when the American giant wanted to beat the Concorde with its own supersonic passenger plane

When we are told about supersonic passenger aviation it is almost impossible not to think of the Concorde. That aircraft with a tilting nose, delta wings and turbojet engines olympus 593Despite the fact that it stopped flying the skies twenty years ago, it continues to be the highest representative of high-speed commercial flights.

We cannot deny that the British from the British Aircraft Corporation and the French from Aérospatiale, the creators of the Concorde, were protagonists of the golden age of supersonic flight. However, they were not the only ones who thought that the transport of passengers at Mach speeds would sooner or later become standard.

The United States had a clear objective: to surpass the Concorde

The 1960s were key to supersonic passenger aviation projects. The Concorde was announced in November 1962, and in July 1963 the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union gave the green light to an equivalent called Tu-144. Meanwhile, US manufacturers were considering how to respond to this scenario.

From the National Aviation Federation (FAA) they estimated that not entering the market for supersonic passenger planes would be a big mistake. If the industry was destined to embrace supersonic speeds, airlines would end up buying such planes from European manufacturers, causing millions in losses to US manufacturers.

John F. Kennedy, who presided over the nation at the time, did not hesitate to promote an alternative American to Concorde. A competition was launched to select the most suitable contractors for the project that would be heavily supported by government funds. The firms chosen were Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

Concept image of the Boeing 2707

Although the project was in its early stages, airline orders began to flow rapidly. This put pressure on contractors, who had to have a product ready as soon as possible in order to position themselves at the forefront of the industry. Boeing did not take long to define the guidelines of his proposals for supersonic passenger transport.

The future Boeing aircraft should fly at about 2,900 kilometers per hour (Mach 2.7) with about 270 passengers on board. In addition, it was expected that it could travel around 6,500 kilometers. The objectives were as ambitious as they were difficult to achieve, but there was confidence that any obstacles that might arise would be overcome.

The concept originally called for a swing-wing system (such as we find in some fighter jets today), but this Concorde differential eventually became a problem. The mechanisms to make it work added too much weight to the fuselage, which penalized the promised autonomy, an apparently unalterable objective.

Boeing 2707 mockup

One of the alternatives that was handled within the Seattle company was to implement a traditional delta wing system. But this would also have its price: we would have to modify the fuselage to make it smaller, which would impact a decrease in the number of passengers. Finally, this alternative was chosen to transport 235 passengers.

In 1969, the Concorde had taken off for the first time as part of a test flight in Toulouse, France, and the US manufacturer was grappling with the basics of its project. By then, and with a couple of years delay, Boeing began working on a mock-up of the Boeing 2707 and two prototypes, although the enthusiasm was not the same.

Although Boeing had decades of experience in the aviation industry, the development of the supersonic aircraft turned into a nightmare. Engineers were forced to make multiple design changes as the project progressed, which resulted in cost overruns that were difficult to assume. Boeing needed more time and money to deliver on its promises.

A year later the problems only seemed to multiply. Environmental concerns surfaced on the release of water vapor and nitrogen oxides, doubts about economic viability (given the high operating costs related mainly to high fuel consumption), and the reluctance of Congress to release more funds.

Although the airlines had ordered 115 of these aircraft, this unfavorable scenario seemed to scare off lawmakers. The project, although it had the support of the new president, Richard Nixon, was opposed by the House of Representatives, which after a vote put an end to the idea of ​​building a supersonic passenger plane in 1971.

Images: Boeing

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