The Boeing 2707 Super Sonic Transport (SST) was the United States' answer to Europe's Concorde. The manufacturer designed it to be larger, fly further, and have greater capacity than its counterpart across the Atlantic Ocean. However, the project was canceled in 1971 before two prototypes of the plane were ever completed.

Given Concorde's subsequent struggles and retirement in the early 2000s, Boeing may feel it dodged a proverbial bullet by staying out of the supersonic flight game. However, with supersonic flight due to make a comeback within the next decade, many wonder what could have been if the Boeing 2707 made it to market.

High hopes

Altogether, Boeing hoped the 2707 would carry 292 passengers in two classes - 28 customers would be in first class with 40 inches of legroom, while 264 people would be in economy with 34 inches of legroom. Moreover, four General Electric GE4/J5P turbojets with 63,200 lb/f (281 kN) of thrust would have powered the jet, pushing the aircraft up to Mach 2.7. The plane would also have a range of approximately 6,400 km or 3,500 nautical miles.

The prospect of supersonic commercial travel was all the rage during the 1950s and 1960s. Boeing had been working on several small-scale SST studies since 1952 - however, after the formal announcement of the Concorde in 1962, there were concerns the US planemaker was falling behind.

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) director Najeeb Halaby subsequently wrote a letter to President Kennedy. He stated that if the US did not immediately ramp up its SST effort, the nation would lose 50,000 jobs, $4 billion in income, and $3 billion in capital as local carriers would turn to foreign manufacturers.

On its way

Therefore, several American outfits, including Boeing, Lockheed, and North American Aviation, submitted designs to take on the Concorde. On New Year's Day 1967, Boeing found out that its proposal, which was going by the name of Model 733-390, won the competition.

Following this achievement, Boeing refined the proposal to become the 7207. Two years later, there were delivery positions reserved for 122 Boeing SSTs by 26 carriers. There was interest from the likes of Alitalia, Delta Air Lines, Iberia, and KLM.

According to the BBC, Boeing's resident historian, Mike Lombardi, said Boeing's resources were shared across various groundbreaking projects during this period. However, despite split attention, there was an extra focus on this supersonic aircraft. Lombardi commented,

"To put into context just how ambitious this was, when Boeing was working on supersonic transport, the company was also designing what would be the 747 Jumbo Jet, and the 737 airliner had just entered service. There was the space programme to get a man on the Moon, which Boeing was heavily involved in, and there were some military projects as well."

Even though the company was helping to send humanity into space and revolutionizing jet travel with the 747, the 2707 was still the number one project. According to Lombardi, Joe Sutter, who was in charge of building the 747, said getting engineers to design the iconic widebody was challenging. They were allegedly all committed to the supersonic plane.

A twist of fate

In 1971, the US government ended its financial support for the SST's production, which forced its cancellation. At that moment, there were 115 unfilled orders by 25 operators. Meanwhile, Concorde had 74 orders from 16 airlines, eventually rising to over 100.

Lombardi states it was the global economic crisis that forced the scrapping of the project, with the change of circumstances making it inefficient to deploy such a jet. Lombardi explained,

"What ended up killing [Boeing's design], and eventually Concorde itself, was the amount of fuel you had to burn. It became prohibitive. There was the recession of 1971, and the cost of oil started to rise. But even if it hadn't ended then, the oil crisis of 1973 would have killed it. It would have ended up being a disastrous project if it had still gone ahead."

Struggles across the board

Ultimately, the atmosphere across the US and the globe had changed by the 1970s. On a commercial scale, the 747 was a massive achievement and opened the door for several new markets across the aviation industry. For many passengers, traveling on the superjumbo was the first time they were in the air.

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While the 747 was nearing its introduction heading into 1970, there were design issues with the 2707. To fuel the robust engines and carry the designed load, the plane would be too heavy to hit the skies. So, engineers needed a lighter material, such as titanium. However, at the time, this was too costly, and authorities soon stopped any further funding.

There was also a lot of environmental opposition to the supersonic jet. Activists campaigned against the potential depletion of the ozone layer due to the high-altitude flights. They were also anxious about noise near airfields and from sonic booms.

An ever-changing market

In the aftermath of the project's cancellation, there were mass layoffs at Boeing, forcing many workers to leave Seattle. Nonetheless, supersonic travel did not live up to its potential on either side of the Atlantic. Following Concorde's launch, only 14 units of the type entered commercial service despite the jet attracting around 100 orders from 18 airlines. The few jets at Air France and British Airways served well for many decades, but there was still potential when it came to expansion.

Russia's efforts to roll out a supersonic jet ultimately proved unsuccessful, too. Although the Tupolev Tu-144 did make it into service with Aeroflot, it was beset by operational problems and would operate just over 100 flights before its retirement. Two high-profile crashes - at the Paris Air Show in 1973 and a test flight in 1978 - would see the Tu-144 program abandoned in the early 1980s.

There has been a lot of buzz around supersonic travel making a comeback, perhaps as quickly as in the next five years. One of the leading programs is Boom's Overture plane - aiming to enter service as soon as 2027 - so 'speed of sound' commercial travel could be back sooner than you think.

What are your thoughts on the Boeing 2707? Would you have been keen to fly onboard this aircraft? Let us know what you think of the plane in the comment section.

Source: BBC

  • 787-8 Dreamliner
    Boeing
    Stock Code:
    BA
    Date Founded:
    1916-07-15
    CEO:
    Dave Calhoun
    Headquarters Location:
    Chicago, USA
    Key Product Lines:
    Boeing 737, Boeing 747, Boeing 757, Boeing 767, Boeing 777, Boeing 787
    Business Type:
    Planemaker