Roden 338 1/144 Boeing 707 – 321

The Boeing 707 was a four engine narrow-body American airliner. It was powered by four Pratt and Whitney JT3C or JT4A engines.

The prototype flew in 1954. The first production Boeing 707 took to the air on December 20, 1957. It was in production from 1957 to 1979 and, during this time, 865 aircraft were manufactured.
The corporation began producing a series of intercontinental aircraft at the request of Pan American Airlines, whose ambition was to operate flights across the Atlantic Ocean. From 1963 to 1968, the Boeing 707-321 became the outstanding symbol of the airline’s success.

Pan American quadrupled its air traffic and dominated international air travel for a decade. At the heart of this was the Boeing 707-321. The aircraft became the most famous airliner of its time.

The pre-eminence of the 321 model was explained by the undeniable advantages the 707 possessed in transatlantic flights. But by the early 70s, the «seven-zero-seven» had become a victim of its own success. The aircraft had too little capacity to cope with the growing passenger numbers on the routes.

Until the early 2000s, the aircraft remained in service in Africa, Latin America, and… with John Travolta, bearing the tail number N707JT (the last two letters indicated the owner John Travolta). Cargo and military versions of the Boeing 707 still continue to fly, and will fly until around 2040.

During its long production run, several different versions of the aircraft were created with different engines and increasingly sophisticated avionics. Depending on the particular model, the Boeing 707 could accommodate from 141 to 189 passengers. Several military versions (such as the E-3 Sentry or the E-6 Mercury) were also developed from the basic Boeing 707 fuselage, which, however, were visibly different from the civilian versions.