United Air Lines’ Boeing 720 Jetliner on take-off from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Majestic Mount Rainier (14,408 ft. elevation) in background. Color photo by Max R. Jensen.
Jensen’s Leaving On A Jet Plane
June 21st, 2010 @ 12:02 am by Cliffe | Sorted Photo Exposure |
Yeesh — what a rotten start to summer. With all the bundling up I’ve been having to do at night (in June!) I’m getting tempted to do as the photo shows: bolt! The vintage shot shows a Boeing 720 Jetliner ditching Sea-Tac for warmer weather. Click for the high res.
I think it is a 707 rather than a 720. If there was a 720 series (I am not an airplane expert) it was not a common type, whereas the 707 was the most popular jet in the world for a number of years from the mid 1960s into the late 1970s.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_720#720 According to Wikipedia, take as it is. The 720 is a 707. It was changed to that name for marketing. Just my 2 cents.
Yes, the 720 is a version of the 707 line of aircraft. http://www.boeing.com/history/boeing/707.html
Likely a 720 as that was the typical 707 type United flew.
Fly the Friendly Skies of United..how things have changed.
The 720 was more than just a “Marketing” change… the aircraft was shorter by 8 feet, lighter, and built to offer a short / medium range version. A pre-cursor to the 737, but with 4 engines and a flight engineer plus pilot and copilot, proved to be expensive and not very competitive. But it was a fast way to get a “pretested” model into that market.
Note that Concourse D is visible here, but B & C were yet to be built. My guess is “D” was called “B” back then to compliment “A” on the other side of the airport. B & C came on line I believe in the mid-60′s, so this must have been early 60′s.
It is my understanding the 720 was a modified version of the 707, but new customers wanted a higher number version to sound more “up to date”.