Aviation History – A Boeing Stratocruiser Draws a Crowd
A Boeing 377 Stratocruiser crosses a taxiway bridge over the eastbound Route 678 Van Wyck Expressway at what would become JFK Airport to the delight of several onlooking motorists. Having entered airline service in 1949 and derived from the B-29 Superfortress bomber, the Stratocruiser represented a significant evolution in air travel, featuring a pressurized double-decker cabin. The pressurization made flights more comfortable for passengers and enabled the aircraft to cruise at higher altitudes, avoiding bad weather and taking advantage of strong tailwinds.
As seen in this 1951 photo, the Stratocruiser was such a departure from existing aircraft designs that it literally turned heads and stopped traffic.
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