Customer Reviews

Boeing Stratocruiser (Classic Airliners)

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The Airlife's Classic Airliner series of books cover individual commercial aircraft types in an interesting, in-depth manner.

Each volume of this British series covers a unique commercial aircraft type from its design, production, entry into service, its usage by airlines, and in some cases eventual demise.

Each volume features plenty of color and black and white photographs of the subject aircraft along with a complete construction list (accurate to date of publication for aircraft types still being built).

Volume 1 covers the Boeing Stratocruiser (and related Stratotanker) series of aircraft ... including most, if not all of the many derivatives and provides an interesting look at the genesis of this long-range inter-continental piston airliner.

The two airliners that best represents the opulence and optimism of the post-War era and the 1950s are the Lockheed Constellation and Boeing Stratocruiser. The latter aircraft heralded unprecedented luxury in mass airline travel, with an elegance inside rivaled only by the elegance of the Connie's exterior lines. Veteran author Robert Hewson describes the background and evolution of the huge, ungainly aircraft, also covering the design and development and technical specifications on what was surely the most advanced and luxurious airliner of the time. As with other books in this series, the history of the aircraft in airline service with first- and second-tier operators is covered. The incidents and accidents section is fairly long, thanks to the unreliablity of its massive Pratt & Whitney R-4360 28-cylinder turbocharged piston engines, the largest and most complex of their kind - even more so than the tempermental Wright R-3350s that gave the Connie the nickname "the world's best tri-motor." With the advent of the Jet Age, there was little use for these once proud airliners. Most were relegated to the scrapyard; others, however, found novel use in cargo conversions, most notably the Mini and Super Guppy conversions. One of the greatest ironies in commerial aviation history is the use of these Super Guppy aircraft by Boeing arch-rival Airbus. I was pleased to see a good number of vinage photos of both the cabins (including the lower-level lounge) and the flight deck of this magnificent bird, a rarity in books of this genre. If I could purchase just one of the two main books on the Strat, I would have to go with Nicholas Veronico's title in the AirlinerTech series - that book is very hard to beat. Having said that, I am glad to have this book as well, as it offers aother perspective on this very interesting aircraft and is well worth owning on its own.

Loaded with photographs of the 377 this tome is a wealth of information on the working life of this airliner. The text tends to repeat the information in order to cover the spread of photographs. What is interesting is the author gives a complete history of each 377 built and where it ended up.