incorporated into supersonic fighter jets of the era as well.
By the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, viable, although crude, designs for future SSTs had been drawn up by most major aircraft manufacturers, with them being evaluated and refined.
There was just one problem: a lot of the technology needed for this existed. Although, was nowhere near advanced enough for application on an SST, even for the 1950’s/1960’s/1970’s.
Boeing’s SST design was a swing-wing design (similar to the F-111 Aardvark) designated at the Boeing Model 733.
JFK Administration
In 1961, following the end of the Eisenhower administration, John F. Kennedy became president. Perhaps due in part to the “Kennedy Curse” with plane crashes killing his brother and his sister, JFK wanted to improve the industry.
Shortly after entering the White House, JFK had the FAA draft up a report on air safety, following a series of high-profile crashes. Rumors abounded that the largest aircraft manufacturers were on the edge of financial collapse as a result.
Only a month after tasking the FAA with their report, JFK appointed Najeeb Halaby as FAA Administrator (the same man who also helped establish the Federal Air Marshal Service as well!)
Following the report, many advisers told JFK to cut his losses. However, it was Najeeb Halaby who convinced him to establish an SST program to “Jump start” the industry if you will.
Enter Concorde
In November 1962, BAC and Sud Aviation announced a joint partnership together for the purposes of developing an Anglo-French SST, joining their respective SST programs. This inadvertently led to the create of Airbus decades later.
Concorde threatened the US aviation industry, as well as US jobs. Following the BAC/Sud Aviation announcement, the US Government also became aware of the Soviet’s Tu-144, which could’ve led to the Soveits having an advantage over the US.
Many around the world began to see the future of aviation as supersonic, with the Europeans and Soviets in the lead. Fears abounded that one day, Air Force One might not be made in America, but rather, in Europe.
As such, Halaby convinced JFK that without a supersonic program of their own, the US aviation industry would be decimated, with 50,000 jobs, $4 billion being lost as a result.
In late May 1963, Juan Trippe, the then-president of Pan Am, publicly announced that he wanted an SST. What truly shocked the president: he said he’d buy it from Europe if necessary!
On June 5 1963, President Kennedy attended the US Air Force Academy. Here, he gave a now-infamous speech, saying that the Americans would build an aircraft that was larger and faster than Concorde (and also the Tu-144).
The Design
The FAA sent out design requests to Lockheed, Boeing and North American for the fuselages. (At the same time, they sent out design request for engines to Curtiss-Wright, General Electric and Pratt & Whitney).
Boeing, as with Lockheed and North american, sent in their design. Boeing’s design was the Boeing Model 733 (later known as the Boeing 2707). Lockheed’s design was the Lockheed L-2000 and North Americans was the NAC-60.
After review, the FAA decided to greenlight the Boeing Model 733 (Boeing 2707) and the Lockheed L-2000 for further development. Over the course of the next few years, Boeing would work with the FAA to get an “American Concorde” to rival Concorde!
As a part of the later design competition requirements, the Boeing Model 733 (Boeing 2707) and Lockheed L-2000 had to work with both the GE and P&W engines for the mock ups. (Curtiss-Wright was cut the same time as North American was).
Boeing and the FAA made several major and minor alterations to the Boeing 2707. Perhaps the largest was to do with the swing wing design. Tests had proven it was indeed possible for an airliner of that size, however, it was very heavy.
As such, Boeing and the FAA decided to merge the wing and tailplane to have a delta wing to make it lighter. With this, Boeing was also forced to adjust the engine placement as well as making several other minor changes as a result.
Specifications
Despite never actually being produced, Boeing promised an “American Concorde” that could outcompete the actual Concorde. They promised the following:
| Specifications | Boeing 2707 |
|---|---|
| Length | 306 ft (93.27 m) |
| Height | 46 ft 3 in (14.10 m) |
| Wingspan Swept | 180 ft 4 in (54.97 m) |
| Wingspan Not-Swept | 5 ft 9 in (32.23 m) |
| Seats | 277 |
| Speed | Mach 2.7 (2,900 km/h; 1,800 mph) |
| Takeoff | 5,700 feet (1,700 m) |
| MTOW | 430,000 lb (200,000 kg) |
Why Did The Boeing 2707 Fail?
In 1971, Boeing decided to cancel the Boeing 2707. This was due to several different reasons accumulating into the 2707 no longer being a viable project for the company.
Environmental Issues
Throughout the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, people truly began to look at what unfettered access to air travel was doing to the world. This in particular was used by politicians to rail against the 2707.
Several independent environmentalist groups found that high-altitude flying, such as those undertaken by Concorde and the Tu-144, were depleting the ozone in the upper atmosphere.
Years after the 2707 had been cancelled, in the early 1980’s, scientists discovered that there was a hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica. This was due, in part, to rigorous flights undertaken by the Concorde and the Tu-144.
Sonic Booms
There was also the issue of sonic booms. Despite the Concorde, Tu-144 flying at high altitudes, sonic booms over land would cause devastating effects.
In 1964, the US Government decided to do tests with their supersonic XB-70 (which was one of the fastest aircraft ever built!). They flew the XB-70 over Oklahoma City to test how people would react to the sonic booms.
The result was 9,594 complaints of damage to buildings, with 4,629 formal damage claims made directly to the US Government. This is not forgetting 229 claims for a total of $12,845. This was over a period of six months.
As a result, supersonic airliners were relegated to transatlantic flights, severely diminishing the market for SSTs.
Noise
Other than sonic booms, there was also an issue with noise. Despite the fact that they could fly in over land at supersonic speeds, supersonic aircraft were extremely loud traveling non-supersonic anyway.
This was especially a concern for airports. Many airports have schools nearby which have their own issues with subsonic aircraft taking off and landing anyway.
So with the mass introduction of supersonic aircraft, this would’ve become even more of an issue. As such, many environmentalist groups and even teachers and workplace unions got behind not supporting an American SST.
Poor economics
Just as with the other main subsonic jets of the time, Concorde and the Tu-144 “Concordeski”, and even other American designs, the 2707 would’ve been extremely expensive to operate.
Whilst we will probably never know if the Tu-144 was profitable or not, we do know about Concorde. According to British Airways and Air France, throughout the Concorde’s service, it was profitable.
However, both the Tu-144 and the Concorde had extremely high operating costs. It’s operating costs were estimated to be about three times what its fuel costs were.
Worst of all, the Concorde only had 92-120 seats depending on the layout from the airline. This gave it perhaps one of the worst economics per seat of any aircraft, ever produced.
Perhaps worse than that, there were only a few airports in the entire world that could support Concorde’s weight. However, these airports were usually some of the largest in the world, such as Heathrow, JFK and Charles De Gualle.
Had the Boeing 2707 entered service, it too would’ve suffered from poor economics. This would’ve limited the scope of who would (and could) operate the airline- legacy carriers. You wouldn’t see Southwest flying a 2707…
Budget Cuts
Throughout the entirety of the 2707’s design, the US Government had subsidized Boeing. Heavily. This gave Boeing the freedom to explore almost every aspect of supersonic commercial aviation it could imagine.
However, the 1970’s were a turbulent time for the US Government. The 1969-1970 recession strained the government’s already limited financial resources.
The result was that the expensive Lockheed L-2000 and Boeing 2707 programs, that at the time had yielded little to no results, were some of the first to be cut.
In March 1971, despite the Nixon administration and the general public having huge optimism and support for the program, the US Senate denied both Boeing and Lockheed any more funding.
Despite this, both Boeing and Lockheed kept on trying to get a working prototype ready for US airlines to place orders for. This was mostly due the fact that a large majority of the public and the president had support for the aircraft.
Members of the President’s inner circle as well as many high-profile members of the public got together to form the “National Committee for an American SST”. This committee urged supporters to donate as little as $1 to keep the project alive.
The Downfall
Despite having the backing of three presidents (although one was dead) and a large portion of the American public, this did not help Boeing or Lockheed pay the bills that soon racked up.
With no working prototype to present to airlines, few were willing to place orders. As such, Boeing, nor Lockheed could afford to keep their respective projects alive for much longer.
In early May 1971, Lockheed were the first to throw in the towel, citing the lack of government funding and the relative lack of interest from airlines at the time to be the reason why their L-2000 program was cancelled.
Later on the same month, Boeing too, was forced to abandon their project. Boeing called a press conference, where they officially announced the cancellation of the Boeing 2707/Model 733 project.
And that officially marked the end of the US’s attempt to create a supersonic aircraft for over 40 years…
Legacy
Despite never entering service, the 2707 did impact Boeing in more ways than they could have ever imagined!
Boeing 2707
Following the Boeing cancelling the 2707/Model 733, the two completed 2707 mock-ups had no purpose any longer. As such, Boeing decided to try and sell the mock-up, and if all else failed, scrap it.
Surprisingly enough, someone was willing to buy it. Boeing had originally thought that someone would buy it for scrap metal, seeing as how it never flew. However, someone reinvented the Boeing 2707…
Instead of scrapping it, they shipped it from Seattle to Florida, where the new owner built an aviation museum around it. As in, the building was literally built around the Boeing 2707.
Although the owner bought other aircraft to put in his museum, it wasn’t too profitable. After a few years, the owner was forced to close shop and sell his museum, including the aircraft.
The local church congregation was looking for a new church building and decided the museum would do the trick. After purchasing the building, they realized the issue with the building: They couldn’t remove the 2707.
As such, they just did church service around the 2707! Several years after, the church was able to remove the 2707 and scrapped the aircraft. After several years of searching, helicopter magnate Stan Hiller found it, and purchased it.
Hiller made sure that the remainders of the 2707 would be stored in the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Fransisco. In 2013, the 2707 was traded to The Museum of Flight in Everett, within walking distance from the place it was unveiled at.
Boeing
Following the cancellation of the 2707, and the downturn in Vietnam, and the downturn of the Apollo program, Boeing was devastated financially. Without the government contracts and subsidies, Boeing was unable to keep itself financially stable.
As such, Boeing was forced to suspend production of numerous aircraft, including the newly released 747 and the famous 727. At one point, Boeing even considered canceling the 737 as it wasn’t selling too well!
The demise of the Boeing 2707 also resulted in the loss of 60,000 jobs in Seattle alone, almost crippling the local economy. This resulted in further job loss from the companies that relied on Boeing employees.
What resulted was a massive recession that resulted in a mass exodus of people from Seattle. This resulted in the now-iconic billboard in Seattle reading “Will the last person leaving Seattle turn out the lights”.
Boeing didn’t completely throw away the 2707’s design. Boeing subsequently used the supercritical wing design that was designed for the 2707 on most jet aircraft.
Even recent Boeing aircraft have been inspired by the 2707. In 2001, Boeing offered the Boeing Sonic Cruiser, an aircraft that may have become the 787 had history turned out differently.
Future Supersonic Jets
The Tu-144 was retired in 1999 and Concorde was retired in 2003. For almost 20 years, there have not been supersonic airliners flying in our skies, on any route, anytime.
There are currently five supersonic jets in development at the moment. One, developed by Lockheed Martin, another by Gulfstream/Sukhoi, another by Spike, another by Aerion and another by Boom Technologies (Boom Overture).
Boeing has been working with Aerion (until recently) on their supersonic business jet. Boeing has learned from the 2707. Many of the design elements that killed the 2707 have been removed from the AS2 in order to ensure its success.
Aerion and Boeing have also learned from the three main reasons that killed the Boeing 2707- poor economics, environmental issues and government budget cuts.
Today, the Aerion AS2 is turbofan-powered, with economics similar to bizliner private jets. Due to being turbofan-powered, its effects on the environment are also less than turbojet-powered airliners such as the 2707.
Perhaps the largest reason why the 2707 failed was due to the US government cutting funding for the project. As such, Aerion, with Boeing, Lockheed, and most recently Airbus, have kept the AS2 100% privately-funded.
Would you have wanted to fly on the Boeing 2707? Tell me in the comments!