Boeing 367-80

Boeing 367-80
The Dash 80 overflying the Olympic Peninsula, Washington, with Mt. Rainier in the background.
Other name(s)	Dash 80
Registration	N70700
Owners and operators	Boeing
In service	1954–1969
Preserved at	Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

The Boeing 367-80, known simply as the Dash 80, was an American four-engine prototype aircraft built by Boeing to demonstrate the advantages of jet propulsion for commercial aviation. It served as base for the design of the KC-135 tanker and the 707 airliner.

The Dash 80 first flew in 1954, less than two years from project launch. Its US$16 million cost was an enormous risk for Boeing, which at the time had no committed customers. Only one example was built, which has been preserved and is currently on public display at the Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia.

By the late 1940s two developments encouraged Boeing to begin considering building a passenger jet. The first was the maiden flight in 1947 of the B-47 Stratojet. The second was the maiden flight in 1949 of the world’s first jet airliner, the de Havilland Comet. Boeing President Bill Allen led a company delegation to the UK in summer 1950, where they saw the Comet fly at the Farnborough Airshow, and also visited the de Havilland factory at Hatfield, Hertfordshire where the Comets were being built. Boeing felt it had mastered the swept wing and podded engines which it saw as key technologies that would enable it to improve on the Comet.

In 1950 Boeing tentatively produced a specification for a jet airliner dubbed the Model 473-60C. The airlines were unconvinced because they had no experience with jet transports and were enjoying success with piston engined aircraft such as the Douglas DC-4, DC-6, and Lockheed Constellation.

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