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Boeing Model 367-80


ewahl

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These pictures date from 1958 and were taken at the Armed Forces Day exhibit at the O'Hare Base. I recently ran across them and thought you might be interested.

 

367-801.jpg

 

367-802.jpg

 

367-803.jpg

 

367-804.jpg

 

367-805.jpg

 

Sorry about the colors. They faded considerably over 51 years on the original Kodacolor print paper. There are different turbojet engines, a humped pylon, and a short vertical fin on the airframe at this time.

 

Ed

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Ed,

 

Thanks for putting these up. This has long been one of my favorite airliner subjects and I hope to someday do it justice in styrene. Anyone else out there having photos of this bird to share would be greatly appreciated too. All the best Ed!

 

Regards, Keith

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Thanks for posting those pictures, Ed. The 367-80 is a fascinating subject, and since it flew so long as a testbed, there's a whole variety of configurations and markings variations for the modeler. It looks like in your pictures the "Dash 80" still had the original blunt radome, too. Compare the "organ pipes" on engines 1 and 3, as used on commercial 707s, with the KC-135-style exhaust at #2 station, and note the 707-style turbocompressor humps atop the engines, too. You can also see the aft main-deck cargo door open in the third picture.

 

The "Dash 80" in its more-or-less original configuration (before the aircraft was converted to turbofan power and the inboard trailing edge of the wing was expanded) isn't too difficult a conversion for the AMT KC-135A in 1:72 or the Welsh KC-135A vac-form in 1:144 (or even a Revell 707-120 kit, with some work.) Cutting the fuselage down isn't difficult (the 707 "Detail and Scale" book gives you the measurements); you could also reduce the fuselage cross-section by four scale inches, but from experience, it's a lot of work and I really couldn't see much difference. When I do another one, I won't do that. (I'll also correct a lot of errors I made the first time around, too.)

 

From time to time I think about tooling a master for the 367-80 in 1:144 for resin and doing decal artwork for this aircraft, but every time I turn around, I'm finding new information. It would never get finished!

 

Jodie Peeler

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Thanks, Keith and Jodie, for your interest in this aircraft. It never occurred to me at age 17 when taking these shots that anyone (including me) would be interested in them at age 68. I may still have the negatives, which would hopefully not display the color fade and loss if reprinted. I'm surprised I had the mindset back then to wait for crowds and people to get out of the way rather than just impatiently snapping the shutter and moving on.

 

The 1/72 Archer vacuform kit of the KC-135 would also give you the wings and J-57 turbojet engines of the original configuration. That kit has an amazing number of choices available to the builder and a great decal sheet to go with them.

 

Ed

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The J-57 turbojet engines were LOUD. Who cared on military aircraft? On airliners, however, the first 707's in commercial service drew complaints from persons living on the paths of runways on the takeoff ascents as well as those who lived near airports and the airport employees who worked on the ramps. They were the first silencers designed to reduce noise without severely restricting thrust. They were used until the turbofan engines replaced the turbojets.

 

One thought, does anyone ever recall seeing a KC-135A with J-57's equipped with noise suppressors? I suspect the noise suppressors were used only on the early 707's. The first Revell kit of the American Airlines 707 had box art that omitted the suppressors. Very quickly the box art was changed as the suppressors were added to the kit and a cartoonish change was added on the painting by the engine exhausts.

 

Ed

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One thought, does anyone ever recall seeing a KC-135A with J-57's equipped with noise suppressors? I suspect the noise suppressors were used only on the early 707's.

 

I believe you're right. I looked through my stuff on the -135 today, but could find no evidence of any C-135 types ever having the organ pipes of the JT3C on the 707-120s. Of course, there's always the chance they were tried on one (and if that happened, I would love to see pictures!).

 

Though they were 707 airframes, the three VC-137A (707-153) aircraft delivered to the Air Force for VIP use in the late 1950s were delivered with organ-piped JT3Cs. They were re-engined with JT3D turbofans in 1962 or so and became VC-137Bs (707-153B aircraft). To make things even more of a headache for the 707 modeler, the 707-227s and the early 707-300s with JT4A engines (basically civilianized J75s) used a different sound suppressor pipe configuration.

 

One more thing: in looking through the books this morning, I was very interested to find that at its rollout, the very first KC-135A had the early J57 intake configuration, with the six big inlet vanes and the oil cooler intake (at least that's what I think it is) in the center. I knew the 367-80 had that configuration, but I'd never seen it on a KC-135A before; I'd always seen the configuration we all know, with the little oil cooler inlet on the cowl chin. Always learning...!

 

jodie

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Noise suppression-!? Well how 'bout dat - another cool, certified true aviation fact!

 

I can vouch for the 'loud', having been present when Loring AFB transitioned from the '135A-models to the new R-models in svelte, gloss gray, c.1989. It's amazing what you can - kinda - get used to.

 

Thanx!

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Thanks for those pictures, Steve (the peek inside the cockpit is especially good!).

 

In the second one, if you look closely, you can see where the inboard trailing edge of the wing was enlarged. Instead of the KC-135/707-120-style trailing edge with that little curve inboard where it meets the fuselage, it looks more like what was used on the 707-320B/C. (I can't tell if it also got the inboard leading edge wing fairing that was used on the 720 and 707-120 conversions, but it wouldn't surprise me if it did.) I forget exactly when this wing modification was done, but it's a detail worth noting for anyone building a model of this aircraft. Then again, that's the fun -- this airplane flew in so many different configurations that the fun never stops. There are quite a few of it wearing a fifth engine mounted on the aft fuselage, doing testing for the 727 program.

 

I'm looking forward to getting to the Dulles Annex someday soon to pay my respects in person. Every successful commercial jetliner since owes more than a little to good ol' N70700.

 

jodie

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