Why you never got to fly on America's Supersonic Jet

The Boeing 2707, or in other words, The American Concorde

Imagine you were in a airport way back in the day, when propelled aircraft were getting replaced by jet liners. You are sitting in a lounge when you hear a big, supersonic boom. You look out the window and see a sleek, ghostly white jet fly past the window.

If you ever got to go fly on vacation, you might notice most airliners and jets are usually engine-powered. But back in the day, in the 1970's, there was a new airliner soaring through the sky: The Concorde.

A brief history lesson on the Concorde: The Concorde was a British-French turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner that was operated from 1976 until 2003. The jet had a maximum speed over twice the speed of sound at Mach 2.04 (1,354 mph or 2,180 km/h at cruise altitude), with seating for 92 to 128 passengers. First flown in 1969, Concorde entered service in 1976 and continued flying for the next 27 years. It is one of only two supersonic transports to have been operated commercially. The other jet, the Soviet-built Tupolev Tu-144, was what one might call a bit of a failure; it was grounded after a explosion at a airfield.

It was 1960, and America was actually watching the British and French work on the concept of the Concorde. America actually never thought that the British-French would be able to create such a thing, but time passed, and a illustration on paper turned into reality. On 1969, the British-French Concorde took its first ever maiden flight, and it was a major success.

In Russia, the Soviet Union had also been watching, and that lead to the development of the Russian Tupolev Tu-144. (Which, by the way, wasn't as much as a success as the Concorde, but I guess you could say that it ended tragically)

By now America was worried. They had clearly seen the Concorde turn into a reality, and if the British and the French were the first to start, continue, and excel in Supersonic Transport, that would seriously threaten America's current lead in civil aviation at that time.

Airlines are already beginning to show interest in the Concorde, which isn't good news for the Americans. Pan American Airways, at the time was America's Largest Airline, announced that they would purchase Concorde's to excel in their air travel service.

In 1963, the race was officially on. President John F. Kennedy announced that the government of the United States will officially fund the Supersonic Project, or, as in the USA, was called the National Supersonic Transport Project (what a long name! )

President Kennedy called up a group of aircraft manufacturers to create a supersonic jet. The group of aircraft manufacturers, Boeing, Lockheed, and North American Aviation all created prototypes for the Supersonic Jet Program. Below is there prototype names:

-Boeing: Boeing 2707

-Lockheed: Lockheed L-2000

- NAA: Nac-60

Making these prototypes were not easy, mainly because Kennedy told them to reach the goals of in which he wanted supersonic travel to be: 1.) it must be Mach 2.2 or Mach 3.0

2.) It must carry at least 150 passengers and 3.) It must be the same operating cost as other regular jet liners.

The Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, knocked out NAA . But at long last, Boeing won out between Lockheed in 1967.

Boeing design entry was, of course, the Boeing 2707. It would fly far much faster that the Concorde. But with that comes with a series of challenges. And that is how the Geometric Wing was created.

Like any other Supersonic jets, the 2707 was super sleek and was really flashy, and it also featured a never-had-seen-before Geometric Wing. That is what made the thing look so flashy. During landing or takeoff, the wing could be moved into various positions to help the aircraft land or take off much easier and quicker. It also was to help the aircraft land at slower speeds without stalling and it would make the 2707 much more controllable. During the average supersonic cruise, the 2707's wing would fold back and become aerodynamic, allowing it to travel faster. It also decreases the drag at Mach 3.0 Supersonic speed. This was the first (and last) time Boeing used a Geometric Wing on commercial aircraft. The folding wing can still be seen on fighter jets, such as the F/A 18.

Also on the wing were four Turbojets that are fitted with afterburners that would power the 2707. To counter the heat the Turbojets would create, they were cleverly placed under the wing and near towards the back. But that made the 2707 much more heavier, and that comes along with a extra set of landing gear.

Considering that the Boeing 2707's cruising speed is faster that the Concorde with more atmospheric friction, the exterior temperature would be several hundred degrees Fahrenheit hotter than the regular Concorde. Hot enough to soften regular aircraft aluminum. Boeing wouldn't want a melting pot in the air, so they came up with a solution to build the fuselage out of titanium along with components and systems that needed to be specially designed to withstand the heat.

The Boeing 2707 was also to fly higher than a regular jet, which meant more pressurization. Hence the tiny aircraft windows which were only six inches long. But Boeing solved that problem pretty quickly by creating a very advanced cabin entertainment system, or you can just say a bunch of small televisions.

Boeing became confident that the Boeing 2707 can work and was also confident that the aircraft can enter service by the mid 1970's.

However...

Boeing was pushing 1960's technology far past its limits (don't forget that they started concept this in the 1960's!) and that the aircraft isn't even ready to start its building process.

For starters, the Boeing 2707's aircraft frame was titanium and it is hard to work with and really, really expensive. The swinging wings was really complex and was super heavy to work with as well. This wasn't going to work. Which forced Boeing back to square one: The Drawing Board.

Boeing didn't give up, however. They scratched that plan and created another, this time known as the 2707-300. This new 300 aircraft had a Concorde-styled wing; a Delta wing. But even though Boeing was still struggling with the hurdles and mounds of problems, there was actually a bigger problem that all of those mounds of tech problems. We are talking a LARGE problem. And we are talking to the environment here.

The Oklahoma Boom Tests were conducted just months after that America's supersonic effort was announced. But it was one of the warning signs that officials seemed unwilling to acknowledge. Practical reality's were put on hold. The supersonic jet's journey can produce sonic booms that can be heard even 30 miles away. It was estimated that a single transcontinental flight (as from JFK to LAX, or New York to Los Angeles) can produce a sonic boom heard by over 3 Million people on its way on a SINGLE flight. That is totally unacceptable, especially for a overnight flight. Can you even IMAGINE anyone can sleep through? Oh, and just to see how tolerant people were, head to Oklahoma City in 1964, they actually agreed to six MONTHS of daily supersonic boom testing by the FAA and Air Force which was later known as Operation Bongo II. With Supersonic Jets flying over head all the time, all of those booms got windows to shatter in two of Oklahoma City's tallest buildings. Those test were forced to end early due to more that 15 thousand residents filed complaints and a further more 5 thousand for property damage. A full quarter of the city's residence said that they couldn't tolerate living with all of the supersonic booms.

The Oklahoma Boom Tests were conducted just months after that America's supersonic effort was announced. But it was one of the warning signs that officials seemed unwilling to acknowledge. Practical Reality's were put on hold because the competitive -ness of America's Aviation Industry and Nationwide Pride remained top priority.

But as the 1960's wore on, the technical problems grew, and grew, and grew. Then the total cost started going up and spiraling out of control.

In 1969, Mr. Nixon became the President of the United States. He announced that the Supersonic Jet was still going to be built. But this was tough for him, as the public not only have stopped donating, they were also against the Boeing 2707-300. It spread from Oklahoma to the whole conventional United States. At this point, the Boeing 2707 was clearly coming to an end. This was becoming a political issue.

1971 rolled around and the U.S Senate officially denied any more work on the Boeing 2707. It was in this year that the Supersonic Jet Travel in the US has officially died.

Two years later, in 1973, the FAA banned all civil supersonic transport across the USA due to the sonic boom, which impacted the Concorde's sales. Which basically means that the Concorde was also down. In the 1960's, people had imagined that many Super Sonic Jet's would be travelling around the world. But as you can see, it is hurtful to the environment, and is a disturbance in nature. So , the SSJ's have never since then have taken off again, but yet remains a wonder to the world.