Country of origin:

United States of America

Description:

Twin-engine commercial airliner

Power Plant:

Two 410 kw (550 hp) Pratt & Whitney S1H1G Wasp single-row geared and supercharged nine-cylinder air-cooled radial engines

Specifications:

History:

The prototype of the Boeing 247 X13301 (c/n 1682) was flown for the first time on 8 February 1933, fitted with two Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp engines. It was one of the important airliners of its time and was one of the aircraft that revolutionised air transport. This prototype was retained by Boeing for test work as the Model 247E.

The Model 247 was envisaged to replace the Boeing Model 40 on the routes operated by United Airlines in the United States. When it first entered service the Model 247 was described as the first three-mile-a-minute transport. Approval Type Certicate No 500 was issued and it entered service but one initial problem was it could not maintain altitude on one engine above 610 m (2,000 ft). An initial solution to the problem was the use of two-position variable pitch propellers.

The Model 247 could seat ten passengers, two pilots and a stewardess. Development led to the Model 247D with geared Wasp engines and three-blade controllable pitch propellers. United Airlines bought ten, and then converted most of its fleet of earlier models to Model 247D standard. However, the airline life of the Model 247 with the major companies was largely overtaken by the more capacious Douglas DC-2 and DC-3 series and, although the Model 247 soldiered on in many parts of the world for many years, they lost their initial impact. All told there were ten variants of the basic design. One Model 247A was built (c/n 1711) as an executive transport, others all being one-off specials.

A total of 75 examples was built by Boeing (c/ns 1682 to 1741 and 1944 to 1958), the first 60 being Model 247s except for c/n 1711, which was the Model 247A. Construction was all-metal with a retractable tailwheel type undercarriage. The Model 247 operated with a number of operators.

Two Model 247Ds were supplied to Deutsche Lufthansa as D-AGAR and D-AKIN (c/ns 1944 and 1945) in February 1934. One was flown in the United Kingdom by the RAF during the war years, where it became DZ203 (c/n 1726v- ex NC13344, CF-BTA, RCAF7655), surviving until 1948. Some 27 examples were taken on charge by the USAAF under the designation C-73, being used in the Transition Training Programme of the US Air Transport Command. Some 18 Model 247Ds were acquired in 1941 by the UK Purchasing Commission in the USA, all but one being used as navigational trainers by the RAF in England and by the RCAF in Canada. Reports have stated that some 54 airlines operated the type during its life.

Two examples are known to have come to this region. In 1934 a Boeing 247 registered NR257Y was entered in the Melbourne Centenary Air Race from Mildenhall in the United Kingdom to Melbourne, VIC. It was flown by Roscoe Turner, well known racing pilot, showman and film adviser, and Clyde Pangborn, with R G Nicholls as the radio operator. The aircraft (Race No 5) completed the course, coming third behind a de Havilland DH.88 Comet and Douglas DC-2, in a total elapsed time of 92 hrs 5 mins 38 secs, but in fact taking 2nd place in the speed event.

The aircraft was not flown again in Australia. It was subsequently dismantled and loaded on board the ‘SS Mariposa’ in Melbourne and shipped to the United States where it was re-registered as NC13369, eventually ending up in the Air Transportation Gallery of the National Air & Space Museum in Washington, DC in 1976 where it is still on display.

In 1938 a Boeing 247 (thought to be N247Y – c/n 1952) arrived in crates in Sydney, NSW and was unloaded on to the wharf. This machine had been operated by United Airlines as NC13366 and had been sold to J C Elder of New York. Early in 1937 it had been modified to have two forward firing 12.7 mm (0.50 in) machine guns in the nose, a flexible 12.7 mm (0.50 in) machine gun in the dorsal position, and extra fuel tanks increasing the gross weight to 7,098 kg (15,648 lb). It was said to be one of two being shipped to China for military service against invading Japanese forces, having been presented to Madame Chiang Kai-Shek. There has been some conjecture as to the exact identity of the aircraft which arrived on the Sydney wharves. Be that as it may, the aircraft remained in its packing cases the whole time it was in Sydney, spending several months at Cockatoo Island Dockyard.

The Australian Government refused permission for the erection of the aircraft in Sydney. One report indicated the pilot was to be an American named Johnston and the mechanic a Russian named Tarantin, who was refused a visa by the Australian Government when he applied to come to Sydney to assist in the erection. The aircraft was later placed on board the vessel ‘Whitford Point’ as deck cargo, this being bound for Hong Kong via Manila leaving on 22 May 1938. One report stated the pilot was to be Julius Barr.

The original intention was to fly the aircraft to China, a quotation being received from de Havilland Aircraft Company at Kingsford Smith aerodrome, Sydney, to take custody of it, complete assemble of it and ready it to be flown from Australia. However, in 1938 it would seem there were some problems associated with a foreign crew flying an armed aircraft across and from Australia. It was not assembled and afterwards it was shipped out and erected in Hong Kong, the aircraft being operated from Yunnan, but in December 1938 it flew into a hillside and was destroyed, all on board being killed.

After the lifting of import restrictions in December 1935 relating to the import of aircraft built in countries that were non-signatories to the International Commission for Air Navigation (ICAN) agreement, New England Airways based in New South Wales announced to the Comptroller of Civil Aviation that, amongst other aircraft it was considering, it intended to import new-build examples of the Boeing 247D from the United States for its intra-state services. In the event none were imported.

A number of examples have survived: NC13347 (c/n 1729) in the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington in airworthy condition; N18RE (c/n 1722) held by the Science Museum at Wroughton Airfield in Swindon in the UK; CF-JRQ (c/n 1699) with the National Aviation Museum at Ottawa, Canada; and NR257Y (c/n 1953) with the National Air & Space Museum in Washington, DC.