It would’ve flown nearly three times the speed of sound and carry more than 250 passengers
the distance from New York to Los Angeles in under two hours.
Its development was backed by a billion in U.S. government funding and
an army of Boeing engineers.
And airlines were lining up to buy it.
This, would’ve been America’s answer to Concorde.
The 1960's was a decade marked by relentless optimism for the future.
Laser beams, satellites, and moon landings.
This was a decade in which the world was changing quickly.
In just a few short years, propeller driven aircraft had been replaced by sleek new jetliners.
And while this new jet age was exciting, many were expecting an even bigger leap forward.
Air travel, was about to get a whole lot faster.
A 1950's propeller driven airliner could take 15 hours to fly from New York to London.
In the 1960's, a jet made that same flight in around seven hours.
But many were expecting that by the 1970's, supersonic transports would begin
replacing jets.
And they would fly two or even three times the speed of jetliners.
And that would cut a New York to London flight down to under three hours.
By the end of the 1970's, hundreds of these supersonic transports were expected
to be flying.
And nearly every major American aircraft manufacturer was dreaming up plans for them.
But these were still very much, just plans.
Because actually building a supersonic transport was an enormous challenge.
The technological hurdles alone, were daunting.
But supersonic transports wouldn't just need to fly fast, they’d need to be economical
enough for airlines to actually operate.
And these same airlines were already buying American made jetliners.
U.S. manufacturers had the commercial aviation market, pretty much cornered.
So there wasn’t the will to invest the massive sums of money needed to get any of these plans
off the ground.
But across the Atlantic, the British and French weren’t waiting around.
In 1962, the two countries announced a partnership to build Concorde, and this marked the first
serious effort to actually build a supersonic airliner.
And a few months later, the Soviets also jumped into the race with their Tupolev 144.
The Americans had been keeping an eye on the Concorde program well before 1962.
Over the years, they watched the program transform from a concept to a serious enterprise.
And that began to worry American officials.
Because if the British and French would be the first to open up the supersonic transport
market, and do so uncontested, well, that could seriously threaten America’s lead
in civil Aviation.
Thousands of aerospace jobs could be at stake.
A future American President might one day be forced to fly around in a foreign built
supersonic transport.
And airlines, were now also beginning to show interest.
Pan American World Airways, at the time the largest American international carrier, even
announced its intention to buy Concordes.
So in 1963, the race was on.
President Kennedy announced that the U.S. government would help fund the development
of an American supersonic transport.
Manufacturers were invited to participate in a design competition which outlined an
ambitious set of goals.
Develop an aircraft considerably faster and larger than Concorde, with economics comparable
to regular subsonic jets.
Just as ambitious were the design proposals from the three participating American manufacturers.
But after years of evaluation, it was Boeing’s design that was ultimately chosen in 1967.
And this was Boeing’s design entry, the 2707.
It would fly considerably faster than Concorde, and that introduced a whole slew of technical
challenges requiring some pretty radical solutions.
Like all supersonic transports, the Boeing 2707’s shape was highly streamlined.
But it also featured something unheard for a plane it’s size.
A variable geometry wing.
During landing and takeoff, the 2707’s wings would be pivoted forward to allow for lower
flight speeds and increased control.
During supersonic cruise, its wings would be swept back to counter the massive aerodynamic
drag it would experience as it approached three times the speed of sound.
The 2707 would be powered by four Turbojets fitted with afterburners.
To counter the heat they generated, they were uniquely positioned under the aircraft at
the rear.
But this this made the plane rear heavy.
And that meant the 2707 needed an extra set of landing gear.
Because it would cruise considerably faster than Concorde, atmospheric friction would
heat the 2707’s exterior to several hundred degrees Fahrenheit.
Temperatures hot enough to soften regular aircraft aluminum.
So Boeing would need to build the fuselage out of titanium, with components and systems
all specially designed to withstand the enormous heat.
And it would fly much higher than a typical jet, which meant more pressurization.
Hence the tiny cabin windows which were only six inches.
Luckily for passengers, the 2707 would feature an advanced in-flight entertainment system
with a cabin full of televisions.
Boeing was confident that the 2707 could enter service with airlines, by the mid-1970’s.
But this plane was pushing 1960's technology way beyond its limits.
It wasn't even close to being ready.
To start, the titanium alloy needed for the 2707’s airframe was expensive and difficult
to work with.
The swing-wing mechanism was complex and enormously heavy.
It wasn't going to work, and eventually, Boeing was forced back to the drawing board, designing
a plane with a more conventional delta wing, like Concorde.
But even as Boeing struggled to work through massive engineering hurdles, there was an
even bigger problem.
At supersonic speeds, aircraft generate loud sonic booms that can be heard along the entire
supersonic flight path.
A Boeing 2707 cruising at 60 thousand feet would produce a sonic boom heard as much as
30 miles away.
It was estimated that a single transcontinental flight would produce sonic booms heard by
over 5 million people.
And to see just how tolerant people were, in 1964, the good people of Oklahoma City
were to subjected six months of daily sonic boom testing by the FAA and Air Force.
With supersonic jets regularly flying overhead, booms cracked windows on two of the city’s
tallest buildings.
The tests were forced to end early.
More than 15 thousand residents filed complaints and a further 5 thousand made claims
for property damage.
A full quarter of the city’s residents claimed they couldn't tolerate living with the noise.
The Oklahoma boom tests happened only months after America’s Supersonic effort was announced.
But it was one of many warning signs that officials seemed unwilling to acknowledge.
Practical realities were put on hold, because the competitiveness of America’s aviation
industry and national pride remained at stake.
But as the 1960s wore on, the program was plagued by technical setbacks.
The ambitious program requirements were not being met, and an anti-SST movement had grown
from a handful of concerned citizens to a major national coalition of
environmental organizations.
Growing public opposition to sonic booms had spread to other kinds of other fears.
Some worried that hundreds of supersonic airliners flying at high altitude would emit enough
nitrogen oxide to destroy the ozone layer.
They painted a picture of a dystopian future, where exhaust gases and water vapor would
cover the earth in a permanent haze.
In 1969, Nixon took over the presidency.
By this point America’s Supersonic Transport Program was delayed by years, its budget ballooning
out of control, and the public’s enthusiasm wavering.
Two comprehensive reviews commissioned by the government questioned the future viability
of supersonic transports, and recommended ending public funding for the program.
So now, it was on President Nixon’ shoulders to make the difficult decision.
For fifty years, the United States has lead the world in air transport.
The decision that we announce today means that we will continue maintain leadership
in this field.
The supersonic transport is going to be built.
But by this point, many could see that the Boeing 2707’s days were clearly numbered.
With a worsening economic situation in the United States, the program was quickly becoming
a contentious political issue.
In 1971 the U.S Senate rejected any further funding for the project and the Boeing 2707
officially died.
Two years later, the FAA banned all civil supersonic aviation over the United States
due to sonic boom noise concerns, greatly impacting the sales potential of the Concorde,
and the viability of any future supersonic transport.
During the 1960’s many had predicted that hundreds of SSTs would fly the skies within
the coming decades.
While the Concorde flew many years, only 14 were ever delivered to just two airlines.
The Soviet Union’s TU-144 only flew regular passenger service for 8 months
on a single route.
When the 2707 project was canceled, the threat of foreign competition and concerns about
national prestige were no longer great enough to offset political, economic and
environmental pressures.
The public’s view of government programs and optimism over technology had waned.
Over the course of the 1960’s the world had clearly changed.
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