Boeing 707 facts
While investigating facts about Boeing 707, I found out little known, but curios details like:
When Alvin "tex" Johnston was told to "sell" Boeing's new 707 jet liner to a crowd of business men and reporters in 1955, he rolled the aircraft inverted in a 1 G maneuver called a barrel roll without the knowledge of the companies president.
The original World Trade Center towers were designed to withstand the impact of a Boeing 707
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 25 of the best facts about Boeing 707 I managed to collect.
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A test pilot for the Boeing 707 airplane prototype performed a roll in front of the audience attending an international airline summit in Seattle. When asked what he was doing by his boss, he replied "selling airplanes."
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John Travolta owns a Boeing 707 and his house is an airport
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Boeing plane models are always 7X7 not because of the Lucky number 7 but because the 700 division was in charge of transport aircraft after WWII. They started with 707 and kept the pattern from there.
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In 1965 a Boeing 707 had an engine blow up during flight and take 25 feet of wing with it. The plane made a safe emergency landing. Boeing then sent a second plane to pick up the stranded passengers and the front landing gear of that plane collapsed on the runway.
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In 2010 John Travolta flew tons of food and medical supplies on his personal Boeing 707 to earthquake-ravaged Haiti. He also brought a team of Scientology ministers who claimed they could "reconnect the main points" of victims' nervous systems by touching them through their clothing.
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John Travolta, besides being an actor, is also a commercial pilot for Qantas. He recently donated his vintage 1960s era Boeing 707 plane to the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society. The aircraft was also owned previously by Frank Sinatra.
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In November 1965 two retired airline Captains leased a Boeing 707 and circumnavigated the globe over the North and the South Pole on a 26,230-mile (42,213 kilometer), 62 hours, 27 minutes, 35 seconds trip.
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Tex Johnson, a Boeing test pilot, was to demonstrate the then-new 707 to a group of airline executives by doing a level fly by. Instead, he barrel-rolled the aircraft. When called in by his boss and asked what the hell he was doing, he said "Selling airplanes."
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John Travolta's home has two runways, and he can taxi his Boeing 707 right up to his house.
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A Boeing test pilot the company's first commercial jetliner--the 707--and performed a barrel roll at 490 MPH over Seattle. The pilot became the inspiration for the character riding an A-Bomb out of the plane in "Dr. Strangelove".
What is true about boeing 707?
You can easily fact check it by examining the linked well-known sources.
Tex Johnson did a roll with a Boeing 707 to sell planes
Although the last scheduled flight by a US carrier in a Boeing 707 (introduced in 1958) was in 1983, the aircraft wasn't officially "retired" from passenger service until January of this year when Iran's Saha Airlines' last 707 crashed. - source
In the Falklands War, Britain almost shot down a Brazilian civilian DC10 mistaking it for an Argentinian Boeing 707 recon plane. After the event, the rear admiral of the ship apologized stating ""Inconvenience to passengers' underwear regretted unless any of them were Argentinian"
In 1966, a Boeing 707 was brought down by turbulence, killing everyone aboard - source
John Travolta owned a Boeing 707 which he donated to Australian Aviation Museum this year
In 1955 pilot Pilot Tex Johnston did a barrel roll in a Boeing 707 passenger jet.
John Travolta is an accomplished pilot and owns a house in the Jumbolair community where he can land his Boeing 707 at the airport, taxi and park at his house.
On 8/6/1955 during a demonstration of the 707 prototype at Seattle's Seafair and Hydroplane races, Boeing test pilot Alvin "Tex" Johnson perform a barrel roll to show off the jet airliner to national and International aviation representatives.
