Boeing 707-123 - American Airlines | Aviation Photo #0541868

Anonymous

17 years ago

Nice shot, but look at all the pollution!

Anonymous

17 years ago

Just a great picture!!!!!!

Anonymous

17 years ago

Something for the environmentalist's? Nah.... look at that clean air!!

Anonymous

17 years ago

Love the picture.

Anonymous

17 years ago

Great Picture! But why did it need 7000ft of Runway????

Anonymous

17 years ago

Excellent photo, the contrast with newest planes is amazing with all that smoke. I'd like to hear the sound too!

Anonymous

17 years ago

Oooo yea!! god bless america

Anonymous

17 years ago

Long live the good ol' smoky Pratt Turbojets! Sweet shot.

Anonymous

17 years ago

Great oldtimer... I love him too bad I never seen him in real life... Too young so I missed those beauties :(. Lot's of smoke...

Anonymous

17 years ago

Long live the water-burners

Anonymous

17 years ago

I love the pratt and whitney jt3C6 engines those were the days water injected power

Anonymous

17 years ago

Simply a non-healthy shot!

Anonymous

17 years ago

With smoking engines like these ones you didn't need
cigarettes to get lung cancer. what a mess, thank god
the laws have changed.

Anonymous

16 years ago

The smoke engine is beautiful and 707-100 of American Airline ASTROJET is my favorite aicraft of this airline

Anonymous

16 years ago

When you consider all the hub bub about air pollution caused by the Concorde (which flew for the first time only 9 years after this photo was taken), it is amazing how one-sided and politically motivated the US has been about foreign competition and invention. Unfortunately, you cannot hear the incredible noise the 707 made when it took off. Concorde was a lot quieter in my opinion. The Vicker's Super VC-10 was a far superior plane for subsonic long-haul routes --- although it was not until BOAC stopped flying that plane before VC-10's superiority became obvious. But the fact that the RAF is still flying the VC-10 today is evidence of what a wonderful aircraft it really was. You almost never see a 707 or KC-135 flying these days.

Anonymous

16 years ago

Lovely picture, i would like to see this in real and hear the sound too :)
loong live b-707's

Anonymous

16 years ago

So nice, smoky and probably noisy too ! Not being an expert, can someone explain the purpose of "burning" water here : I mean, ain't water in the fuel supposed to be bad news ?

Anonymous

16 years ago

Mmmmm! that's one reason for L.A. pollution. How many of these was taked of every day? (excluiding cars and industry).

But, the photo is very clasical and nostalgic :D(even if I'm youger), I apreciate this revolutionary aircraft.

Nice value.

Anonymous

16 years ago

Simply the best shot on airliners.net. I wonder what the passengers in the plane thought when they looked out their windows and saw all the smoke.

Anonymous

16 years ago

Mmh, takin' a deep breath...
I was wandering too about the so-called "waterburner". Found some info at wikipedia/turbojet:
Some US jet engines in those days had the ability to inject water into the intaken air flow, cooling it down and preventing some fuel from burning (thus creating a lot of dark smoke). This would make the engine run cooler and prevent it from overheating, which would eventually lead to mechanical failure, i.e. melting the compressor blades...

Anonymous

16 years ago

Excelent capture. I'd say this a/c alone has contributed to about 80% of greenhouse gasses. ;)

Anonymous

16 years ago

Sometimes I just wish I could travel back in time.

Anonymous

16 years ago

Golden age indeed! However, it would have been ecofriendly too

Anonymous

15 years ago

Amazing quality and smoke to go with this beuty

Anonymous

15 years ago

Neat photo. The black smoke just screams volumes about power.

Anonymous

15 years ago

Looks like its running on diesel!

Looks better with a big cloud of black smoke behind it!

Anonymous

15 years ago

Gotta love diesel planes, lol

Anonymous

15 years ago

Heroic!

Anonymous

14 years ago

Nice!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous

14 years ago

Great picture quality, because this photo was taken in 1960!

Anonymous

14 years ago

Whoa! Smokey JT3's!

Anonymous

14 years ago

Quintessential old 707 smoke pic, great position, great timing - wheels on the way up.

Anonymous

14 years ago

It captures the raw power of this classic jet...

Anonymous

14 years ago

Great Shot, however they used to use water injection in the engines back in the day to increase the density of the air going into the engine, this makes for a more efficient burn.

Anonymous

14 years ago

Gotta love the smoke! :P

Anonymous

13 years ago

Wonderful colour of image

Anonymous

13 years ago

Bit slow with the gear!

Anonymous

13 years ago

Them was the goog old days!

Anonymous

13 years ago

The wheels and the plumes of smoke give you a sense of power and force and balance. The plane looks like it just left the ground but already is far away because of its magical way of flying.

Anonymous

13 years ago

Holy Smoke!! What an amazing sight, I love to see these pictures of the good old days!

Anonymous

13 years ago

Holy #@#* thats a lot of smoke

Anonymous

13 years ago

Now Boeing is making a plastic airplane..this one is a REAL AIRPLANE!

Anonymous

13 years ago

Great shot just as the gear is coming up with a huge smoke trail!

Anonymous

13 years ago

It might just have made the 35 foot screen height

Anonymous

13 years ago

POWER!!!!!!!! THE PLANES, PILOTS, FLIGHT ATTENDANTS
HAD IT.ACTION WAS THE TICKET TO EVERY FLIGHT.
M.G.DAVIS EAL

Anonymous

13 years ago

The combination of the visible exhausts from the four engines, the height above the runway and the partially retracted landing gear, conveys action - you can almost hear the engines roaring.

Anonymous

13 years ago

He sucked the gear up over the numbers. Of course it's a "he". Back then there was only one kind of pilot. No bypassing turbofans back then, just good old cast iron coal burning J-57 screamers.

(From an old pilot, born before WWII who knew Igor Sikorsky and flew helicopters with wooden rotor blades. Yeah, what I write will "stand alone as a comment" and it will "make sense to" those who have been there and done that.)

Anonymous

13 years ago

Very impressive...reminds you of kc135's or b52's

Anonymous

13 years ago

This reminds me of my days with SAC. I loved to get to the end of the runway and watch those B-52's B47-s come off, screaming, billowing (water) smoke as they climbed to the heavens to protect the lives of Americans.

Anonymous

12 years ago

I Miss those days, with all the no extinct airlines and planes

Anonymous

12 years ago

Noise abatement!?! we don't need no stinking noise abatement! This was the first P&W wasp-waist, split spool turbojet. Tested in the navy a-3d skywarrior in '53 as the j-57. comm version was the jt-3. f-8 had one of these with an afterburner. what a great screeming engine it was.

Anonymous

12 years ago

Days long gone - when you could go to the airport and see jets that were fast and furious. They looked fast, and sounded and smelled like a rocketship blasting into space! They were the reason I became an airline pilot!

Anonymous

12 years ago

A great photo of a waterwagon. i started my career in Los Angeles air traffic control tower and there were still some of them around. I retired from the FAA and ATC in 2002.

Anonymous

12 years ago

Maybe time for an oil change??

Anonymous

12 years ago

The vision of power and control while retracting the wheels at a low altitude gives the feeling of confidence in the crew. Thanks for the shot. Dan K.

NWAROOSTER

Minnesota, USA

2 years ago

The sooner you could clean up the aircraft by retracting the landing gear you reduced the drag by a good amount. By the time the aircraft takes off you won't be able to land the aircraft on the take off runway without a go around.

Anonymous

11 years ago

This remind me of why i was proud of being an american airlines employee-- i remember when they took off and said"there goes one of my babies"..when i worked at the hangar at o'hare and saw one roll out and then take off--i had a sense of accomplishment...

Anonymous

11 years ago

It shows the early history of the jet age---and just how far we have progressed in 50 years!!!!

Anonymous

11 years ago

- evidence of poorly refined [kerosene-based] jet fuel and, as would be expected, older combustor design as part of a great aircraft which iirc superceded planes such as the prop driven DC-6D.

Anonymous

11 years ago

*Over the PA System* Please keep in mind that this is a non smoking flight* hahaha

Anonymous

11 years ago

Fantrastic shot, those old straight jets crying out loud, using water-injection to get the power-settings right. A real smoker.....

Anonymous

11 years ago

It's a great shot!

Anonymous

10 years ago

Beautiful shot of a beautiful aircraft. I really wish I could ride on one of these before they're all gone...

Anonymous

10 years ago

Holy smokes!...Quite literally!

Anonymous

10 years ago

You are a lucky man to have been there live! And a Great photographer for capturing it so well. 5* from me!
Jason W

Anonymous

10 years ago

Unthinkable smoke! And gear already up! Indeed a different time!

Anonymous

9 years ago

I just can't get over how soon they retracted the undercarriage....
Awesome pic, just awesome.
If I could give it more than 5 stars, I would.....

Anonymous

9 years ago

Gotta love the waterwagons!

deltatim

USA

3 years ago

I remember very well the thick black smoke coming from jets taking off from ATL when I was a boy of 9... it took a good five minutes for all of it to settle after a takeoff. That was 1968. It still resonates...

NWAROOSTER

Minnesota, USA

2 years ago

Excellent photograph of "Old Smokey."

Aviation Photo #0541868 Boeing 707-123 - American Airlines

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