In partnership with famend developer, Airplane Heaven, the Microsoft Flight Simulator workforce as we speak launched the most recent in our Native Legend sequence: The Boeing Stratoliner 307. Boeing astonished the world within the late Nineteen Thirties with the revealing of the Stratoliner 307, a glimmering and provoking monument to aviation expertise. Born out of the Golden Age of Flight, years within the making, and the main target of intense efforts by Boeing designers and engineers, the Mannequin 307 stood in a league of its personal as an airliner. The four-engine, long-range plane was the world’s debut high-altitude airliner, the primary to function a pressurized cabin, which allowed it to function as much as 20,000 toes above sea degree. The plane took its maiden flight on December 31, 1938, and was launched into common service on July 4, 1940. Boeing manufactured ten Stratoliners.
Boeing started the event of the 307 within the mid-Nineteen Thirties in response to airline business requests for an plane that would function at altitudes above most inclement climate occasions and comfortably fly above the passes of the Rocky Mountains. Engineers based mostly the 307 on the corporate’s B-17C bomber resulting from its aerodynamic efficiency, notably its long-duration flight effectivity. Particularly, Boeing adopted the bomber’s wings, engines, engine configuration, empennage, and touchdown gear for the design. The notable distinction from the B-17 was the fuselage. Boeing designed a round cross-section physique for the 307 with a most diameter of 138 inches. The round design facilitated the pressurized cabin to accommodate excessive altitude flight, and the massive diameter made snug seating configurations doable.
Constructed primarily with aluminum alloy, the 307 utilized stressed-skin engineering, the place the steel exterior works in live performance with the plane’s body for power, flexibility, and to keep up pressurization at altitude. The 307 may carry as much as 33 passengers and 5 crew, together with two pilots and a brand new kind of plane personnel on the time, a flight engineer. The flight engineer was liable for technical facets of the plane’s operation, together with cabin pressurization, energy settings, and electrical elements.
The 307 used engine-driven pumps to keep up cabin pressurization and will function as much as 20,000 toes above imply sea degree whereas holding an inside strain equal to that of 8,000 toes. Its identify, a portmanteau of stratosphere and airliner, mirrored its high-altitude working nature. Its spacious cabin accommodated sleeper berths, a galley, a rest room, and a dressing room along with snug reclining seats. The Stratoliner represented luxurious journey, a lot within the spirit of ocean liner voyages, an environment that airways sought to imitate.
American industrialist Howard Hughes bought the primary 307 Stratoliner to try setting aviation data. He finally transformed it right into a “flying penthouse.” Pan American Airways (Pan Am) bought three (every designated S-307) and Trans World Airways (TWA) bought 5 (every designated SA-307B). The Pan Am plane used Wright Cyclone engines with single-stage superchargers, and the TWA fashions used Pratt & Whitney powerplants with two-stage sequential superchargers. The 5 that TWA bought had been transformed for army use in World Conflict II. Operated by the US Military Air Forces, these airframes used the C-75 designation. Via subsequent gross sales to airways and governments, the 307 maintained an operational lineage till 1975, when the final one crashed.
Solely one of many unique ten Stratoliners has survived the years intact, a mannequin initially flown by Pan Am named “Clipper Flying Cloud.” It was meticulously restored to unique situation by 30 Boeing volunteers within the Nineties and flown from Seattle, Washington to Washington, D.C. the place it’s completely housed on the Smithsonian’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Middle.
The Boeing 307 Stratoliner measures 38 toes, 7 inches in size, stands 20 toes, 9 inches tall, and has a wingspan of 107 toes, 3 inches. It’s powered by 4 Wright GR-1820-G102A Cyclone radial engines that produce as much as 1,100 horsepower every and switch 3-blade fixed velocity propellers. The 307 has a spread of 1,300 miles, a service ceiling of 23,800 toes above sea degree, a cruise velocity of 222 miles per hour, and a prime velocity of 250 mph.
The Boeing 307 Stratoliner comes with 4 liveries: Boeing Supply, Emerald Harbor, WorldTravel, and AREA (Colombian). Climb aboard, energy up the programs, crank the engines, then set off into the heights on this traditional – out there as we speak for $14.99. The sky is asking!
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