A Look Back: Boeing’s Soaring Planes from the 1930s to the 1970s

Boeing has been building airplanes for a long time. The decades between the 1930s and the 1970s were a really important time for the company. They made many different kinds of planes that changed air travel and played big roles in history.

In the 1930s, Boeing built planes like the Model 247. This was a twin-engine airliner. It was much faster and safer than many other passenger planes at the time. It had features that are standard today, like retractable landing gear and de-icing boots on the wings. This plane helped show what modern air travel could be like. Boeing also worked on military planes during this time.

The 1940s saw a huge focus on the military. Boeing became well known for its bombers. The B-17 Flying Fortress was a key aircraft in World War II. It was known for being tough and able to take damage. Another major bomber was the B-29 Superfortress. This plane could fly higher and faster than many other bombers. These planes were vital for the war effort.

After the war, the 1950s brought the start of the jet age for passenger planes. Boeing developed the B-47 Stratojet and the B-52 Stratofortress for the military. These were important jet-powered bombers. But a really big step was the Boeing 707. This was one of the first successful jet airliners. When it started flying passengers, it made air travel much faster and more accessible for longer distances.

#1 Test pilot Edmund T. Allen testing a new Boeing Stratoliner, 1939.

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#2 Colonel Roscoe Turner showing his wife a model airplane at Mildenhall airfield, 1934.

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#3 A Pan American Airways flying boat over a clipper ship on the Spanish coast, 1938.

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#4 Two U.S. Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers in flight near Seattle, 1944.

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#5 A U.S. Boeing B-17e Flying Fortress bomber, 1946.

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#6 British Prime Minister Clement Attlee inspecting the crew of a Boeing B-50 Superfortress bomber, 1949.

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#7 The Pan-American World Airways clipper “Flying Cloud”, the first of a fleet flying between New York and London, 1949.

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#8 A Boeing B-17-C-type Flying Fortress bomber in flight, 1950.

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#9 Five mountaineers in a Boeing Strato-Trainer altitude simulator in Seattle, planning an ascent of King peak in Alaska, 1952.

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#10 Three Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers dropping bombs over North Korea, 1952.

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#11 Queen Elizabeth II at the Coronation Review of the RAF at Odiham, Hampshire, inspecting aircraft including de Havilland Venoms, B-29 Superfortresses, and F-86 Sabres, 1953.

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#12 U.S. Air Force Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker “City of Renton” on its maiden flight, 1956.

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#13 Interior of a Pan Am Boeing 707 jet airliner, 1958.

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#14 Boeing 707 Jet Stratoliner Number One under construction at Boeing’s Transport Division in Renton, Washington, 1958.

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#15 Jamaican immigrants arriving at Gatwick Airport, 1962.

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#16 A Boeing 720 crash-lands with a faulty nosewheel, 1962.

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#17 A steward and stewardess serving first-class passengers on a Boeing 747, 1970.

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#18 A Pan-American 747 jumbo jet at Heathrow Airport after carrying 380 people, a new world record, 1970.

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#19 BOAC stewardesses training for transatlantic Jumbo flights at Heathrow Airport, 1971.

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#20 John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin playing an organ on board their Boeing 720B “The Starship”, 1973.

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#21 A young woman watching a video on board Led Zeppelin’s Boeing 720B “The Starship”, 1973.

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#22 A hijacked Middle East Airlines Boeing 707 at Lydda Airport, Israel, 1973.

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#23 Boeing Chinook V-107 helicopters in Japanese Defence Force manoeuvres at Mount Fuji, 1977.

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#25 Howard Hughes flying the Boeing Stratoliner after its arrival at Grand Central Air Terminal, 1939.

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#26 A Boeing B-17E bomber flying through clouds, 1940s.

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#27 A BOAC Boeing 377 “Stratocruiser” flying over clouds, 1940s.

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#28 Passengers at the bar on the lower deck of a BOAC Boeing 377 “Stratocruiser”, 1940s.

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#29 Winston Churchill at a demonstration of a Boeing B-17 “Flying Fortress”, 1940.

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#30 Production of Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress bombers at the Boeing factory in Seattle, Washington, 1942.

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#31 A Boeing 377 “Stratocruiser” at the Orly Airport, Paris, 1949.

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#32 A Boeing 707 passenger jet flying through clouds, 1950s.

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#33 Four B-29 Superfortresses landing at an air base in Britain, 1950.

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#34 A Boeing 307 “Stratoliner” at Le Bourget Airport, Paris, 1950s.

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#35 A Boeing B-52 “Stratofortress” in flight, 1950s.

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#36 The unveiling of a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker prototype, 1954.

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#37 The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California.

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#38 A Boeing 707 at night,

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#39 A Boeing monoplane bomber (Model 8-9), 1931.

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