Innovation Analysis Group has a fascinating podcast with Carlos Gomez, owner of Florida Air Transport, and a discussion of classic piston-liners, including the DC-6, DC-7 and Lockheed Constellation.
For those co-readers who are interested to know, I have a model of a Lockheed Super G. Constellation, tip-tanks and all, in KLM Royal Dutch Airlines colors, an exact replica of the airplane I flew over the Atlantic with from Amsterdam to New York Idlewild airport, with a refueling stopover in Glasgow, when I migrated to the US in May of 1956.
I had the fortune, almost against my own better judgement, to join Boeing that same year
and spent 33 years at the Co., first in (field) engineering and subsequently 28 years in International Sales in the S. Pacific and 16 years covering Middle Europe battling Airbus, before I retired in September of 1988.
I mentioned the words “against my better judgment,” because in 1956, commercial aviation,
the only side of aviation I was interested in, was nearly totally in the hands of the three giants
in California; Douglas, Lockheed and Convair!
Boeing on the other hand, had never produce a viable commercial aircraft until they started offering the 707, but the man who interviewed me at Boeing, fortunately convinced me that they had such an enormous head-start with swept-wing multi-jet-engined aircraft with the
B-47 and B-52’s, that the others would never catch up with them!
Well, not only was he right, but if anybody would have told me or anybody else in 1956, that Boeing would be the preeminent commercial aircraft builder in the whole world by the end of the last century, outside the USSR and that all three commercial aircraft builders in California would be out of business by that time, nobody would’ve believed it!
There is a lesson here, that there are no guarantees that Boeing, heaven forbid, will not face the same fate, either from Airbus or some other major manufacturer in the making, like China!
An all new 737 and NOT a re-engined a/p, a revamped or new 777 and the 747-8 would, I believe, delay if not prevent this from happening, for the first halve of this century at least!
For those co-readers who are interested to know, I have a model of a Lockheed Super G. Constellation, tip-tanks and all, in KLM Royal Dutch Airlines colors, an exact replica of the airplane I flew over the Atlantic with from Amsterdam to New York Idlewild airport, with a refueling stopover in Glasgow, when I migrated to the US in May of 1956.
I had the fortune, almost against my own better judgement, to join Boeing that same year
and spent 33 years at the Co., first in (field) engineering and subsequently 28 years in International Sales in the S. Pacific and 16 years covering Middle Europe battling Airbus, before I retired in September of 1988.
I mentioned the words “against my better judgment,” because in 1956, commercial aviation,
the only side of aviation I was interested in, was nearly totally in the hands of the three giants
in California; Douglas, Lockheed and Convair!
Boeing on the other hand, had never produce a viable commercial aircraft until they started offering the 707, but the man who interviewed me at Boeing, fortunately convinced me that they had such an enormous head-start with swept-wing multi-jet-engined aircraft with the
B-47 and B-52’s, that the others would never catch up with them!
Well, not only was he right, but if anybody would have told me or anybody else in 1956, that Boeing would be the preeminent commercial aircraft builder in the whole world by the end of the last century, outside the USSR and that all three commercial aircraft builders in California would be out of business by that time, nobody would’ve believed it!
There is a lesson here, that there are no guarantees that Boeing, heaven forbid, will not face the same fate, either from Airbus or some other major manufacturer in the making, like China!
An all new 737 and NOT a re-engined a/p, a revamped or new 777 and the 747-8 would, I believe, delay if not prevent this from happening, for the first halve of this century at least!
Great story, Rudy. I love the old piston driven airplanes, but the B-707 truly made Boeing one of the premier companies in the world.