Why You Never Got to Fly The American Concorde: The 2707 SST Story

It was to fly even faster than the Concorde, at speeds approaching Mach 3. And even carry more passengers. It would have flown the distance from Los Angeles to New York in under two hours. America’s effort to build a supersonic airliner was an ambitious project spanning a decade and costing a billion in government funding. But even an army of aerospace engineers and the latest in aviation technology was not enough to get America’s Supersonic Transport (SST) off the ground.

In 1962, the British and French announced a partnership to build the world’s first supersonic airliner, the Concorde. A few months later, the Soviets also jumped into the race with SST plans of their own supersonic airliner, the Tupolev 144. As America had watched these programs transform from concepts into serious enterprises, officials began to worry about maintaining America’s lead in civil aviation.

So in 1962, President Kennedy announced that the U.S. government would help fund the development of an American supersonic transport. Manufacturers were invited to participate in a design competition. Design entries from Lockheed (L-2000) and North American Aviation (NAC-60) were reviewed. After years of evaluation, Boeing’s 2707 was selected as the winning design.

But it turns out that building an SST significantly faster and larger than the Concorde would be enormously challenging, requiring completely new aviation designs and technologies. As the 1960s wore on, the Boeing 2707 program was plagued by technical setbacks, and the program’s ambitious goals were not being met. An anti-SST movement had grown around opposition to sonic booms and other environmental concerns.

When funding for the Boeing 2707 project was canceled in 1971, foreign competition and concerns about national prestige were not enough to offset political, economic and environmental pressures. The public’s view of government programs and optimism over technology had waned. Over the course of the 1960’s, the world had changed. #SST #Boeing2707 #Airplanes

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[MustardChannel]

Thanks for watching! Just quick note... I made a typo @ 1:47 .. it should read "Convair" not "Corvair". Good luck getting a Corvair to hit Mach 1 ;)

[brianhaygood]

The idea of flying across the country in two hours probably sounded much more interesting in a time when you didn't have to show up to the airport 2 hours early for security and lines, didn't spend an hour getting to the airport, and didn't have a 1 hour drive or worse through traffic to get to your destination from the arrival airport. In the grand scheme of things, the extra couple of hours of flight is just the nice part of the trip.

[snazzy]

I never got to fly ANY supersonic. Born into this world too late. 😔

[ColonelMarcellus]

I remember the sonic boom on a semi-regular basis as a boy in Kentucky. I also remember seeing aircraft flying well ahead of the sound of their engines. My father explained that the jet was flying faster than sound. This was in the early 1960s. A few years later, sonic booms were absent from the skies.

[dobees]

I remember when the space shuttles would fly in from the Pacific, over Southern CA, and land into Edwards AFB. Not only would the supersonic boom not only create that booming sound, but shake buildings with a quick jolt, similarly to a 3.0-4.0 earthquake. It always freaked people out!

[FastCarsNoRules]

"Why you never got to fly the American Concorde." I never got to fly on the ordinary Concorde to begin with...

[scatcat]

4:54: "The 2707 would be powered by by 4 turbojets fitted with afterburners. To counter the heat they generated they were uniquely positioned under the aircraft at the rear. But this made the plane rear heavy and that meant the 2707 was able to pull fucking dank wheelies"

[thomasdillon]

I've experienced the sonic boom from an SR-71 overflight. It's impressive.

[jicabe]

The irony is that Boeing gave up and build a giant cargo ship instead... which came to be no other than the 747. Yes, a humble cargo (hence the raised cockpit).
It became the most successful airliner ever.

[diobrando]

Fun fact, Boeing did not know how to overcome the problems of B2707 because they did not sign up for Audible's "How to build supersonic planes 101"

[Jonah-Hosein]

I'm suprised lockheed didn't get the green light to make it considering their SR 71 Blackbird success.... And yes i do know about the blackbirds fuel issues and expensive build process.

Doesn't mean that with future improvements it couldn't of been improved 👍

*thanks for the likes and comments*

[chrisnorman]

As a little kid, I was the proud owner of a battery operated metal American SST toy in Pan American livery - complete with operating swing wings and lighted engines.
In good condition, these things are worth a fortune today.

[fridaycaliforniaa]

I often did that joke saying that the 2707 was some kind of "passengers version of a F-14". Damn, the strain on the variable geometry pivots would have been quite something I guess =/

[TKSSLCHN]

"Operation Bongo", that's some big brain naming.

[deaddoll]

Not enough is made of the design criteria having to be "bigger and faster" than the Concorde. Had they just wanted to compete rather than seek to overshadow Concorde, the build would have been a much easier proposition.

[bbcala]

Really a nice looking plane. Supersonic brings other problems. Only fighter jets were allowed to break the sound barrier out at sea. When I was a kid I experienced fighters over our house full afterburner breaking sound barrier, shook the whole house. This was back in the 70's. I was scared but very impressed seeing those flames from those jets at night. Somethings like that you always remember

[Merennulli]

A few months ago, a military jet on a test of some sort created an unauthorized sonic boom over my area. People were talking about explosions and an earthquake until we found out what it was. And it was not even close to us. I shudder to think what hell OKC went through in that test.

[corporalpunishment]

Your animation of the folding wing 2707 is totally stunning.

[Mrstreet]

I live in Leeds in the UK and can remember when a jet went overhead at super sonic speeds a couple of years ago, my whole house shook, at the time I thought a bomb had gone off, I can definitely see why people would complain lol

[WindowsR]

I wish I’ve had the opportunity to fly supersonic. Concorde was (literally) on its last legs when I was born with the entire program being shutdown by 2003. My parents told me about how it wasn’t actually that uncomfortable and about flying to London in 3-4hrs.