Does anyone remember the double-deck Boeing Stratocruiser?

The Flight Detective
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The Boeing 377 Stratocruiser was a long range double-deck airliner that first flew on 8 July 1947. Entering service on 1 April 1949 with Pan American, it was also operated by BOAC, Northwest Orient Airlines, United Airlines and American Overseas Airlines.

Seating generally between 50 and 75 passengers, the pressurised Stratocruiser featured sleeping berths for longer flights. Just 56 aircraft were produced, with Pan Am retiring the last one in 1961.

Boeing Stratocruiser Video

Following on from last weeks video about the Lockheed Constellation, this week we visit Seattle for a look at producing the Stratocruiser. This colour film from 1946 runs just under 20 minutes.

In the beginning, it goes through some of the Boeing history to date, including the Boeing 247, the Boeing 314 flying boat and others. Seeing the factory camouflaged for the war is interesting, and remember, Boeing has always built “tomorrow’s airplanes today”!

From about 6 minutes 30 seconds, the film shows how the Stratocruiser set a record of 6 hours, 3 minutes and 56 seconds for a Seattle to Washington DC flight. It is followed then by interesting cabins shots, then charts showing seating configurations.

Enjoyable is seeing the long explanations about how the pressurisation works as it was such a novel thing at the time. Seeing the lower deck lounge and the berths is also interesting, so check it out!

Pan American Stratocruiser Video

There’s another colour film about the aircraft, which was made when Pan American introduced it into service. It is also in colour and runs for about 24 minutes.

Pratt & Whitney’s Wasp engines fitted to the aircraft were problematic on many occasions. Several aircraft experienced incidents and a number of people lost their lives due to accidents stemming from the powerplant.

Overall Thoughts

With its lower deck lounge reached by spiral staircase, the Boeing 377 Stratocruiser was the forerunner of the Boeing 747, which originally had a spiral staircase to an upper deck lounge.

Long range luxury travel in the late 1940s and through the 1950s was on this aircraft. As it was expensive to operate, it was put on the premium routes where high prices could be charged in order to make a profit. Spending an overnight flight on one of these would an experience!

Have you ever flown on board a Stratocruiser? What did you think of the videos? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image by Boeing.

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[…] began and finished with the Boeing 747 and Airbus A380. In fact, they have been around a long time, with the Boeing Stratocruiser being one. Another is the Breguet […]

dean

yes!

Chuck Griffin

Never saw one in person, WAY before my time. But I’ve seen pics and old airline ads featuring what must have been the ultimate in long range luxury at the time. I think my favorite use of the aircraft was on Northwest. If you HAD to spend the better part of two days getting from the US to East Asia, well there are worse ways to go!

Happy Holidays Trent and keep up these awesome throwbacks. -Chuck in St Louis, USA

Fred

As a youngster, my dad took my brothers and me to what is now JFK to see my aunt & uncle fly to somewhere in Europe on a Pan Am Stratocruiser. I recall that my uncle wore a business suit and and my aunt wore suit that included a fox stole. While most info says the plane was based on the B-29 bomber it actually was from the B-50. It had the more powerful P & W engines which were supposed to be more reliable although they were frequently troublesome. I started flying business class internationally in 1983 on 767s… Read more »

David

I grew up in Los Angeles and I loved seeing all the different airlines and their planes at LAX in the 1950s. My father would take me to the airport on the weekends and it was very exciting time for me. I would meet ground personnel and they would sometimes let me go on a plane to see the interiors. Usually they were DC-6, DC-6B, a connie and convairs. I remember seeing the Pan American Stratocruisers arriving and departing for Hawaii and beyond. They were magnificent planes and very exciting to see and go on board. I remember the dramatic… Read more »

Reg Mitchell

Actually it was the US Coast Guard that rescued the ditched 377’s passengers and crew. The cutter Pontchartrain was stationed midway between Hawaii and the US coast to provide weather support. The Pan Am plane circled above the cutter on its remaining two engines until dawn made the ditching easier. After the rescue, the Pontchartrain took everybody to San Francisco. This Wikipedia link has a longer version of the story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Flight_6

David

Thanks for reminding me that it was a coast guard cutter, and not a navy destroyer, that rescued the passengers and flight crew and took them to san francisco. it was a very memorable event to live through and it was an amazing landing and rescue at sea.
david

steve j

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