TO.

142,000 lb,

688

STD*4I*F
STD DAY^.
l

500

l52,OOOIb
I

1,000
1500
IPOO
RANGE (miles)

2000

!S2,OOOIbTYPiCAL MIXED CLASS

142.0001b-

FLIGHT

The upper curves are for s.l.

take-off with 20,0001b payload, operating weight empty
of 83,5001b, reserves of
10,0001b and cruise at Mach
0.82 at 30,000ft (no wind);
this approximates to a minimum-cost operation. The
lower curves show payload
against range, with assumptions similar except for the
use of maximum cruise
thrust at 25,000ft; this is a
high-speed operation for competitive routes

7500 US gal-|
^OOOUSqal
500

l,000
RANGE (miles)

BOEI NG

ISOO

2000

727 .. .

114 cu ft cylinders. Passenger oxygen becomes operative at a

cabin pressure altitude of 14,000ft, or upon manual command.
There are typically four drop-out masks in each passenger service
unit. A noteworthy feature of the oxygen system is the employment of modular units which combine pressure reduction, automatic
actuation of the passenger oxygen, continuous flow regulation, and
other functions in two parallel modules, either of which will alone
perform the essential oxygen functions.
The 727 Programme
Milestones in the development, sales and manufacturing programme are indicated graphically on page 677. In the lower part
of this diagram is plotted a curve showing the design manpower
applied to the 727. From the summer of 1960 this force grew at
the rate of 115 engineers per month for a whole year, drawing upon
a design staff of some 17,000 in the Seattle area. Such figures

PRATT

&

underline the importance of the regrouping of the British industry

into units able to operate on the same scale.
Manufacture of the 727 takes place almost wholly at Renton,
components of the new aircraft being interspersed among 707s and
720s and often being superficially almost identical. Boeing have
built separate airframes for fatigue and static-strength testsa
philosophy differing from that evolved by de Havilland. The first
flight 727, N7001U, was rolled out in its company chocolate and
lemon livery last February 5, and flew four days later.
Boeing's flight test department is so strong in personnel and
computation equipment that the first 727 carries over 16,0001b of
test equipment in the passenger cabin and freight holds, with
500 channels of instrumentation. By February 18 nine flights
totalling 16hr 21min had sufficed for the following tests: checkout
of all systems; full stalls at every flap setting, with power off, power
on and full asymmetric power; complete low-speed tests of all
flight controls, including operation on A and B systems, either
system alone and with both systems off; stick force per g at forward
e.g.; Dutch roll stabilities at various altitudes, speeds and configurations, with yaw damper on and off; .partical airspeed calibration; use of speed brakes, reversers and manual tailplane trim;
in-flight engine starts and engine stability experiments; wet-runway
decelerations; trim checks at up to 142,0001b with e.g. from 17per
cent to 39 per cent; partial drag polar; IFR flight clearance (FAA);
and CAR stall speeds with full flap using the trailing-bomb a.s.i.
In the heading picture on page 675 N7001U is seen taking off
with a flutter-inducer attached to the tips of the starboard wing
and tailplane. This series of tests took place early in March, when
Mach development reached 0.87 and take-off weight the design
limit of 152,0001b. At the time of writing, the second (N72700) and
third 727 (N7002, in United colours) have flown, and the fourth
and last flight-test machine was rolled out on April 2.
Orders so far announced for the 727 are as follow: United, 40;
Eastern, 40; Lufthansa, 12; American, 25; TWA, 10; TAA, 2;
and Ansett-ANA, 2. This is a sound basis on which to plan
production big enough to absorb Boeing's vast capacity. It could
be argued that Boeing have unduly penalized themselves in striving
for so short a field length, and in making the 727 so much like the
707 and 720 instead of producing an uninhibited design. But these
are two of the chief reasons why 131 of these aircraft have already
been sold. Boeing appear to have achieved a good compromise
with the smallest member of their airline family.

WHITNEY

N the foregoing description of the Boeing 727 the point is made

that, for the first time ever in the USA, this aircraft was designed
around an engine designed not for military but for airline service.
In Britain there have been many such engines since the advent of
the gas turbine, the most widely known being the Dart, Proteus,
Conway, Tyne, Medway (the original RB.141 for the de Havilland
121) and Spey. The Conway and Spsy are both now in production
for bombers, and the Tyne for an R A F transport, but these engines
were all originally designed primarily for airline use. But in the USA
the Pratt & Whitney JT8D is unique in having no military application, apart from the propulsion of the Swedish J37 Viggen.
The JT8D-1 was the first engine outside Britain planned as a
turbofan from the outset, and not converted from an existing
turbojet. At the same time, Pratt & Whitney Aircraft went to great
lengths to incorporate into the JT8D the maximum "carry across"
from their earlier jet and fan commercial engines, and to choose
conservative design points to facilitate the attainment of durability
and reliability. In fact, part of the design was based on the existing
J52 turbojet, though the JT8D is no mere fan conversion.
Compared with its only real rival, the Rolls-Royce Spey, the
JT8D-1 operates at reduced pressures and temperaturesand thus
is proportionately larger and heavier; but it employs solid turbine
blades of relatively cheaper design and is claimed by Pratt & Whitney
to incur lower parts-costs in the course of each year.
Engineering features may be clearly seen in the cutaway drawing
of the No 1 engine of the 727 on pages 681 -682.
Pratt & Whitney draw attention to the following points:
Fan inlet case (item 2 in the drawing) of new design, reflecting
experience gained with the JT3D.
Fan blades of titaniumdovetailed into their discs and incorporating
mid-span shrouds in the first stage (3) and pinned to the discs thereafter.

International, 9 May 1963

JT8D-1

Labyrinth seals (14) at the front and rear of both compressor sections
to prevent bleed-air contamination.
Low-pressure blading of titanium (7).
Heat shields (17) protect against oil coking.
Double ball-bearings (10, 16), either race of which can carry the
thrust of one complete rotating assembly.
High-pressure compressor blading (12) of steel.
Double fuel manifold (90) in what Pratt & Whitney call a "relatively
cool" location, although it is tucked away inside the by-pass duct.
Simple bullet-nose flame tubes (25), each with a single burner and
offering minimum pressure-drop. This is a departure from previous
P&W practice, and an unusual feature is that the ten tubes discharge
into a common annular nozzle.
Turbine blades and guide vanes (22, 23, 26) are solid.
"Piggyback" mounting of fuel control (84) to fuel pump (83) and
oil tank (101) to accessory gearbox (123), eliminating much exterior
plumbing.
Accessories are conveniently located in a cool environment.
Deposits in the oil strainer (117) are detectable by means of pressure
taps.
Each accessory may be removed without disturbing neighbouring
accessories and piping (apart from the fuel pump, which requires
removal of the fuel control).
Fan discharge case (27) and main fan duct casing are split into upper
and lower halves to facilitate removal.
JT8D-1 drawings were released to experimental fabrication in
November 1960, the first engine ran in April 1961, the first prototype engine was delivered to Boeing (for tests on the Dash 80) in
May 1962, and the first production JT8D-1 was shipped to Renton
in February of this year. Total development running time is now
approximately 6,000hr. By the end of 1965 it is expected that the
JT8D-1 will have flown a total of l,350,000hr in the Boeing 727
and Caravelle 10B, and time between overhauls is expected by
then to have reached 2,500hr.