I purchased this book in 1994 while in Wales (beautiful country). I have read it a few times. I am note sure if it can still be purchsed but ...It is an absolutly fascinating story of what went on during the 747 "betting the farm" development. One of my favorite parts is when the chief test pilot did a scheduled fly by for the first potential customer and actually did a full barrel roll to the absolute shock, horror and amazement of the Boeing brass and customer!

I purchased this book in 1994 while in Wales (beautiful country). I have read it a few times. I am note sure if it can still be purchsed but ...It is an absolutly fascinating story of what went on during the 747 "betting the farm" development. One of my favorite parts is when the chief test pilot did a scheduled fly by for the first potential customer and actually did a full barrel roll to the absolute shock, horror and amazement of the Boeing brass and customer!

That was a 707--actually it was the Dash 80.707 Roll

That was a 707--actually it was the Dash 80.707 Roll

I was gonna say...a 747 doing a barrel roll? The thing banks over 40 degrees and it just slides out of the sky. But what a sight to see, a commercial jetliner doing a roll. It would be a cool, but equally terrifying sight.

I remember the story that Boeing asked the test pilot to show off the 707 with something spectacular for potential customers and he did a 1g barrel roll. Boeing was very impressed and asked that he never do such a thing again lol.John Ellison

Well, i have to say that the 1st time i saw the Dash80 at KBFI, i was, at first, surprised of the overall size of this Airplane, not that big, this is not of course a 707-320 ...and i'm not very surprised that Tex Johnston tried a roll, but definitely, a great Pilot who trusted in his plane. have a look on this vid:Cheers,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vHiYA6Dmws