Before the introduction of the Boeing 247, most airliners were made out of fabric and were high wing monoplanes. However, Boeing designed the 247 to be revolutionary in so many ways.
And because of this, the 247 left a large impact on aircraft design of the era. You could argue that after the Wright Flyer, it was one of the most instrumental aircraft designs ever!
Pre-Boeing 247
Before Boeing introduced the Boeing 247, the vast majority of aircraft were biplanes, with fuselages made from fabric. Most aircraft before the 247 were also incredibly slow and had very short ranges.
At the time, crossing the US by air often took more than 36 hours, and usually required a change of aircraft or a layover. This, combined with only being able to have a few passengers and minimal cargo made it very unprofitable.
During the 1930’s, Boeing was a mega corporation, even more so than it is today. At the time, Boeing produced aircraft, produced engines (now known as Pratt & Whitney) and was an airline (now known as United Airlines).
Boeing Air Transport (the modern day United Airlines) understood that it needed an airliner that was both longer, wider and faster, with room for cargo as well as passengers.
This was passed on to William Boeing himself, who passed this request down to the heads of both Pratt & Whitney and Boeing Airplane Company. The heads personally helped with the development of the new airliner.
At the same time, many of Boeing Air Transport’s pilots demanded an aircraft that was much safer. More specifically, they wanted an airliner that had factory-issue safety measures.
Development
In late 1932, the first rough sketches of what the engineers dubbed the “Boeing Model 247” were drawn up. By January 1933, engineers had finished the sketches of the Boeing Model 247.
At the time, there was a lot of speculation as to whether the Boeing Model 247 would actually fly. After all, it was an all-metal aircraft and one of the largest passenger aircraft of its time.
Engineers also promised that the aircraft would have state of the art equipment, never before seen in the industry. These including things such as “autopilot” and retracting landing gear.
Despite initial skepticism, the head of Boeing Air Transport, and several of the top pilots were satisfied with the design. By February 1933, a working prototype was ready, first flying in February 1933.
The test pilots were happy with the results of the test flight and the newly christened Boeing 247 was put into production. The first Boeing 247 was introduced in May 1933, only a few months later.
It’s not often that an airliner is faster than the leading fighter jet of the day. However, when it was introduced, the Boeing 247 was faster than the Boeing P-12 biplane that was used by the US Army Air Corps.
Design Issues
Despite having one of the most advanced designs of its time, the Model 247 did have its fair share of issues during design and development.
Weight And Engines
Due to being made entirely out of metal, rather than having a part-metal, part-wood fuselage, wrapped in fabric, the Boeing 247 was extremely heavy. Due to its weight, there weren’t powerful enough engines available.
Engineers expected a fully loaded 247 to weigh in excess of eight ton. Most pilots didn’t believe that there was an airfield in the world that was long enough to accommodate an airliner that heavy.
Many of the employees at Prat & Whitney were also skeptical that they could create an engine that turned that fast. Although, they did make two, although different teams argued over which would be better.
This argument also resulted in a permanent rift being created between the head of Boeing Airplane Company and the head of Pratt & Whitney. Following the Boeing breakup, the two refused to speak to one another.
Wing Spar
Every aircraft has a wing spar, for most aircraft, this is something that often run through the bottom of the aircraft fuselage. This was common back then just as it is common today.
However, due to the cargo compartment, the wing spar ran through the main fuselage instead. This ran along the floor of the cabin, meaning that passengers had to step over it in order to get to the back.
This was a minor inconvenience and was often a source of complaint by the wealthy clientele that Boeing Air Transport attracted. However, in service with Western Air Express, it wasn’t too much of an issue.
Douglas Aircraft
After seeing the design, many airlines were interested in an aircraft that was faster and had a better range than any aircraft that came before it. Even many of the larger non-Boeing owned airlines were interested.
Transcontinental & Western Air (TWA), Boeing Air Transport’s biggest rival was one such airline interested in the then-Boeing Model 247. Jack Frye, TWA president, placed the order for several 247s.
However, Boeing denied the order. Understandably, Jack Frye went searching for an alternative, with better specs, where he found Don Douglas, founder of Douglas Aircraft Company.
Jack Frye told him about the Boeing Model 247’s specs, and asked if Douglas could beat them. Douglas began work on the Douglas DC-1, which would eventually become the very successful Douglas DC-2 and DC-3, starting the DC line of commercial airliners!
Service
The first 247s were ready later that year, one of the fastest turnaround times of any aircraft, ever. The 247’s launch customer was Boeing Air Transport (sister company of Boeing Airplane Company).
Pre-WWII
The 247’s first test flight was in February 1933. By the end of May 1933, Boeing Air Transport received their first of 60 247s, for $3.5 million ($68.7 million) in total.
For several years, Boeing Air Transport (which eventually began operating as United Airlines after being broken up in 1934) was the only operator of the 247.
Later on, Lufthansa ordered three 247s to be used alongside their Ju 52 aircraft. However, WWII got in the way of delivering the final aircraft. This final aircraft was subsequently stored and sold later on.
After a few years, this stored 247 was sold to a private individual in China. This sale marked the inadvertent birth of the business aviation market, although this wasn’t realized until the 1960’s with the Learjet 23.
The end of the 1930’s and the beginning of the 1940’s saw new and larger piston-powered aircraft come onto the market. As such, United began to retire several of the 247s, selling them to Western Air Express.
In the early 1940’s, Quebec Airways and Canadian Pacific Airlines acquired several 247s. These aircraft would serve on long haul routes across Canada and even international flights between the US and Canada.
WWII
The onset of WWII in 1939 was initially seen as “business as usual” by most people in the US. There were several remaining 247s in active service with different US airlines.
As Canada entered WWII alongside the British, many airliners were drafted into Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) service. The seven Boeing 247s operated by CPA and Quebec Airways were no different.
These 247s entered RCAF service as the Boeing C-73. Whilst in RCAF service, the C-73 was mostly a cargo transport aircraft, transporting munitions and supplies to and from different RCAF bases.
Occasionally, RCAF C-73s would be reverted into their original purpose, transporting high ranking Canadian military personnel. However, this only happened on rare occasions, and in times when other aircraft weren’t available.
The RAF purchased a civilian Boeing 247, before converting it into a C-73 transport aircraft. From that, the RAF C-73 was used as a test aircraft for new systems up until the mid-1960’s.
When the US finally entered the war, in 1941, they drafted a small fleet of 247s into the US Army Air Corps. These aircraft served in this role for the remainder of the war before being auctioned off.
Post WWII
After WWII, US-Soviet relations soured leading to the Cold War. WWII had led to the invention of the jet engine, which soon relegated most piston aircraft to the history books or museums.
The US Army Air Corps and RCAF retired their C-73s, returning them to their previous owners or auctioning them off at their owners requests. By 1955, the vast majority of Boeing 247s had been stored or scrapped.
However, SCADTA (the precursor to Avianca) operated 10 247s until the late 1950’s as a passenger airliner. Of those 247s that still remained in service, the vast majority were used as medium cargo aircraft.
The 1960’s saw an increase in the use of private jets. Some businessmen chose to convert former airliners into their own personal jets, of which the Boeing 247 was seemingly a favorite.
Throughout the 1950’s, Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek operated a 247 as his own personal aircraft. Although, technically this aircraft belonged to the Chinese government.
Chiang Kai-Shek’s personal 247 was used in the same sense that Air Force One is used today. Unlike Air Force One, Chiang’s 247 was equipped with a .50 caliber machine gun for protection.
Specifications
Due to the initial 247’s success, Boeing developed several other variants of the 247. These variants later became the 247A, 247E and the 247D. By far the most common variant was the 247D.
| Specifications | Boeing 247D |
|---|---|
| Length | 51 ft 7 in (15.72 m) |
| Wingspan | 74 ft 1 in (22.58 m) |
| Height | 12 ft 1.75 in (3.7 m) |
| Crew | 3 |
| Seats | 10 |
| Cargo | 400 lb (181 kg) |
| Cruise Speed | 189 mph (304 km/h, 164 kn |
| Range | 745 mi (1,199 km, 647 nmi) |
| Service Ceiling | 25,400 ft (7,700 m) |
| MTOW | 13,650 lb (6,192 kg) |
How Safe Was The Boeing 247?
Although you can’t really fly on a 247 (without flying on a heritage flight of some kind) it is important to know how safe/dangerous the 247 was. Compared with today’s jet aircraft, the 247 is fairly dangerous.
However, when you compare it with aircraft of the same era, such as the Douglas DC-2, Junkers Ju 52 and the Lockheed Model 10 Electra, the 247 was one of the safest aircraft of its time.
During its commercial service, there were only 16 accidents/incidents over a period of nine years. The vast majority of these were down to pilot error, although a few were down to poor maintenance.
Perhaps the most famous incident involving a 247 was in January 1937. Western Air Express (the forerunner of Western Airlines) was transporting ten passengers between Salt Lake City to Burbank.
Whilst flying near the mountains at Newhall, California, the pilot got disoriented and crashed into one of the mountains. Five of the thirteen on board were killed in the crash, with the others being injured.
This crash brought a lot of media attention, mostly down to who died. Of the five who were killed, one was Martin Johnson, a world-renowned early documentary maker and explorer.
Why Was The Boeing 247 so Successful?
For an airliner of its time, especially one that was released during the Great Depression and only really operated in it, and just after WWII, the 247 was quite successful, selling 75 copies in under a decade.
Many airlines were interested in the 247 due to its low price for an airliner of its size. When it was first introduced, the 247 had a list price of $65,000 ($1.3 million) compared to $80,000 ($1.6 million) for a DC-2.
For most airlines in the 1930’s, as it is today, safety is a big issue. The 247 was notoriously safer than its competitors such as the DC-2 and the later DC-3 (the latter of which is known as one of the most dangerous aircraft ever).
The 1930’s saw an uptake in all-passenger flights. However, many airlines still wanted to transport both passengers and cargo, not just one or other. With the DC-2, you sacrificed passenger space, with the 247, you didn’t.
Several airlines noticed that standard factory seats were both longer and wider than other aircraft. The aircraft was also much quieter, meaning that it was much more luxurious than other airliners of a comparable role.
Today, airlines are focused on being as fuel-efficient as possible, to reduce costs. In the 1930’s, it was the same. The 247 was much more fuel efficient than the DC-2, meaning you could operate several 247 flights for the price of one DC-2 flight.
Legacy
The 247 operated during the 1930’s and 1940’s, before being retired. After this, it left an impact on Boeing and the industry as a whole.
Boeing
The 1930’s saw the Great Depression- a time where many were out of work and the financial outlook was poor. The richest 1%- those who could afford to fly, were often not flying, although the vast majority still were.
Despite this phenomenal growth the aircraft manufacturing and airline industries were seeing, aircraft manufacturers were still skeptical. William Boeing in particular clamped down on R&D as a precaution.
Of the R&D Boeing did do, it was for immediate “cash cow” aircraft such as the 247. The money generated from the early sales of the 247 gave Boeing confidence to expand the R&D division back to its former glory.
Many of the researchers went back to researching aircraft designs that would be released later on. You may know some of these designs as the Boeing 307 Stratoliner and the B-29 Superfortress…
Boeing 247
After the 247 was withdrawn from service, many sat in hangars all over the world, collecting dust. Others, were scrapped for parts and metal, often ending up in the various aircraft graveyards.
With that being said, there were several museums, mostly in the US and Canada, who were interested in displaying a 247. As such, many of the pristine 247s that were stored or scrapped were restored and put on display.
To date, there are four surviving 247s. One is on display at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC. Another is on display at Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa. Another is on display at National Museum of Science and Industry in Wroughton, UK.
The last one is on display at the Museum of Flight. This is the only still airworthy 247 in existence. On certain days, this 247 performs a series of air heritage flights, re-enacting the 1930’s and 1940’s.
Future Airliners
The 247 had an impact on future airliners in two major ways: the Boeing 307 Stratoliner and the technology on board the aircraft itself. If you look at it, you could argue one led into the other…
At the same time Boeing was developing the 247, they were also developing the Boeing Model 307 (later the Boeing 307 Stratoliner). This airliner was be double the size, with double the range and a faster cruising speed.
The Model 307 including a lot of the technology that Boeing had invented for the 247. However, Boeing engineers in the R&D division had upgraded these technologies to work with the larger aircraft.
If you look at every modern airliner, introduced since 1945, they all have much of the technology pioneered on the 247. They all have retractable landing gear, autopilot and de-icing boots to name a few.
Have you ever flown on a Boeing 247? What was it like? Tell me in the comments!
Featured image courtesy of InSapphoWeTrust via Flickr.