The 377 Stratocruiser & KC-97 Stratofreighter: Boeing's Great Post War Transports

Synopsis

What Happens When A Seattle Planemaker Takes The Most Advanced, Longest-ranged, Highest Flying Super Bomber Of World War Ii (the B‐29 Superfortress) And Adapts It As The Longest-ranged, Highest Flying Transport Of The Immediate Postwar World? The Result Was Boeing's Model 367, Originally Conceived As A Long-range Transport That Would Have Had A Role In World War Ii If The Campaign Had Gone Longer, But Which Was Adapted For The Commercial Market As The Model 377 Stratocruiser. It Was The First Commercial Passenger Plane That Could Provide Non‐stop Transatlantic Service. The Stratocruiser Went On To Serve With Pan American World Airways, Northwest Airlines, The British Overseas Airways Corporation (boac), And Other Airlines, Flying Both The Atlantic And The Pacific, As Well As To The Middle East And South America. It Became The Gold Standard Of Luxury And Efficiency. When Elizabeth Ii Made Her First World Tour As Queen, She Flew By Boac Stratocruiser. And Then There Was The Cold War. To Counter The Soviet Nuclear Threat, The Strategic Air Command (sac) Initiated An Unprecedented Build-up Of Jet Bombers. Because These Lacked Global Range, Sac Also Required An Exceptional Build-up Of Aerial Refueling Aircraft. The Model 367 Became The Kc-97, The First Dedicated Aerial Refueling Aircraft To Be Fielded In Significant Numbers, As 888 Were Built. As The Family Grew Long In The Tooth, Yet Another Career Awaited. Several Of The Original Airframes Were Rebuilt As The Inimitable Guppies, The Largest Volume Transports Ever Conceived. Working For Nasa, They Are Credited With Having Made America's Victory In The Space Race Possible. This Book Tells And How Service Continued Around The World, In The Second Decade Of The Twenty-first Century, One Of The Guppies Is Still Flying Routine Missions For Nasa. --publisher's Web Site. Introduction -- The Project Begins -- The Commercial Variant Takes The Lead -- The Model 377 Stratocruiser In Service -- The Model 367 C-97 In Service -- The Kc-97 Aerial Tankers -- The Stratocruiser Matures -- The Kc-97 Matures -- Turboprop Power And Further Developments -- The Stratocruiser's Later Years -- The Inimitable Guppies -- Appendix 1: Model 367 Specifications And Performance Data -- Appendix 2: Model 367 Variant Details -- Appendix 3: Model 367 Production Details -- Appendix 4: Model 377 Stratocruiser Specifications And Performance Data -- Appendix 5: Model 377 Stratocruiser Production Details -- Appendix 6: Model 377 Stratocruiser Variants And Original Operators -- Appendix 7: Model 377 Stratocruiser Selected Secondary Operators -- Appendix 8: Model 377 Stratocruiser, Violent Ends -- Appendix 9: Model 367 And Model 377 Acquisitions By Israel -- Appendix 10: Operational Strategic Air Command Wings Equipped With Kc-97s -- Appendix 11: Other Us Air Force Model 367 Operators -- Appendix 12: Air National Guard Model 367 Operators -- Appendix 13: Model 367/kc-97 Aircraft On Static Museum Display -- Appendix 14: Guppy Family Specifications And Performance Data -- Addendum: Inside The Kc-97l Stratofreighter -- About The Author. Bill Yenne. Includes Index.