Today, the 737 is one of the most famous (or should I say infamous) aircraft in our skies. However, if you trace its heritage back to the beginning, you’ll find that it all starts with the Boeing 737-100, from which all other 737s are derived.
If you were to ask any avgeek to name a famous airliner, chances are that they’d reply “737”. Although the Boeing 737-100 is not the most famous (or infamous!) 737 variant, it is the aircraft that spawned the rest of them!
Chances are that if you flew on a 737 prior to 1971, it was a Boeing 737-100…
Pre-Boeing 737-100
During WWII, both sides were working to develop their own jet engines. By the war’s end, only the Germans and British had working designs, the latter of whom began mass development of their first jet fighter, the Gloster Meteor.
In the years following the end of the war, jet engine technology would advance significantly. By the start of the 1950’s, both the East and the West had a number of working jet fighters, including the aforementioned Meteor.
However, these jet engines were still relatively small, not being powerful enough to power airliners. But this all changed when the de Havilland Comet, was entered into service with BOAC, in May 1952.
Following this, a number of short-haul jet airliners were introduced, including the DC-9, Fokker F28 and BAC 1-11. This put Boeing miles behind its competition, who were all selling these jets far faster than they could build them!
In order to not be left behind, Boeing began work on a much larger jet airliner, that had a much longer range. This would eventually become the 727, and would similarly sell extremely well in its first few years.
However, airlines found that on some routes, the short haul jet airliners were too small to make a profit. At the same time, medium haul jet airliners like the 727 were too large to make a profit.
As such, they began wanting a jet that was in the middle…
Development
Boeing began development on a short haul jet airliner in May 1964. To do this, they would call in Joe Sutter, who had worked extensively on the 727 (and would later become the “Father of the 747“)!
Initial designs were essentially a twinjet 727, similarly having five-abreast seating. However, Sutter realized that if the engines were located on the wings, the fuselage could be widened enough to have six-abreast seating.
For cost saving reasons, Sutter also used much of the technology he’d pioneered on the 727, on the all-new 737. This would help to lower the 737’s development and thus, acquisition costs.
By February 1965, Joe Sutter and his team of Boeing engineers had a fully designed short haul jet airliner. This airliner was short, but fat and had the ability to carry at least 85 people (or more depending on the configuration).
That same month, Boeing released what it called the 737 to the general public. On February 19, Boeing would announce that Lufthansa would acquire 22 737s for a total of $67 million.
The 737 would be stretched a few months later, to make what we now call the 737-200. Boeing would designate the original 737 as the Boeing 737-100, with the ICAO code B731
Service History
After the Boeing 737-100’s firsts flight in April 1967, the 737-100 would be introduced with Lufthansa in February 1968. From here, it would have one of the longest service histories of any jet to date!
Commercial
For the 737-100’s entire service life, Lufthansa would be the largest operator of the type. Typically, Lufthansa would the 737-100 on its high demand, short haul routes, such as Frankfurt-Paris and Frankfurt-London among others.
Beyond just the Lufthansa order, Malaysia-Singapore Airlines (MSA) would also place an order for five 737-100s. Here, the airline would use them primarily on its Saigon-Singapore and its Kuala Lumpur-Singapore routes.
The only other airline to order the 737-100 was Avianca. They would place an order for two 737-100s, which they would later receive and operate well into the 1980’s. This also made Avianca the first (and only!) South American operator of the 737-100.
By the mid-to-late 1970’s, these airlines would sell part or all of their Boeing 737-100 fleet. Here, many of them would be acquired by major US airlines such as Continental, American and America West among others.
Within only a few years, these airlines would similarly get rid of their 737-100s. These 737-100s would be sold for extremely low prices, which appealed to the first generation of low-cost airliners such as Air Florida.
Air Florida would use the 737-100 until the early 1990’s.
During their time as commercial airliners, the 737-100 was renowned for a number of things. Primarily, the Boeing 737-100 was known for its luxury, with passengers having ample legroom, good service and comfy seats.
Charter
On top of becoming a favorite of low-cost airlines, the low price of the Boeing 737-100 attracted a number of charter airlines too. These airlines began to appear in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s.
These airlines could afford to operate the Boeing 737-100 (which was more expensive to operate than the newer 737-300/-400/-500s) because of how they conducted business.
You see, in the good months, charter airlines would operate the 737-100 on high-demand, short haul routes. In the low months, however, the 737-100 brought in revenue by transporting cargo, or by acting as a corporate transport jet.
This business model saw charter airlines who operated the 737-100, such as Aloha Airlines and Sierra Pacific, operate the aircraft and still make a profit, when other airlines could not.
Aloha would retire their Boeing 737-100s by the end of the 1970’s, whilst Sierra Pacific would retire theirs in the early 1990’s.
The main reason these airlines retired their -100s was because newer 737s, such as the 737-200 as well as the 737-300/-400/-500 came on the market. These were larger and cheaper to operate, which increased their profit margins.
As such, it was a no-brainer for many of these airlines. Retire their ageing 737s in favor of slightly newer ones that were much better!
NASA
In total, Boeing produced 29 737s for airline orders. Boeing kept the -100 prototype so the FAA and other regulatory bodies could inspect the aircraft prior to certification.
By 1968, most major regulatory bodies had cleared the Boeing 737-100 for flight operations, meaning that Boeing didn’t really have much use for the jet. However, Boeing didn’t really want to store the jet…
Initially, Boeing chose to fly the jet around North and South America to raise awareness for the jet, although this didn’t do much. Next, Boeing painted it in Lufthansa colors to make it so they didn’t have to build an extra 737.
However, Boeing soon found that it wanted to conduct a number of experiments on the 737, for possible future variants. And the prototype seemed like the best aircraft to use.
Eventually, Boeing had no use for this aircraft, and considered scrapping it. Alas, NASA was looking for an aircraft it could use as a testbed for a number of new systems, that, if successful, would be used on the first Space Shuttle.
NASA would designate this 737-100 prototype as NASA 515. In this capacity, NASA would evaluate new flight systems for NASA rockets. Using data NASA gathered from the -100 tests, NASA would make the necessary adjustments to the systems.
This has undoubtedly saved the lives of numerous astronauts, and has likely prevented at least a few high profile crashes too!
Museum
Alas, the space race ended. However, NASA continued to conduct regular tests flights involving NASA 515, continually evaluating new flight systems for future rockets and spacecraft.
In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed, hammering the final nail in the coffin that was the Cold War. With this, NASA became the pre-eminent space agency in the world.
Due to this, NASA continued to conduct bi-weekly flight tests until 2000. At this point, the jet was almost 35 years old, with the fuselage beginning to become quite weak due to constant flights.
From 2000 until September 2003, NASA 515 would make infrequent test flights, sometimes going months without performing any flights. Alas, NASA would retire NASA 515 in September 2003.
Following NASA 515’s retirement, it would be flown from the Langley Research Center in Virginia, to the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington. Despite being airworthy (at the time), it would go on static display there.
As of the time of writing, NASA 515 is still at the museum. It is currently located near the museum’s former British Airways Concorde, still painted in its NASA livery.
Next to the aircraft, there is an information sheet. This details the extraordinary service life of NASA 515, formerly under the Boeing registration, N73700.
Specifications
Despite the 737-100 being developed from scratch, it was subsequently developed into other jets. As such, it shares certain characteristics with its successors, namely wingspan, speed and service ceiling.
When Boeing released the 737-100 in 1968, its specs fitted its purpose perfectly. It was the perfect combination of the 727 and the short haul airliners of the era…
| Specifications | Boeing 737-100 |
|---|---|
| Length | 94 ft (29 m) |
| Wingspan | 93 ft (28 m) |
| Height | 37 ft (11 m) |
| Crew | 2 |
| Passengers | 85 – 103 |
| Cruise Speed | Mach 0.745 (796 km/h; 572 mph; 430 kn) |
| Range | 2,850 km (1,772 mi; 1,540 nmi) |
| Service Ceiling | 37,000 ft (11,300 m) |
| MTOW | 110,000 lb (50,000 kg) |
How Safe Was The Boeing 737-100?
In recent years, the 737 has seemingly gotten a reputation for being one of the most dangerous aircraft you could fly on. This is mostly thanks to the recent 737 MAX debacle, which saw hundreds dead, and the fleet grounded for 18 months.
Things are also not helped when you find out that the Boeing 737-200, the first aircraft developed from the Boeing 737-100, was infamous for having a number of high profile crashes.
Surprisingly, however, the Boeing 737-100 was not only one of the safest aircraft of its day, but also of today! Of 30 Boeing 737-100s ever built, only one was ever involved in an incident, which resulted in only two fatalities.
Whilst not a perfect safety record, it is one of the cleanest of a jet that age…
In 1973, members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) staged a number of aviation-related attacks on Israel’s allies. In this particular instance, the PLO members would choose to stage their attacks from Rome.
Whilst not their only attack, five PLO gunmen stormed a Lufthansa 737-100, taking the crew hostage. Here, they would force the crew to move the aircraft onto the runway and takeoff, heading to Athens, then to Damascus, and finally to Kuwait.
Prior to the attack, one of the gunmen had shot and killed an Italian customs officer who’d responded to the aircraft’s distress signal.
On the flight from Rome to Athens, two hostages attempted to retake the 737-100 by force. The gunmen would shoot both hostages, killing one and wounding another, the latter of whom would later get medical attention and survive.
Why Was The Boeing 737-100 so Unsuccessful?
Although subsequent variants of the 737 were insanely successful, it would probably surprise you that the original 737-100 was a commercial failure. In total, only 30 737-100s were produced, making it the least sold commercial variant of the 737 ever!
Mostly, the reason the 737 was such a failure was due to two things: Money and economics.
Firstly, when it was released, the 737 was in a category all on its own. As such, there was no other aircraft (at the time) to compare it to. As such, the 737 was either compared to the short haul or medium haul airliners of the day.
When compared like this, both the short and medium haul airliners seemed like better aircraft. For example, the short haul airliners were faster, whilst the medium haul airliners had longer ranges.
In many airlines, the accounting division and corporate brass weren’t effectively communicating. The accountants said that the short/medium haul airliners were better deals, not understanding what the brass needed, in effect, blocking the deal.
Secondly, the 737 was expensive. The 737 was the height of technology in the late 1960’s, and its price reflected that, $3.7 million in 1968 (roughly $28.7 million today).
When compared to say, a brand new BAC 1-11, which cost £900,000 (roughly $2.6 million at the time) the 737 seemed rather expensive. And this wasn’t even factoring in the Boeing 737-100’s higher operating costs!
And remember, this was all at a time when the US Government still fixed the price of each route. This minimized profits for airlines, which similarly made the 737-100 unattractive. Boeing would address these issues with subsequent 737 variants.
Legacy
Despite only selling 30 copies, the 737-100 would leave one of the largest legacies of any aircraft to date. In fact, you can see (and fly on!) its legacy even today, well over 50 years after the 737-100’s first flight!
Boeing
For years prior, Boeing had been one of the major players in the aviation world. At the time, Boeing was known for producing some of the best turboprop and jet aircraft of its era.
The Boeing 377 had been a behemoth, the 707 had been a masterpiece, and the 727 had been just what airlines wanted. However, the past-paced world that was the 1960’s soon saw all of these designs seemingly become irrelevant.
With this, it seemed that Boeing was indeed being left behind. It’s competitors, who’d released airliners at the same time as Boeing, had released all-new short jet airliner, which were selling quickly.
This spooked Boeing investors, who saw it as a sign of financial weakness. Media pundits too, took their shot at Boeing. With the release of the 737-100, both of Boeing’s two main issues were quashed in one fell swoop…
Boeing 737-100
The final Boeing 737-100 was retired in November 2003, with the rest having been retired by the mid-to-late 1990’s. Since then, no 737-100 has taken to the skies in any capacity.
Today, one 737-100 resides in a museum, whilst the other 29 are in various different states. Sadly, the vast majority of the 737-100s have been torn apart and sold for scrap.
Luckily, a few have survived and are currently sat in aircraft graveyards around the world. However, these are few and far between, with different -100s being located in different aircraft graveyards, even if they were operated by the same airline!
On top of this, as of the time of writing, none of these jets are up for sale. This essentially means that there is a relatively low chance of there being any kind of 737-100 heritage flight in the coming years either.
Future Aircraft
Beginning only a few months after the introduction of the 737-100, Boeing would release the 737-200. Essentially, the 737-200 was a lengthened version of the -100, with newer engines and an increased range.
Boeing would subsequently use both the -100 (in part) and -200 (mostly) as bases for subsequent 737 variants, including the 737-300, -400, -500 and -600. Collectively, these are known as the 737 Next Generation Family.
The expertise Boeing engineers gained whilst working on the original 737 would come in handy on future Boeing airliners too. The lead designer of the 737, Joe Sutter, would go on to lead the development of the 747 just a few years later.
Following this, a large portion of the engineers who worked on the 737 would subsequently work on the 757 and 767 too. For the 757 in particular, the errors of the 737 helped to make it such a successful airliner!
Did you ever fly on the Boeing 737-100? What was it like? Tell me in the comments!
Featured image courtesy of Aero Icarus via Flickr.