Customer Reviews

BOEING: Boeing 707 KC-135 and Their Derivatives

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If you have any interest in either civil or military aviation or aircraft of the past fifty years, please do yourself a huge favor and buy this book! It is one of the most thorough, interesting monographs on a very special aircraft. The Boeing 707 not only was the plane that truly ushered in commercial jet transportation as we know it today (and most of today's airliners still only have similar performances to this 50 year old wonder, but are quieter and with greater range, and lower fuel burn capabilities).

Not only is every model that ever existed described but likely illustrated with contemporary photos and wonderful artwork. The latter shows each variant in many different airline colors (the civil ones) and the military versions, which were vital in keeping this country free -- and I do not exaggerate -- and defensively prepared, are shown in all their glory. Their markings are representative of different times during their half-century, much varied careers.

All statistics, development history and personages associated with the development of these two look-alike, but truly different, aircraft are presented herein.

At Amazon's amazing price, this volume is indeed one of the best buys I've ever seen in a half century of collecting aircraft books, and this is indeed one of the best volumes ever. DO NOT MISS IT!

Justifying the Boeing company decision to gamble heavily on a private-venture prototype, the success of the B-707 family has been enormous. As a civil transport this type offering new levels of speed and flight comfort, and as a military type, the KC-135 brought the art of inflight-refuelling to a fully practical pitch.
This wonderful plane and its derivatives marked the true beginning of the jet transport age, and in the process totally revolutionised the nature of air transport.
This wonderful book will be a treasured addition to every aviation library.

DH is an aerospace engineer and admirer of planes of all sort. He was interested in this subject and enjoyed the book. He said it was dry but had exactly the info he was looking for. Also, the written portion has some grammatical errors and typos but it does not detract from the information.
To me, it is a beautifully illustrated hardback with hundreds of pages of pictures of different version of this plane. Fantastic coffee table material - you know, for an aero guy. :)

En cette année qui verra la mise en service du Boeing 787, un descendant du 707, qui révolutionnera le transport aérien comme le fut ce dernier et l'adjudication du contrat de renouvellement des KC135 de l'US Air Force, la lecture de ce livre ne peut tomber plus à point.
Pour les amoureux de l'aviation et encore plus pour les mordus du 707 et les nostalgiques des vols de KC-135 de la base de Plattsburgh, cet ouvrage est un incontournable sur ces deux quadriréactés issus du Dash 80.
Au fil des 240 pages, grâce à un texte dense, d'innombrables photographies et profils de toute beauté, l'auteur couvre magnifiquement tout autant toutes les versions commerciales des plus de 1000 Boeing 707 que les multiples versions militaires et VIP aussi bien du Boeing 707 que des plus de 800 KC-135 au sein des forces armées américaines et étrangères.
N'ont pas été oubliés les cinq CC-137 opérés par les Forces armées canadiennes de 1970 à 1997 et les deux 707-123B par Québecair. .