C-75 Stratoliner
Converted TWA Stratoliner Cherokee Begins Wartime Transatlantic Duty
Type	Long-range transport
Manufacturer	Boeing
Introduced	1942
Primary user	United States Army
Number built	5
Developed from	Boeing 307

At the time the US entered WW2 in December 1941, flying across the oceans was a rare luxury. An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of designing building testing selling and maintaining Aircraft, Aircraft parts The Boeing Company is a major Aerospace and defense corporation originally founded by William E The United States Army is a military organization whose primary mission is to "provide necessary forces and capabilities. The Boeing Model 307 Stratoliner was the first commercial transport Aircraft with a pressurized cabin. But the war required government and military officials to travel across the oceans, and most of the four-engined commercial long-range aircraft were put to this use: Pan Am's 14 flying boats and TWA's 5 Boeing 307 landplanes. Trans World Airlines ( TWA) renamed TWA Airlines LLC in 2001 was a major U The Boeing Model 307 Stratoliner was the first commercial transport Aircraft with a pressurized cabin. Additional fuel tanks were added to the 307's to give them the extra range required. The converted 307's were designated C-75 by the military.

Background

Before WW2 ended their production, ten Boeing 307 commercial transports, named Stratoliners, had been built. The Boeing Model 307 Stratoliner was the first commercial transport Aircraft with a pressurized cabin. TWA bought five and flew domestic routes between New York and Los Angeles for 18 months until the Army purchased them following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Trans World Airlines ( TWA) renamed TWA Airlines LLC in 2001 was a major U The intended wartime use was long-range transatlantic flight with a payload of VIPs or critical cargo. TWA converted their five Stratoliners for military service in the spring of 1942, and its Intercontinental Division (ICD) then operated these C-75's under contract to the Army's Air Transport Command (ATC) until July 1944. ^[1] These were the only commercial landplanes able to cross the Atlantic with a payload until the arrival of the C-54 Skymaster in November 1942.

Conversion

The Boeing 307 was based on the B-17C with a different fuselage of circular cross section 138 inches (3. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout 51 m) in diameter (Betts 1993:167). Conversion to 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 (804 L) fuel tanks. The landing gear was strengthened, the maximum take-off weight was increased from 45,000 lb to 56,000 lb (from 20,400 to 25,400 kg), and the exterior was painted olive drab (Betts 1993:172). The Maximum Takeoff Weight or Maximum Takeoff Mass of an Aircraft is the maximum weight at which the pilot of the aircraft is allowed to attempt to take off

Transatlantic routes

Converted TWA Stratoliner Apache first to land at Bluie West Eight on Greenland's west coast, April 20, 1942. Kangerlussuaq (Søndre Strømfjord is a settlement in west Greenland at the head of a Fjord of the same name Events 1303 - The University of Rome La Sapienza is instituted by Pope Boniface VIII. Year 1942 ( MCMXLII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Otis Bryan, ICD Head, second from left. It is 20 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (−30 °C).

Two main routes were flown: Washington, DC to Cairo across the South Atlantic, and New York to Scotland across the North Atlantic. ^[2] They often flew non-stop the 2,125 miles((vague|which miles}} (3,420 km or 3,940 km) between Gander, Newfoundland and Prestwick, Scotland in the north, and the 2,550 miles (4,100 km or 4,720 km) between Natal, Brazil and Accra, Ghana in the south. Gander is a Canadian town located in northeastern part of the island of Newfoundland in the province of Newfoundland Prestwick is a town located in South Ayrshire on the south west coast of Scotland, approximately to the south-west of Glasgow. Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. |utc_offset = -2 to -4 |time_zone_DST = BRST |utc_offset_DST = -2 to -5 |cctld Accra is the capital, and most populous city of Ghana. The city also doubles as the capital of the Greater The Republic of Ghana is a country in West Africa. It borders Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast to the west Burkina Faso to the north Togo to the These were very long flights for the time. After July 1942, a refueling stop at Ascension Island was an option in the south (Berry 1995:147). Ascension Island is an island in the South Atlantic Ocean, around from the coast of Africa In the north, stops at Iceland or Greenland were often necessary, especially flying westbound against the prevailing winds. As C-54's took over the Gander to Prestwick route, the C-75's operated a Marrakech to Prestwick service out over the Atlantic (Berry 1995:147).

Noteworthy flights

On February 26, 1942, Otis Bryan, head of the ICD, piloted Navajo to survey the route from Washington, DC to Cairo across the South Atlantic, and to deliver armor-piercing shells for British artillery in use against the Afrika Korps. Events 747 BC - Epoch (origin of Ptolemy 's Nabonassar Era 364 - Valentinian I is proclaimed Year 1942 ( MCMXLII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. ^[3] In March 1942, Bryan was asked by General Arnold to pilot the top brass, including Generals Marshall, Eisenhower, Clark, Col. Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (October 14 1890 – March 28 1969 was President of the United States from 1953 until 1961 and a five-star general Vandenberg, Admiral Towers, Averill Harriman, and Harry Hopkins, across the North Atlantic to England (Betts: 1993:174). William Averell Harriman ( November 15 1891 July 26 1986) was an American Democratic Party politician businessman This article is about the politician for the British tank named for him see Light Tank Mk VIII Harry Lloyd Hopkins ( August 17 1890 In May a similar all-brass flight was made by Apache, displaying remarkable confidence in the C-75 (Betts 1993:175). In June, 1942, Comanche made 20 crossings shuttling across the South Atlantic between Natal and West Africa spending 384 hours in the air and carrying a total of 229 passengers and 53,000 lb (24,0000 kg) of cargo. ^[4] Jimmy Doolittle and others from the Doolittle Raid returned to the US in a C-75. General James Harold "Jimmy" Doolittle USAF (14 December 1896 &ndash 27 September 1993 was an American Aviation pioneer The Doolittle Raid, 18 April 1942, was the first air raid by the United States to strike the Japanese home island of Honshū TWA and the C-75 were making transatlantic crossing by landplane routine. "Before the C-75's were returned to their private owners, they completed some 3,000 ocean crossings and logged more than 45,000 hours in flying to every corner of the world. "^[5]

After the war

In April, 1945 the five aircraft were returned to TWA, having been restored by Boeing and recertified by the CAA as SA-307B-1 civilian transports with their old registration numbers. The restoration included new B-17 Flying FortressG wings and engines, horizontal stabilizer moved three feet (0. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout 9 m) aft, and B-29-type electronics. TWA then restyled the interior cabin in two sections, 10 seats forward and 28 aft (Betts 1993:179).

Survivors

Flying Cloud, the only surviving Stratoliner and one of three Model S-307's operated by Pan American Airways, is on display at the Smithsonian's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. The Steven F Udvar-Hazy Center is the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM's annex at Washington Dulles International Airport in During the war, "Pan Am's three Stratoliners remained their property and arrangements were made for the airline to fly their Latin American routes under the [Air Transport Command's] direction" (Betts 1993:172).

C-75 Transports by name and number

Specifications (C-75)

General characteristics

• Crew: 8-10: Pilots (2), 1st Officer (1), 2nd Officer (1 sometimes), Navigators (2), Flight Radio Officers (2), Flight Engineer (1), Purser (1 if passengers)
• Capacity: 12 passengers long range, 16 passengers short range
• Length: 74 ft 4 in (22. 66 m)
• Wingspan: 107 ft 3 in (32. The wingspan (or just span) of an airplane or a Bird, is the distance from the left wingtip to the right wingtip 69 m)
• Height: 20 ft 9 in (6. 32 m)
• Wing area: 1,486 ft² (138. 1 m²)
• Empty weight: approx. 30,300 lb (13,700 kg)
• Max takeoff weight: 56,000 lb (25,400 kg)
• Powerplant: 4× Wright R-1820-G105A Cyclone radials, 1,100 hp (820 kW) each
• Fuel capacity: 2,760 US gal (10,450 L) (1,700 gal/6,440 L in wing tanks plus 1,060 gal/4,010 L in fuselage tanks)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 246 mph at 17,300 ft (396 km/h at 5,300 m)
• Cruise speed: 220 mph at 15,700 ft (354 km/h at 4,800 m)
• Range: 2,700 statute miles with payload (4,350 km)
• Service ceiling 26,200 ft (8,000 m)
• Normal cruising altitude: 1,000–9,000 ft (300–2,700 m)
  
• Long-range cruise speed: 140 mph (225 km/h) IAS^[6]

References

• Berry, Peter, "Transatlantic Flight 1938-1945 (Part II 1943-1945)", AAHS Journal Vol 40, Number 3, Fall 1995.
• Betts, Ed, "The Boeing 'Stratoliner' (1935 through 1940)" Part 1 of 2, TARPA TOPICS, August 1990. (TWA Active Retired Pilots Association magazine).
• Betts, Ed, "The Boeing 'Stratoliner' (1935 through 1940)" Part 2 of 2, TARPA TOPICS, August, 1994.
• Betts, Ed, "The Intercontinental Division" (Part 1 of 3), TARPA TOPICS.
• Betts, Ed, "The ICD Story Part Two: The Year 1943" (Part 2 of 3), TARPA TOPICS, February, 1994.
• Betts, Ed, "The Intercontinental Division (ICD) 1944-1946 Part III", (Part 3 of 3), TARPA TOPICS.
• Davies, R. E. G. , Airlines of the United States Since 1914 (Wash D. C. :Smithsonian Institution Press, 1998). ISBN 1-888962-08-9.
• "Boeing 307 Stratoliner: The World's First High-Altitude Airliner", Boeing Historical Archives, 1989.

See also

Related development

• B-17 Flying Fortress
• Boeing 307
  

Comparable aircraft

• Douglas DC-4