American SST:Race for a Dream-An Incredible Journey Into The Past About A Future Never To Be

Dark Roasted Blend ^ | April 18, 2014 | Avi Abrams

[lbryce]

Original Title:American Supersonic Airliners: Race for a Dream

Boeing-2707 SST: a Supersonic Marvel, Largely Forgotten Today

Capable of transporting 296 passengers across the ocean at 2900 km/h, developed 40 years ago, in 1968...

The Sixties (or for that matter, the Fifties) were truly amazing years when it comes to development of fascinating - and often futuristic - technology. The automotive industry, for example, entertained public imagination with powerful full-size cars, a true embodiment of the "American dream" and sheer optimism of the times. In space exploration, we reached all the way to the Moon; in air travel, the dream of an American-made supersonic passenger plane seemed almost certain to become reality.

Witness "Boeing-2707" SST (Supersonic Transport): a beautiful streamlined airplane, almost as big as a Jumbo jet and capable of Mach 3 speeds (much faster than the Concorde):

It all started in 1952 with a small-scale study of the feasibility of SST designs by the Boeing company, and things heated up significantly when in 1962 the governments of Britain and France decided to join efforts in the creation of a supersonic Concorde airplane. Then the intrepid Russians also came up with the Tu-144 aircraft (which proved to be as capable as the Concorde, but, sadly, was plagued by accidents and grounded after only 55 passenger flights).

The American government nearly panicked at this point (remembering all too well the embarrassment of the Cold War space race after the "Sputnik" launch) and quickly responded with its own program for Supersonic Commercial Air Transport (SCAT) development. The "SCAT" program got endorsement from President Kennedy himself in 1963 - and the race for dominating supersonic airways was "on".

Boeing 2707-300: already 2 years behind schedule... a prototype that never flew

[lbryce]

What an incredible article. Returning to the past to experience a harbinger of the future of overwhelming excitement, promise that like most of what was to be, was never meant to be.

Looking through this overwhelmingly comprehensive retrospective of a futuristic world of limitless resources where all that was needed was simply the ability to conceive in order to achieve. Finite resources, geopolitical consideration, the naive belief that technology would solve everything came crashing up against the limitations, political, economic restraints of the real world and Man's ego, vanity that everything was doable.

The markets, the laws of supply and demand, the physics and economics of flying was to decide the fate of these grandiose flying machines and not Man in his over-reaching homage to himself.

The future of personal travel was not higher, faster, more indulgent but quite the opposite as air travel remained mundanely subsonic, pedestrian and decidedly un-exotic.

Supersonic travel while it lasted turned out to be an economically unfeasible white elephant, relegated to a niche market the dynamics, economics of which assured it never turning a profit, kept aloft merely on the boneheaded pride of its European manufacturer.

The saddest aspect regarding the entire boondoggle that Supersonic Travel turned out to be is the manner in which it characterized everything about technology and the society of the future.

No flying cars, no moon bases, nor lunar vacation resorts, Martian colonies or any aspect of the fantastic technological society we've been promised for so long.

But we do have a Muslim space initiative that makes all the difference in the world,

[Unrepentant VN Vet]

Gee, I guess we all should have just told that bozo with his “wheel” gimmick to stuff his self-pride in his hat.

(I won’t bother with the /sarc. It didn’t come out of the media or some politician, so you probably wouldn’t appreciate it. ...oh, yeah. I’m one of those guys used to work on stuff like the SST.)

[ProtectOurFreedom]

I see a very basic design flaw in that Boeing 2707-300. Maybe leaving off the starboard wing was intended to save money and make the flights affordable.

[AnAmericanInEngland]

Back in the 80’s the prototype was in a museum in Kissimmee, Florida. The only time you could pay to sit in an American SST, albeit a plywood mockup.

[logi_cal869]

I’d forgotten about that site (lost in a long archive of hundreds of bookmarks/favorites from my prior PC).

Thanks for posting that!

[Former Proud Canadian]

This might seem harsh, it is just an observation. The US has gone from a "can do" nation of innovators to a "can't do" nation of parasites.

I don't blame the people of the US. Half of them are among the brightest, hardest working, most inventive freedom loving people on earth. The problem is that the leadership, the government, and the media have hamstrung the nation. The arteries have been artificially hardened and heart disease is setting in.

Look at the last century. This is a nation where a couple of bicycle mechanics from Ohio invented manned flight, without government help. An uneducated tinkerer from Michigan invented the American auto industry, without government help.

Even the government of the last century achieved big things. It fought a true world war, and not only defeated two totalitarian regimes, but turned them into democratic allies. It built the ultimate weapon and the delivered it in four years. It put a man on the moon in a little more time than that.

And now? The government can't even decide to allow a pipeline to be built that will help America immeasurably and keep that oil out of the hands of its enemies.

This is a sad century for America. I pray and hope things change.

[grobdriver]

Maybe leaving off the starboard wing was intended to save money and make the flights affordable.

Naw... accuracy and stability.
Like rifling!

[Jack Hydrazine]

Taking the Sonic Boom Out of Supersonic Flight
http://www.wired.com/2010/07/aerospace-giants-design-supersonic-jets-with-a-silent-boom/
http://www.nasa.gov/aero/sonic_boom_takes_shape.html#.U1EZ9Ff2ZC8
http://www.gizmag.com/boomless-biplane/21871/

[SunkenCiv]

The SST was cancelled thanks to LBJ’s and his Demwit congress’ massive budgets; basically, the Vietnam War devoured everything, including, eventually, the Apollo program. There were, if memory serves, three companies competing for the SST contract. As it worked out, the Concorde lost money throughout its operational life, and was looked at as a flying limo for those who didn’t think flying first class on a regular airliner was good enough.

Ah, there were three in the US:

http://www.airvectors.net/avsst.html

[PIF]

Yes, the 60s was the real beginning of the end of the American Dream. But be heartened, the Russians and the Chinese are picking it up, albeit in a slightly different form and context.

The promise today is more Government spending on things which make no real difference, other than going further into debt.

Inspiration today consists of aspirations of more navel gazing, more food stamps, more Government freebees.

We have absolutely wonderful TV shows which we can watch brainlessly at any given time, post inane comments about anyone or anything, and above all keep our brains free of thought and knowledge, as long as the party lasts and the booze flows.

We can, in this amazing wonder-filled new age, have sex, get married at any time or any place we choose to any one or anything and as many as we want.

More Americans than ever before are picking up the taqiyeh put forth by CAIR and other Islamic terror front groups, praying for the end of the Great Satan and a return to the dusty villages of the distant past to make our Great Leader happy. This will become the futuristic muslim space initiative as Americans fly into pieces and onto various spaces.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Bring your dramamine!

[SunkenCiv]

And of course, the crash of the “Concordski” in 1973 didn’t exactly sell the steak with the sizzle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aba7j3Mlmow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXMrR2MoaDk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mnOApwhRyI

[lbryce]

I’m am not a Luddite by any means and I resent the tone in which you disparage me for the very point you’re trying to make. You worked on an SST. Removing the sewage tanks from the plane? Working on an SST still doesn’t seem to make you at all literate.

[lbryce]

Why don’t you read my post a couple of times and allow the comments to penetrate your skull. If that doesn’t work, you can always use Google Translate. First place my comments in in the text field and click English as the language you want to translate. Then in the second text field click on the language of your first preference which in your case is “Moron”.

[22202NOVA]

If this had been built, think how much faster Don Draper could have gotten from NYC to LA for his latest assignation.

[lbryce]

Thanks for the information. Much appreciated. :-)

[Yo-Yo]

The SST was canceled because the US insisted on a Mach 3 aircraft, and found the technical challenges to be too great, and the costs way too high. The XB-70 Valkyrie showed what materials needed to be used and they were too costly for commercial use.

The Franco-British consortium (later to become Airbus) decided that Mach 2 was fast enough thus the Concorde was born.

[MNDude]

I believe in another generation, the moon landing will seem like a fairy tale... How could it be that USA in 1969 could put a man on the moon while a half a century later, doing such a thing seems inconceivable?

[TexasRepublic]

In 1,000 years our flight to the moon may be only a myth, obscured behind the mists of time like some Norse saga.

[Sequoyah101]

I would not say we are a nation of Can’t Do but a nation of A FEW OF US DO THINGS IN SPITE OF ALL THE EFFORTS OF THE REST OF YOU TO STOP US.

are hardworking and inventive? Maybe but only about 84 million of us working in the private sector support ourselves and ALL the rest of the nation. Less than 1/3 to 1/4 of us support everyone else. That can’t go on.

Every single government employee or contractor at every level of government does not pay taxes but merely refunds a portion of their mostly bloated income to the treasury.