How many 367 Dash 80 versions?
 

Hello,

Got a question for the older folks. It is well known that the Dash 80 was rolled out as the prototype for the 707 in 1954 and was barrel rolled by Tex Johnston in 1955.

Let's take a look at a few pics.

This is the -80 as it rolled out in 1954. Note the wing roots have a short chord with a fillet joining the trailing edge to the fuselage.

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/1...6780bk5.th.jpg


This is the -80 that now resides at Dulles Airport. Note the wing has a much longer chord and does not have the fillet.

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/4171/707gf2.th.jpg
http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/8...3002lk6.th.jpg
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/7...6714mw2.th.jpg

Some captures from the footage of Tex's roll. Note it is the thin chord wing.

http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/600/tex1qk7.th.jpg
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/7909/tex2uc9.th.jpg

What's the deal here? Were flaps added to the -80 during later stages of development that resulted in the larger wing? This would also mean that Tex did not demonstrate the -80 in the configuration it presently exists in.

P.S. Click on any image to enlarge it.

367-80 was a prototype and development aircraft, not a production unit, and as such it will have had hundreds of different mods and variations done to it during its lifetime. Nowadays this tends not to be done so much because so much development is simulated on computers, but this was not the case in the 1950s.

Other prototypes have had much more radical changes than this done to them. A BAC One-Eleven prototype was sawn in two and a fuselage extension inserted. Then later it was cut again and restored to its original size.

Also, if I remember correctly, at one point the 367-80 had an engine mounted on the left rear fuselage as part of 727 development work.

The prototype 146-100 was cut up and lengthened to make the first 146-300 and is still flying as a weather/atomospheric surveillance unit.