Boeing's supersonic airliner, and answer to Concorde, spent years slowly rotting by Florida roadside

Boeing’s supersonic airliner and its answer to Concorde, the Boeing 2707, spent years slowly rotting by a Florida roadside after the US Government canceled the project.

In response to Concorde, the American government sought to build its own version. This would be faster and carry more people than the Anglo-French airliner.

Boeing won the contract for their 2707 Supersonic Transport (SST); however, just a few years later, America cancelled its SST program.

A full-scale wooden mockup of the aircraft had been built by this point, and it spent years sitting in Florida before eventually being saved.

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The Boeing 2707 would have been faster than Concorde

Had it come to pass, the Boeing 2707 would have been faster than Concorde and carried more people than its rival.

Boeing said the aircraft would carry up to 300 passengers in its cabin, and fly at speeds of around Mach 3.

The early design also featured a swing-wing mechanism.

This swing-wing was eventually replaced by a more conventional design similar to Concorde’s.

It was shown off to the public via a full-size mockup, complete with a mock ‘droop snoot’ nose.

But in 1971, funding was pulled for the project, and no prototypes or production aircraft were ever built.

From there on, the mockup of the 2707 had an interesting life, not only being left at the roadside, but also as part of a church.

Boeing’s supersonic airliner was eventually saved from being scrapped

Initially, the 2707 mockup was sold to the SST Aviation Exhibit Center in Kissimmee, Florida.

It was displayed there from 1973 to 1981.

The museum then closed, with the Faith World Church buying the building.

Remarkably, they held services with the aircraft still standing above them.

It served as an unusual backdrop to Church services until 1990.

The mockup was then sold to aircraft restorer Charles Bell and was moved to Merritt Island, Florida.

It soon became a photographic hotspot for tourists, having been left by the roadside.

But it was in the sweltering Florida sun that the aircraft’s condition deteriorated, before it was finally saved again.

The Hillier Museum gave the aircraft a restoration and revamp.

It spent 15 years on display before it was sold again to the Museum of Flight in Seattle.

Now at the Museum of Flight’s restoration center at Paine Field, Boeing’s supersonic airliner has effectively come back home.

While its latest restoration is a slow burner, the mockup is at least undercover and safe.

The 2707 was not Boeing’s finest hour.

But perhaps one day it will go on display again and serve as a reminder of when the world went supersonic mad.

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