Angus Davis ) wrote:
:
:
: Vitaly Shmatikov wrote:
: Are you thinking of N70700, Boeing's first 707 prototype (367-80,
: aka Dash 80)?
:
: Didn't that one do a barrel roll over the Golden Gate bridge at one
: point during a test flight?

It was over Lake Washington; this site includes some photos shot from
the Dash-80 during the rolls:

http://www.historylink.org/output.CFM?file_ID=390
HistoryLink Database Output

"Boeing prototype jet performs dramatic roll over Lake Washington on
August 7, 1955.

On August 7, 1955, Alvin M. "Tex" Johnston stuns the crowd at the
Seafair Gold Cup hydroplane race on Lake Washington by barrel (or
aileron) rolling the prototype Dash-80, the precursor to the Boeing
707, thus launching the era of the modern commercial jet. (What
Johnston did with the airplane was called a barrel-roll but
technically, it was an aileron roll, in which a plane rotates on its
long axis, rather than describing a "barrel" loop.) Even Boeing
President William Allen is taken by surprise as he escorts potential
customers who are seeing the jet for the first time.

Flying at more than 400 miles per hour just 400 feet above the water,
Johnston commenced a sudden ascent. The jet's swept-back wings
spiraled as the 128-foot-long, 160,000 pound plane rolled, flying for
a short time upside down. Then, for extra measure, Johnston performed
a second barrel-roll. Boeing President Allen asked a guest with a
heart problem if he could borrow his pills. The potential jet buyers
were duly impressed.

By the time Johnston broke the transcontinental speed record in 1957,
by flying from Seattle to Baltimore in 3 hours, 48 minutes, orders for
the new 707 were pouring in.
__________________________________________________ _______________

Sources:
Robert McG. Thomas Jr., "Tex Johnston, Daring Jet Test Pilot, Dies at
84," The New York Times, November 14, 1998, A16.

By Patrick McRoberts, 1999"

The "Discovery Wings" channel has a "Touched By History" segment showing
the rolls, narrated by Tex Johnston's son.

:
: Has that feat been repeated in large airliners?
:

Not that I'm aware of.


--Jerry Leslie
Note: is invalid for email