The first widely used commercial jet, the Boeing 707 brought America
into the 'Jet Age' of the late 1950s and created the template for
worldwide air travel today. The 707 first flew on December 20, 1957, and
less than a year later it made its first commercial flight from New York
to Paris. Initially flown mainly by Pan American, the Boeing 707 was
soon operated by both domestic and international airlines around the
world, and the popularity of the aircraft led to increased development
of air-traffic-control systems, airport terminals, runways and airport
infrastructure. The 707 remained in production until late 1978, by which
time it was too small to handle the increased passenger densities on
many routes, and it was retired to make way for more-modern jetliner
types. By the end of production, a total of 1,010 aircraft had been
built for civil use, though many of these subsequently found their way
into military service, and purpose-built military variants remained in
production until 1991. This book provides a fascinating portfolio of
images depicting a wide range of Boeing 707 variants in service around
the world, in passenger, cargo and military use. Like the aircraft
itself, the photographs, taken at airports in North, Central and South
America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, span the world,
showcasing many of the aircraft's diverse and colorful liveries.
