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The Boeing 377 Stratocruiser was a large long-range airliner developed from the C-97 Stratofreighter military transport, a derivative of the B-29 Superfortress. The Stratocruiser's first flight was on July 8, 1947. Its design was advanced for its day, its innovative features included two passenger decks and a pressurized cabin, a relatively new feature on transport aircraft. It could carry up to 100 passengers on the main deck plus 14 in the lower deck lounge; typical seating was for 63 or 84 passengers or 28 berthed and five seated passengers. The Stratocruiser was larger than the Douglas DC-6 and Lockheed Constellation and cost more to buy and operate. Its reliability was poor, chiefly due to problems with the four 28-cylinder Pratt & Whitney Wasp Major radial engines and their four-blade propellers. Only 55 Model 377s were built for airlines, along with the single prototype. ==Design and development== The Boeing 377 Stratocruiser was a civil derivative of the Boeing Model 367, the Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter, which first flew in late 1944. William Allen, who had become President of The Boeing Company in September 1945, sought to introduce a new civilian aircraft to replace reduced military production after Second World War.〔Redding and Yenne 1997, p. 68.〕 Although in a recession in late 1945, Allen ordered 50 Stratocruisers, spending capital on the project without an airline customer.〔Redding and Yenne 1997, p. 69.〕 On November 29, 1945 Pan American World Airways became the launch customer with the largest commercial aircraft order in history, a $24.5 Million order for 20 Stratocruisers, about $324.3 Million in 2014 dollars.〔〔http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/〕 Earlier in 1945 the Boeing C-97 had flown from Seattle to Washington, D.C. nonstop in six hours and four minutes; with this knowledge, and with Pan Am President Juan Trippe's high regard for Boeing after their success with the Boeing 314 Clipper, Pan Am was confident in ordering the expensive plane.〔 The 377 shared the distinctive design of the C-97, with a "double-bubble" fuselage cross-section, resembling a figure-8, with 6,600 ft³ (187 m³) of interior space, allowing for pressurization of a large cabin with two passenger decks. Outside diameter of the upper lobe was 132 inches, compared to 125 inches for the DC-6 and other Douglas types (and 148 inches for today's 737). The lower deck served as a lounge, seating 14. The 377 had innovations such as higher cabin pressure and air conditioning; the superchargers on the four Pratt & Whitney R-4360 engines increased power at altitude and allowed consistent cabin pressure.〔Redding and Yenne 1997, p. 71.〕 The wing was the Boeing ''117'' airfoil, regarded as the "fastest wing of its time". In all, 4,000,000 man-hours went into the engineering of the 377.〔Redding and Yenne 1997, p. 70.〕 First flight of the 377 was on July 8, 1947, two years after the first commercial order. The flight test fleet of three 377s underwent of flying to test its limits before certification.〔''Pushing the Envelope: The American Aircraft Industry'' by Donald M. Pattillo〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Boeing 377 Stratocruiser」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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