Boeing 707

[TWT]

I flew on an Air Zimbabwe 707 back in 1989 from Harare to Heathrow. Yes, very noisy but we made it

[pax britanica]

I dont think the 70 was the worst for smoke- in my LHR spotting days I always thought the CV990 lead the pack in that respect with the turbo prop KLM electras and assorted eastern block IL18s in second place

[Pilot DAR]

My own principal 707 experience with them was Wardair,

I worked for Worldways for several years in the early '80's. We worked fairly closely with Wardair, and operated partly from their Toronto hangar for a few years. Wardair, as we did, prided themselves on very agreeable cabin service in the context of an "economy" cabin. I flew Wardair many times, and was never disappointed.

When I had the honour of giving a eulogy for Roy Moore, the founder and owner of Worldways in 2008, from the audience appeared Max Ward, asking to say a few words. We happily welcomed Max. It was not the first time I had med Max, but we had a great chat that day...

The 707's (WW had three) were great planes, and served us very well. But, the DC-8-63 carried more pax, so we switched. Two of our 707-320C's went to the Royal Australian Air Force, a charming Officer named John Baker spent a month with us for the transaction. We kept the third 707 for a while, and it served well, though later went somewhere to Africa, if I recall.

I'll always have a soft spot for the 707....

[Mr Mac]

Like many of the above I also have a soft spot for the 707 with mine being 320c as far as I can recall, but I do not remember them being noisy, but definitely smoke. As others have said Economy travel back then was much better than today, though entertainment was very limited ie take a book or two. I had limited flights on the DC8 and probably only a very few with Iberia, though did get a cockpit ride on one in in 1990 from US to UK on a freighter which we had hired. I never got to Pan Am on any aircraft but did do sometime on TWA but long after the 707 time. I am not sure when I last actually physically witnessed one, but I am guessing 1980,s while working in Mid East. I also had a soft spot for the A340 due to visual similarities, and still get to fly on these occasionally with LH having flown previously on Cathay and Emirates examples.

Cheers
Mr Mac

[PAXboy]

Never on a 707 of any variant. It was VC-10 (+ the Super) in my early days - then to the 74-100. I saw them overhead as a teenager in Pretoria and at JNB as SAA had them.

On Air Rhodesia, I missed their 707s but did get their Viscounts.

[justapax]

Originally Posted by PAXboy

Never on a 707 of any variant. It was VC-10 (+ the Super) in my early days - then to the 74-100. I saw them overhead as a teenager in Pretoria and at JNB as SAA had them.

On Air Rhodesia, I missed their 707s but did get their Viscounts.

Air Rhodesia never had a 707, the one 707 of Air Zimbabwe came in after independence. They had three 720s.

[ZFT]

Originally Posted by justapax

Air Rhodesia never had a 707, the one 707 of Air Zimbabwe came in after independence. They had three 720s.

Air Zimbabwe operated 6 707s I believe. I from SAA and 5 from Lufthansa

[treadigraph]

Originally Posted by ZFT

Air Zimbabwe operated 6 707s I believe. I from SAA and 5 from Lufthansa

Correct, plus a second leased from SAA for a while which went on to join Air Mauritius.

[fitliker]

First flight as a pax on a BOAC 707 Prestwick to Malton March 1967 . For some reason flight descended low enough to spot sea bears off the coast of Labrador as people were looking out the windows trying to find polar bears 🐻‍❄️ . I never saw any but I did get some brandy as gravol was not a thing yet .

[S.o.S.]

Talking of smoke and con-trails: I found this in the depths of my computer:


Convair 990 (I think)

[WHBM]

Yes, a Convair 990, American Airlines, some of which were sold on to Spantax and became regulars at UK airports for quite some years. It's fuel dumping through those ports from the overwing structures, which Convair had great design difficulties with.

[WHBM]

Originally Posted by Pilot DAR

I worked for Worldways for several years in the early '80's. We worked fairly closely with Wardair, and operated partly from their Toronto hangar for a few years. Wardair, as we did, prided themselves on very agreeable cabin service in the context of an "economy" cabin. I flew Wardair many times, and was never disappointed.

When I had the honour of giving a eulogy for Roy Moore, the founder and owner of Worldways in 2008, from the audience appeared Max Ward, asking to say a few words. We happily welcomed Max. It was not the first time I had met Max, but we had a great chat that day...

I believe the driver behind Wardair service standards was Max's wife Marjorie, although never a flight attendant. Marj died just a few month ago, aged I think 103. A great innings. Meanwhile a documentary I recall a while ago was Max travelling for the day on a 747 from Toronto to Barbados. Of the 17 washrooms on the aircraft, one was out of service. Max was saying a message had gone straight back to Toronto asking just why the 747 had been dispatched with ONE washroom unserviceable, he wanted to know, and he wanted to know now. An approach many leaders of airlines could well emulate, but not all do.

[S.o.S.]

Have just re-read about the anti-shock bodies and fairings of the 990. Ingenious for the time but, overall, design of aerodynamics and engines rapidly overtook their requirement.

Just a single WC closed?

Virgin Australia has apologised after passengers on a flight from Bali to Brisbane overnight were left without any working toilets during what one described as "a filthy, humiliating nightmare".In a statement, Virgin said the flight took off with one rear toilet out of service but then the remaining two lavatories became unserviceable during the last one hour and 40 minutes of the flight.

29th August 2025.

​​​​​​​

[willy wombat]

First Boeing I flew on was an Aer Lingus B720 from Dublin to Shannon. It took exactly 19 minutes. Having transferred from a Viscount from Glasgow, the B720 seemed staggeringly quiet. Thus was circa 1967.

[Asturias56]

IIRC the 720 used to smell more of fuel - certainly outside...................

[meleagertoo]

Living not many miles S of Heathrow as a teenager conversation had to be paused outdoors when 707s, VC10s Tridents etc passed overhead and stopped altogether even indoors when Concorde passed though we always ran out to watch, while we marvelled at the smokeless low electric drone of the mighty new Jumbo that we barely noticed indoors.
I have little sympathy for noise whingers nowadays, they don't know they're born.

[Krystal n chips]

Originally Posted by Asturias56

IIRC the 720 used to smell more of fuel - certainly outside...................

Whilst I never flew in a 707 / 720, I had plenty of exterior encounters with the latter and happily confirm your comment. Out of interest, was this delicate aroma more prominent after re-fuelling ?....it's just, that, it was "prudent" shall we say to do the sums, but, not be reliant on the gauges hence the drips were invariably used and were more accurate.

For the pax who did, most, if not all, of you will be blissfully unaware of the hi tech rectification devices carried in the hold, notably a lump of solid wood and a sledgehammer....due to the, ahem, "temperamental " nature of the infamous JT 3 T/R's not stowing after deployment.

This is quite an "interesting" operation to participate in and even more so when it involved a decidedly reluctant F/O who had been "helped" out of his seat by a very charismatic F/E who had probably used the CRM manual as a door stop.

The DC8 however....KLM's DC8's were always fun...seemingly, the philosophy was " we can't do a vertical climb, so here's the next best thing !".....always fun to be part of, if you like that sort of departure....which I did.

[Nicd]

4 flights on a 707: In 1972 on BEA Airtours G-APFK from LGW to Athens and back on G-APFH. In 1974 on British Airtours G-APFD LGW via Dubai to Bangkok and two weeks later back home, again on G-APFK, from Bangkok after an overland tour down to Singapore. The Singapore/Bangkok flight was on Thai International DC-8 HS-TGT.

The return flight on APFK was memorable on the Bangkok to Dubai leg because, when in the cruise, the captain walked through the cabin chatting to passengers and the cockpit door was then left open for anyone who wanted to visit. I suspect every one of the passengers took advantage!

APFK was later lost in a training accident at Prestwick in 1977, though there were no fatalities.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1977_B...eing_707_crash

[Mr Mac]

I heard an old Steve Miller Band song on the radio yesterday that mentioned the 707 by name and later in the day Gordon Lightfoot and song Early Morning Rain with another sound check for the old 707. Apart from Mark Knoffler and Take a 777 to the USA can anyone remember another aircraft with musical name checks ?
Cheers
Mr Mac

[DaveReidUK]

"I lost my heart, on a 747
Halfway to heaven,
Passing over Des Moines.
Her looks were smart,
I met her in the aisle,
She gave me her smile,
I knew our futures we'd join"

Tom Paxton