The Friday Flyby - Boeing 307 Stratoliner

Boeing 307 (NC 19903) in Elliott Bay, Seattle, March 28, 2002

I received an email from fellow vet (and longtime Chanter) Ox the other day, part of which had this to say -

When I first got to Tan Son Nhut after the flight from Guam, I saw a couple of unusual-looking prop-driven airliners over near the terminal, and misidentified them as 4-engine C-46s! Turns out they were a couple surviving examples of the 10 Boeing 307 Stratoliners ever built, and I misidentified them because of the sloped windscreens at the front of the fuselages. There is one of these planes still in existence at a facility out on the East coast, and I'm still hoping you may locate and publish one or more photos of it.

Well, you're in luck Ox, for I have seen this sole surviving example of the Boeing 307 Stratoliner, she's at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center (part of the National Air and Space Museum) in Chantilly, Virginia. She's a beauty she is.

Oddly enough, the aircraft I snapped a photo of at Udvar-Hazy is the very same aircraft depicted in the opening photograph snapped by the Coast Guard. According to the Pedia of Wiki -

The only surviving Boeing 307 Stratoliner (NC19903) is preserved in flying condition at the Smithsonian Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. On March 28, 2002, this aircraft crashed into Elliott Bay in Seattle, Washington, on what was to be its last flight before heading to the Smithsonian. Despite the incident, it was again restored, flown to the Smithsonian, and is now on display. (Source)

According to the FAA, she's no longer registered -

While I can't say for certain whether or not the old girl is still flyable, I note the presence of what have to be oil drip pans under each engine...

Very few (just this one?) of the aircraft at Udvar-Hazy have those, whereas most of the aircraft at Pungo do -

And yes, that is a Skyraider.
(Note the drip pan on the floor, under the engine.)

As to confusing the C-46 Curtiss Commando with the Boeing Stratoliner, it's not hard to do -

C-46F "China Doll", Camarillo Airport Museum
(Source)

It's that lovely rounded nose. In fact, my photo of the Stratoliner above was saved in The Chant's archives as "Curtiss CW-20." I misidentified that bird the first time I saw her as a "C-46," the civilian version of which is the CW-20. Sarge sees rounded nose and thinks "C-46," Sarge sees shiny fuselage and thinks "civilian." Therefore, I assumed that Udvar-Hazy had a Curtiss CW-20.

I was wrong... (Hey, it happens.)

I should have counted the engines! (Yes, I can count higher than "2," I have ten fingers and ten toes and I was in the Air Force. Also I'm a computer guy, I can count to 1,023 in binary using my fingers only. Unsigned of course. Don't ask, I'm sorry I brought it up...)

Anyhoo, the Stratoliner is a very pretty aircraft, according to the Pedia of Wiki -

In 1935, Boeing designed a four-engine airliner based on its B-17 heavy bomber (Boeing Model 299), then in development, calling it the Model 307. It combined the wings, tail, rudder, landing gear, and engines from their production B-17C with a new, circular cross-section fuselage of 138 inch diameter, designed to allow pressurization. (Source)

I can see a certain resemblance between the two aircraft, though the vertical stabilizer of the Stratoliner looks more like that "Cheyenne" vertical stabilizer of the later model B-17s, nothing at all like the B-17C. The rest of it though, does bear more than a passing resemblance to the B-17C.

As to the Stratoliners that Ox saw at Tan Son Nhut -

TWA sold its Stratoliner fleet to the French airline Aigle Azur who used them on scheduled flights from France to North and Central Africa, and later to French Indo-China. These 307s were later transferred to Aigle Azur's Vietnamese subsidiary and were used by a number of airlines in South East Asia, with at least one aircraft remaining in commercial use until 1974. (Source)

Maybe those birds were the ones Ox saw? FWIW, Aigle Azur ceased to exist back in September of last year, interesting. So they had a pretty good run.

The U.S. military did use the Stratoliner -

At the time the United States entered World War II in December 1941, flying across oceans was a rare luxury. The war required government and military officials to do so, and most four-engined long-range commercial aircraft, including Pan American Airways' 14 flying boats and TWA's five Boeing 307s, were pressed into service. Additional fuel tanks were added to give them the extra range required; once converted they were designated C-75 for military use. Before World War II ended their production, ten commercial 307s had been built. TWA flew domestic routes between New York and Los Angeles for 18 months until the Army purchased their Stratoliners for wartime use as long-range, transatlantic transports for various VIPs or critical cargo on January 26, 1942. TWA converted their 307s to military service in January 1942, and its Intercontinental Division (ICD) then operated these C-75s under contract to the Army's Air Transport Command (ATC) until July 1944. These were the only U. S. built commercial aircraft able to cross the Atlantic with a payload until the arrival of the Douglas C-54 Skymaster in November 1942.

Conversion to the C-75 included removal of the pressurization equipment to save weight, removal of the forward four (or five) of nine reclining seats along the port side, and alteration of the two forward Pullman-like compartments (of four) starboard of the left-of-centerline aisle. Space was thus provided for crew requirements on extremely long flights and for the addition of five 212.5 U.S. gallon  fuel tanks. The landing gear was strengthened, the maximum takeoff weight was increased from 45,000 to 56,000 lb, and the exterior was painted military olive drab. (Source)

One-half left front view of forward half of Boeing C-75 Stratoliner "Navajo" on the ground; eight unidentified TWA crewmen in uniform pose standing in a line in front; location unknown. Date is circa 1942, when all five TWA Boeing SA-307B Stratoliners were drafted into the U.S. Army Air Transport Command for service in World War II.
(Source)

As you can tell in that previous photograph, the Stratoliner is a fairly big aircraft. Standing next to it at Udvar-Hazy reinforces that impression. On last note from the Pedia of Wiki article on the Stratoliner which I found interesting was this -

Pan Am flew its unmodified 33-passenger Stratoliners between Miami and Havana until 1947, then sold them to small operators. One aircraft was purchased by the Haitian Air Force, being fitted as a Presidential transport for François "Papa Doc" Duvalier. This aircraft later returned to the U.S. and was purchased by the Smithsonian Museum. (Source)

Which this National Air and Space Museum press release confirms -

The Clipper Flying Cloud began service flying Caribbean routes for two years. During World War II, it flew in South America under the direction of the U.S. Army Air Forces. In 1946, it made daily runs between New York and Bermuda. Throughout the next two decades it passed through the hands of several owners, and once served as a presidential plane for the notorious Haitian leader "Papa Doc" Duvalier. After its Haitian sojourn, the Clipper Flying Cloud landed in Arizona.

Another good article on the Clipper Flying Cloud is here, explains how she wound up going swimming in Seattle.

One left out of only ten ever built, that's a rare bird indeed!

Thanks for the idea Ox!