Why the Boeing 377 Failed

Video from the channel Airspeed about Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 12:36. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

The video goes through the history of the Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, one of the most luxurious post-war airliners, and asks why it never achieved lasting success. It describes its two-deck cabin: a lower-deck lounge-bar reached by a spiral staircase, berths for overnight flights and dressing rooms. It also covers the technical and commercial problems that cut short its career.

The 377 derived from the C-97 Stratofreighter military transport, which in turn came from the B-29 Superfortress bomber. It first flew in 1947. Pan Am was the airline most associated with the type, though it was also operated by BOAC, American Overseas Airlines, United and Northwest on transatlantic and transpacific routes. It competed with the Douglas DC-6 and DC-7 and the Lockheed Constellation, which were simpler to operate. The arrival of jets made its low-speed luxury proposition obsolete.

It measured just over 33 m in length, almost 12 m in height and 43 m in wingspan. It had a pressurized cabin, a service ceiling of about 32,000 feet and a range of about 6,800 km. Depending on configuration, it carried between 55 and just over 100 passengers. Its four Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major radial engines had 28 cylinders in four rows of seven and delivered up to about 3,500 hp at takeoff, but required intensive maintenance. The video recalls the ditching of Pan Am Flight 6 in the Pacific in 1956, in which all occupants survived, and the loss of Flight 7 a year later, whose cause was never determined.