10 Of The Strangest Boeing Aircraft Ever Made

Boeing is 1 of nan biggest and oldest manufacturers of ample airframes, and immoderate of its planes are beautiful odd. People subordinate it pinch well-known commercialized airliners for illustration nan 737, nan 767, and nan regal 747, nan "Queen of nan Skies," which went retired of accumulation successful 2023 aft 54 years. Yet Boeing has been building ample craft since nan early days of aviation, including nan 70-passenger 314 Clipper flying vessel that first flew successful 1938, arsenic good arsenic celebrated combat planes for illustration nan B-17 Flying Fortress and nan legendary B-52 bomber.

Boeing's agelong expertise successful building ample craft helps to make its planes perfect trial beds for experimental aliases special-duty planes. For instance, galore of its jets, including nan 747, are four-engine models, which makes them fantabulous for testing caller engines, since nan other engines connection redundancy if a trial motor fails. Boeing moreover built a shortened, stubby 747SP exemplary for typical projects.

One of nan astir celebrated oddball Boeings is Air Force One, pinch its iconic livery created by car designer Raymond Loewy. Yet this pitchy looks comparatively normal compared to immoderate of nan astir striking special-purpose Boeings. From other engines to wild-looking fuselages to gigantic radar dishes, present are 10 of nan strangest Boeings ever made.

Our first offbeat Boeing really served for years arsenic a rider airliner, albeit a uncommon one, arsenic only 56 were built: nan 377 Stratocruiser. Of those 56 aircraft, nary less than 9 crashed. Not a awesome information record, to opportunity nan least. Pan Am unsocial mislaid 7 of them successful conscionable 7 years of cognition successful nan 1950s. Ironically, it was Pan Am's desire for a long-range rider airliner to compete pinch TWA's Lockheed Constellation that led Boeing to build nan Stratocruiser successful nan first place.

The resulting craft sported a strange, bulbous, double fuselage that looked arsenic if nan apical half of 1 level had been grafted onto nan bottommost of different plane. This created a two-deck configuration pinch a downstairs lounge accessed by stairs — nan other of nan upstairs lounge that would later look connected nan 747. This unusual configuration flew successful nan look of aeronautical creation principles successful nan 1940s, which called for constrictive fuselages supported by ample wings.

Yet it wasn't aerodynamics that led to nan Stratocruiser's abysmal information record, but alternatively its propellers. Its hollow-core propellers had an unfortunate inclination to disintegrate successful flight. Even successful long-haul flights to Hawai'i tended to get connected 2 aliases 3 retired of 4 engines. One formation didn't rather make it, ditching connected 2 engines successful beforehand of nan Coast Guard vessel Pontchartrain; each passengers were rescued.

The Boeing YC-14 looked unusual from immoderate angle. Its tall, constrictive fuselage was overseas by itself, but nan plane's copy pitchy engines were mounted supra its wings, which were already astatine nan apical of nan plane, putting nan engines almost comically precocious up, and adjacent successful to nan fuselage, to boot. The result, erstwhile viewed from nan front, almost looked for illustration a level wearing Mickey Mouse ears. Or possibly enarthrosis cannons, if your sensation successful animation runs much toward manga than Disney.

They weren't ears aliases cannons, though: they were GE CF6-50D turbofan pitchy engines, and location was a logic they were mounted successful specified an overseas configuration. In nan 1970s, nan U.S. Air Force sought a replacement for nan C-130 Hercules cargo plane, and nan specs called for a short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft. The YC-14's over-wing motor design took advantage of a arena known arsenic nan Coandă effect, successful which motor exhaust flowed complete nan apical of nan helping and deflected downward, generating other assistance and enabling shorter takeoffs.

This allowed nan YC-14 to return disconnected successful arsenic small arsenic 800 feet astatine speeds arsenic debased arsenic 68 mph. Yet it could transportation up to 25 tons of freight. Plus, its climb complaint of 6,000 feet per infinitesimal vastly exceeded nan C-130's. The pitchy besides employed cutting-edge technologies, specified arsenic formation controls connected to fibre optic cables, a strategy called fly-by-light. Yet nan Air Force's shifting priorities led to nan YC-14's cancellation, pinch only 2 prototypes ever being built.

The Boeing Dreamlifter looks a spot for illustration a 747 that did excessively galore steroids. From conscionable aft of nan cockpit to conscionable earlier nan tail rudder, nan fuselage bulges for illustration a basking canine roll, pinch nan chemoreceptor and tail of nan level arsenic nan basking dog. It looks bulky and awkward and doesn't look for illustration it should get disconnected nan ground, but this level not only flies, it carries large chunks of different planes successful its oversized cargo hold. Its size makes it one of nan biggest planes ever made.

This converted 747-400 was built during nan 2000s decade to carrier ample craft segments betwixt Boeing's manufacturing centers worldwide. It tin transportation components arsenic ample arsenic fuselage sections and wings successful its immense cargo hold, which is 3 times nan size of nan clasp successful a modular 747 cargo plane. Its payload capacity is 47 tons.

There are 4 Dreamlifters, each operated by Atlas Air nether a statement pinch Boeing. The planes person been a godsend for Boeing, cutting transportation times for immoderate craft parts from a period to conscionable a day. They're presently utilized for transporting 787 Dreamliner parts from factories astir nan world to Boeing's assembly works successful South Carolina.

The E-3 Sentry is based connected a Boeing 707-320 and is instantly recognizable via nan tremendous radar dome sprouting from its backmost for illustration a rotating mushroom. This pitchy is simply a type of level known arsenic an AWACS, aliases airborne informing and power system, which explains nan immense radar. Two struts clasp up nan 30-foot dome, which offers 250 miles of radar sum successful each directions, including up and down, giving nan E-3 a complete position of nan battlespace crossed 500 miles of airspace from nan crushed to nan stratosphere.

To springiness a consciousness of nan E-3's capabilities, that 500-mile position would widen from Philadelphia to Boston. Within this range, it tin way up to 600 targets, and its eye-in-the-sky position reveals low-flying craft and missiles that would beryllium invisible to ground-based radar. It tin nonstop combatant jets to nan force and relay information to naval and crushed units. This makes it captious successful an progressive battlespace. It besides provides surveillance and reconnaissance, arsenic good arsenic serving arsenic mobile aerial postulation control.

However, E-3 airframes are aging, and nan 707 connected which it's based hasn't been manufactured since 1978. Maintenance is simply a increasing problem, and parts are becoming scarce. There is simply a replacement for Boeing's aging 707-based radar plane, and it's besides being built by Boeing: nan E-7 AEW&C, which stands for Airborne Early Warning and Control. This 737-based craft will transportation connected nan E-3's ngo for decades to come.

The 747's sheer size led NASA to prime a modified 747 to piggyback nan Space Shuttle. There were 2 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCAs), some primitively commercialized jets: a 747-123 and a 747-10SR-46. The Boeing was chosen complete competitors for illustration nan Lockheed L-1011 owed to nan 747's proven heavy-lift capabilities. With nan Shuttles weighing 230,000 pounds and often landing astatine Edwards Air Force Base successful California, connected nan other broadside of nan state from Kennedy Space Center successful Florida, nan 747's expertise to ferry dense loads complete agelong distances was crucial.

To transportation nan weight of a Space Shuttle, NASA fitted outer struts to nan 747's fuselage on pinch a cradle for nan spaceship to remainder on. Upgraded Pratt & Whitney JT9D turbofan engines gave nan Shuttle Carrier Aircraft other thrust. Top velocity erstwhile nan level and nan Shuttle were mated together was only 250 knots (288 mph), acold beneath nan 747's accustomed apical velocity of astir 660 mph. Enhanced avionics and formation controls helped pilots to grip nan immense load.

While formation testing successful 1977 validated nan information of this plane-and-Shuttle arrangement, it was still tricky to alert this slow, unaerodynamic combo, starring to restrictions connected flying complete populated areas and world territory. Nevertheless, pilots recovered that nan 747s handled nan stresses of low-altitude formation amazingly well. The piggyback conception would spell connected to beryllium utilized successful different dense carrier aircraft.

The YAL-1 Airborne Laser Test Bed is simply a 747 modified pinch a immense laser turret connected its nose. Even without nan turret, it would beryllium odd-looking for a 747 pinch its matte-gray Air Force overgarment and complete deficiency of broadside windows connected nan plane's tremendous flanks. But it's what laic nether nan grey expanse metallic that made nan YAL-1 genuinely unique, and which gave nan nose's bulbous turret its deadly reach.

The strategy that laic successful nan courage of nan YAL-1, nan Airborne Laser Test Bed (ALTB) itself, answered nan Pentagon's telephone for a laser limb that could sprout down tactical and intercontinental ballistic missiles successful their boost phase. The ALTB was a megawatt-class, chemic oxygen iodine laser (COIL). This was a analyzable strategy that vented chlorine and iodine exhaust gases, which past needed to beryllium scrubbed. The chemoreceptor turret unsocial weighed arsenic overmuch arsenic 15,000 pounds and was designed some to attraction nan beam and to cod return images.

The COILs weighed 6,500 pounds each, and arsenic galore arsenic six were utilized connected nan YAL-1 to make nan needed laser power. Combined pinch nan 15,000-pound turret and different instrumentality specified arsenic nan dorsal pod containing nan Active Ranging System, it becomes evident why nan 747 was chosen to transportation this immense system. In early 2010, nan YAL-1 successfully changeable down a trial target and 2 trial missiles, but nan programme was scrapped later that year.

The E-4B Nightwatch, besides known arsenic nan Doomsday Plane, will let nan U.S. Government to unrecorded on aft a atomic speech aliases different emergency, astatine slightest successful theory. All 4 examples of this ominously named craft began life arsenic 747-200 models, which were past modified into Advanced Airborne Command Posts, intended to let nan president and different apical officials to transportation connected their duties moreover while nan state beneath them smolders successful ruins. It tin besides support FEMA during disasters.

The E-4B's astir visually unique feature, and nan main point distinguishing it from civilian airliners from nan outside, is simply a hump protruding from nan backmost of nan precocious platform of nan 747. This houses nan Milstar system, a jam-resistant outer connection strategy that tin scope everything from crushed stations to submarines. Sharp-eyed observers will statement a statement of other, smaller domes and antennas moving nan magnitude of nan E-4B's spine and belly, each of which are for further communications methods.

These capabilities springiness nan E-4B its different charismatic name, nan National Airborne Operations Center, aliases NAOC. To support nan NAOC's operation, nan E-4B offers three decks pinch convention rooms, an operations area, a communications area, and remainder facilities. The level is hardened against electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) and atomic blasts.

The 747SP Pratt & Whitney Test Bed looks for illustration a mutant pinch an other motor nacelle increasing from 1 broadside of its precocious deck. Compared to nan accustomed graceful symmetry of nan 747's design, nan other motor is somewhat unsettling — a small for illustration nan three-eyed mutant food surviving successful nan h2o adjacent nan Springfield Nuclear Plant successful The Simpsons. But that other motor serves an important purpose, hinted astatine by nan plane's name.

The Pratt & Whitney Test Bed is based connected nan shortened 747SP, nan Special Performance exemplary we mentioned above. Pratt & Whitney, which makes engines for Boeing and Airbus, among different manufacturers, owns nan only 2 747SPs that are still successful service. The other motor equine connected each pitchy allows nan institution to trial its engines successful real-life conditions. The testbed planes get plentifulness of use, having helped to trial astatine slightest 71 developmental engines.

Pratt & Whitney's engines powerfulness craft crossed a wide scope of aviation uses, from subject to civilian. The Test Bed craft provides a level for testing mini pitchy engines arsenic good arsenic airliner engines; for instance, nan institution tests its BW800 engines for Gulfstream backstage jets. Pratt & Whitney besides builds engines for firefighting and cultivation aircraft, among different manufacture segments.

When NASA looked for a level that could transportation a 106-inch reflecting scope to altitudes arsenic precocious arsenic 45,000 feet to do observations from supra overmuch of nan earth's atmosphere, nan 747SP was a logical choice. The consequence was nan Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, aliases SOFIA, a 747 pinch a ample retractable doorway successful its rear fuselage that opened to uncover nan telescope. The level was a collaboration betwixt NASA and nan German Space Agency.

99 percent of nan Earth's ambiance is squeezed by gravity into its bottommost fewer miles, and this heavy furniture blocks infrared observations. Additionally, astir of nan Earth's aboveground consists of oceans, wherever nary telescopes of immoderate benignant tin operate. SOFIA solves some of these problems, enabling clear infrared observations from anyplace connected nan planet.

SOFIA's overnight flights enabled astronomers to observe Pluto, Kuiper Belt objects, and nan moons of nan star system's outer planets. SOFIA tin besides spot infrared wavelengths that penetrate clouds of state and particulate from acold regions of nan galaxy, allowing it to spot very distant objects that would different beryllium obscured. Unfortunately, NASA retired this 747SP successful 2020, aft concluding that nan knowledge gained from SOFIA was nary longer worthy nan disbursal of flying it.

An impish mind mightiness look astatine our adjacent level and deliberation of nan TV show from nan precocious 1960s called The Flying Nun, starring a young Sally Field. The Boeing 757 Flying Test Bed features a mini further helping supra nan formation deck, which, from immoderate angles, resembles nan nun's wont that gave Sally her improbable aerodynamics. The level besides features a modified, flattened nose, earning it nan nickname "Catfish."

The chemoreceptor really comes from an F-22 Raptor combatant and contains nan Raptor's AN/APG-77 progressive electronically scanned array (AESA) radar. The other helping supra nan cockpit is equipped pinch nan Raptor's AN/ALR-94 physics support measures suite. The Catfish besides sports nan F-22's communications systems, rocket informing system, and physics warfare suite. Inside nan pitchy is simply a replica of nan fighter's cockpit.

All of this instrumentality allows Lockheed Martin's engineers to trial nan Raptor's systems successful existent clip successful a level that tin accommodate up to 30 engineers. Although nan Raptor ceased accumulation successful 2011, nan request to update its package keeps nan Catfish flying regularly. The Boeing tin alert pinch F-22s to trial really nan package useful pinch different planes successful formations. It tin besides trial aggregate package configurations successful a azygous trial flight.