performance than the Trident, which would
end up selling only 117 examples.
The capability to land on short runways
at locations such as New York’s LaGuardia
airport and at Key West in Florida were vital,
as these were high on the list of places where
US airlines wanted to provide jet service. The
wing, unencumbered by engines, was able to
use aps, slats, slots and spoilers to achieve
this aim with ease.
Operational autonomy on the ramp at
elds with only basic equipment meant
the 727 would be the rst Boeing with an
Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) for providing
electrics, air conditioning, and engine start
without relying on ground power. A ventral
staircase that would swing down from under
the tail was added so stairs were not needed
for ground handling.
By the summer of 1962, 5,000 workers
were making the rst 727 come to life at
Boeing’s Renton facility near Seattle. In
October most of the fuselage and cockpit
were under construction, with Pratt & Whitney
JT8Ds and undercarriage in place by the end
of the month. In November the aircraft was
moved on its own wheels into the ground test
area next to the assembly hall. N7001U was
rolled out in a formal ceremony on November
27 with orders already placed by some of
the biggest names in the industry: United,
American, Lufthansa, Eastern and Trans
World Airlines (TWA).
Flight-standard JT8Ds were delivered by
Pratt & Whitney in January 1963 and nal
preparations for the rst ight were made.
These included high-speed taxi tests by the
ight crew of Lew Wallick (Boeing senior
experimental test pilot; 727 project pilot) in
command, joined by Dix Loesch (Boeing
chief of ight test) in the co-pilot’s seat and
Marvin Shulenberger (Boeing chief ight
engineer) on the panel.
INTO THE AIR
The rst ight took place on February 9,
1963, airborne at 11.33am after a ground run
of just over 3,000ft (915m). After a successful
sortie of one hour and 59 minutes, N7001U
landed at Paine Field, Everett, where it would
be based for the rst ten hours of its test
programme, performing general handling and
airworthiness checks for the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA). The ight had been
a success, albeit marred by a compressor
surge on the centre engine at the point of
rotation, an irritation that was partially solved
with the installation of vanes inside the duct,
and changes to its internal shape.
Most of the test programme took place in
the Seattle area, based at Boeing Field, and
included secondments to Edwards AFB in
California, Albuquerque in New Mexico, and
Denver, a mile up in the Colorado Rockies.
N72700, destined to spend its whole life as
a company demonstrator at Boeing, joined
the test programme after its rst ight on
March 12.
Ship 1 performed 430 hours of
structural damping and utter tests while
Ship 2 completed 320 hours for systems
development. A third 727, N7002U, took to
the air on April 10 to complete most of the
detailed handling and aerodynamic loading
trials across 180 hours of ying. The last
test aircraft was N68650 (originally N7003U)
for All Nippon Airways and later, Piedmont
Airlines, and performed 313 hours of
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7 ‘BUS STOP’ JET
The second prototype and company demonstrator
N72700 in formation with All Nippon Airway’s N68650,
the fourth 727 to y. All photos Key Collection unless stated
