[Note: This topic has been in my mind for a while.... Boeing 737 series evolution remains a most fascinating segment of aviation history. From the tiniest 737-100 (737 #1), that was delivered, in 1968, to Lufthansa, to the largest MAX 10 (737 #11,000+) being delivered today, it has been a remarkable story of ups and downs, for sure. Anyway, continuing on, from my previous post, out of curiosity, I seek, here, virtually, a bit more familiarity with a couple of (endearing) 737 variants.... via pictures. Hope you too enjoy these pictures, below, of the 737 (exclusively) in the Southwest colors, along with "optional" readings, below, about some of the fine details and variations between these two models...]

In my previous post on the 737-600, I'd remarked that the -600 was meant to be a replacement for the 737-500. The -500 flew for the first time on June 30, 1989, with Southwest Airlines. Within less than 10 years of it, in 1998, the -600 entered service with Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS). The (Classic) -500 had sold well, but the (NG) -600 was never so popular. The -600 had the advantages of the newer technology, but with a still very young -500 fleet, in hand, the operators did not perceive sufficient (technical and economic) differentiators to switch to the -600. It did not help either that the -700 was just around the corner. In fact, the very first 737 NG to roll out and be introduced into service was the -700. The -700 entered service with Southwest Airlines in December 1997. Significantly, both the smaller -600 and the larger (stretched) -800 entered service, during the very next year, in 1998, respectively with SAS and Hapag-Lloyd Flug (later to become TUIfly)....heralding a most exciting period for the 737 NG, for sure...

The -300 was the first Boeing 737 with the odd-looking flat-bottomed (hamster-pouch) engine nacelles...gone were the well-revered JT8D engines of the -100/-200, and entered the CFM56 powerplants, that would save the day (and future) for the 737. It is also an incredible story of tenacity and ingenuity for the (struggling) engine-making joint venture, CFM, literally in the face of imminent dissolution... (Today, I read, the company is the holder of received orders and commitments for more than 17,350 LEAP engines, valued at more than $252 billion...!)

The drivers for that peculiar nacelle-design are worth noting:

"The 737-300 had run into a major (technical) problem. The original (737) designers had focused on saving weight. They wanted a short, simple landing gear, so they put the (P & W) JT8D engines "directly" below the wing rather than on pylons in front of it (please see below, one (convincing) close-up image of an American B737-200, the image dividing my 2 groups of the NG -700 and the Classic -300). But the new (CFM) engines, designed to run quieter and save fuel, were much larger in diameter than the (JT8D) engines, and could not fit the same way..."

"Boeing and CFM engineers cobbled together a solution. A smaller fan was designed for the new CFM56-3 engine (giving up some efficiency), and accessories such as generators were moved from the bottom to the sides of the fan case, gaining a few (but valuable) inches of ground clearance (thereby flattening the lower lip for all future 737s). The Boeing team had to hang the engine ahead of the wing but only inches below it. And reportedly, a (then-less-known) engineer, Walt Gillette, in his late 30s, who would later become the chief engineer of the 787, used the latest (available) technology of computational fluid dynamics to resolve (a few other) show-stopping problems with aerodynamic interference of this peculiar design..."...Walt Gillette, I read, was a remarkable gentleman, modest and soft-spoken, once called by BusinessWeek “plane genius” who retired after nearly 40 years of service at Boeing, having worked on the 707 all the way to the 787, where he was head of the 787 design program...

Thus, the engine innovations assured the success for the 737-300 (and thereby for future 737 NGs), and with it, also that of the CFM engines, from the CFM56-3 series of the 737-300, through the CFM56-7 series of the 737 NG, to the current LEAP engines that power the A320neo/B737MAX. The -700 was meant to be a replacement for the best-selling -300, and, unlike the sad story of -600, the -700 proved even more popular than the -300. Interestingly and coincidentally, as of just last month's data (June 2022), the -700 (with 1,128 units delivered) has finally (and barely) overtaken the old tally of the (venerable) -300 (total 1,113 delivered) ...

In this post, for (amateur) curiosity, listed, below, are a few of the visual differences, I've attempted to see (and show) via pictures, between the Classic -300 and the NextGen -700 that replaced it. I read somewhere, "...The cockpit windows (on the -700) are the only things that havn't changed...Although the fuselage structure is essentially unchanged (from the -300), everything else is either different or bigger..."...True indeed...

1. The -700 had option for with or w/o winglets, but the -300 had no winglets. For this post, to keep the comparison fair, I've configured my (SWA) -700 w/o winglets, thanks to the wonderful (iFly) 737 Configurator Tool.
2. Compared to the -300, the -700 has (impressive) 18 ft larger (reshaped) wingspan (without winglets), and 5 ft taller vertical stabilizer. These facts are easily seen in my pictures below.
3. Lack of the continuation of the engine mount behind the wing in the -700 (can be seen, below, in my under-belly 737 shots), and also the way the engine mount doesn't extend over the front of the wing in the -700 the same way as it does in the -300.
4. Here is another curious giveaway, though difficult to to see...look at the back tip of the engines. Notice, below, how the -300 just tapers out, but the -700 has a little bit (a pointed strut) sticking out further back.
5. Most noticeably, the front of the engine cowling is larger and more round on the -700 (see frontal pics). So, the -300 is (more) flat on the bottom while the -700 is (more) round...less of a hamster-face, so to speak... (In the most advanced 737 MAX LEAP engines, some of us, here, including yours truly, would probably miss the hamster look...🙂...)  ... will have to look harder to tell a B737 MAX from an A320neo...
6. I have deliberately configured my (SWA) -700, here, with eyebrow windows (see above the cockpit windows). The -300 is shown with eyebrows too, but, I believe, the eyebrow windows can be removed from both models. 
7. Southwest Airlines makes it especially easy to tell the -700 apart from the -300. Their -300s (SWA operated a phenomenal ~200 units of 737-300s) have "Grey" flap track fairings, seen sticking out behind the wings (see shots below) .... while the -700s have "Red" flap track fairings (see the amazingly clear and beautiful pictures of Alaska738's SWA Classic One livery -700 (recent) post...though the -300 was the first ever (and original) Classic livery 737...🙂...). Also in the pictures, below, one can spot 3 such (flap) fairings on the -700 wing, whereas only two are seen for the -300. On closer look, the -300 fairings appear pointed unlike the square tips for the -700 (best seen in the top-down shots) ...
8. And if you're standing up close (virtually), see the on-ground static shots, the longer (and taller) main landing gear on the -700 makes it look to be sitting higher, compared to that of the -300.

So, overall, the engine cowlings when viewed from the front, the much greater wingspan and the much taller tail, are few of the most obvious (visual) differences between the two models. Of course, these are merely on-the-surface (visual) differences...surely, there are numerous other technical (and engineering) differences (not the least of which is the upgraded avionics in the -700, see one shot each, below, of the -300 and -700 flightdecks), that made the -700 the staple of global carriers (SWA with 447 units and Ryanair with 60 units, being two well-known examples...) ...

My iFly 737 package provides me with a full set of 737 variants (600-through-900/BBJ3), but, of course, devoid of the -300 I was looking for comparision, for which, here, I've fallen back to a legacy Wilco-feelThere model.

Thanks for your interest...in this post and these pictures...! After all, from the perspective of an aviation fan (or is it maybe fanatic...🙂...), it never hurts to know the (beloved) 737 a bit more closely... (especially when more 737s are soon coming to the desktops of MSFS flyers...). 

Cheers and have good flights...!!

Super set of pictures! 😉 

1 hour ago, P_7878 said:

From the tiniest 737-100 (737 #1), that was delivered, in 1968, to Lufthansa,

Whilst it is true that Lufthansa was the first Airline to receive production model 737-100s, they didn't get the very first one which Boeing built, that being the prototype, PA-099 (registered N73700), which first flew in April '67. PA-099 was retained by Boeing for testing, until it was eventually handed over to NASA in June '73, when it was re-registered as N515NA, NASA having bought it with the intention of using it for all kinds of development work on things such as FMCs, high lift devices, FADEC and so on.

At one point PA-099 actually had a second cockpit built in the rear cabin so it could be used to allow completely blind flying in simulated IMC at any time, whilst employing a prototype CDU design, testing not only the functionality of the thing, but also the haptics of the CDU's layout, all whilst having the additional safety of a crew up front in the standard cockpit, monitoring things and able to take over if necessary.

NASA retired PA-099 in the early 2000s, whereupon arrangements were made for it to go on display, so in September 2003 it was flown to the Museum of Flight in Seattle, where it remains as an exhibit of what is arguably the most successful jet airliner series ever built; certainly the longest-running continuous production of one.

Edited July 16, 20223 yr by Chock

Fantastic post Sir , thank you !! .

Beautiful set of shots !

cheers 😉

14 hours ago, Chock said:

Whilst it is true that Lufthansa was the first Airline to receive production model 737-100s, they didn't get the very first one which Boeing built, that being the prototype, PA-099 (registered N73700), which first flew in April '67. PA-099 was retained by Boeing for testing, until it was eventually handed over to NASA in June '73, when it was re-registered as N515NA, ...

Alan: 

Thanks much for chiming in...!! Yes, you are absolutely correct...🙂...I should not have ignored the prototype (#1 737 built and tested...) ...

Thinking in terms of customer delivery, you made me look up today a bit more about what happened to those "30" 737-100s built. Beyond the first one for NASA (LN 1, PA099/N515NA) you mentioned, Lufthansa took 22 of the remaining 29. It looks like Avianca Colombia, and Malaysia-Singapore Airlines (later Singapore Airlines) snapped up the other 7 -100s. (United would wait for the stretched -200) ...

Lufthansa's role in the conception of the 737 is so critical and the LH 737-100 was such a unique commercial airliner...BTW, CS has included one LH in their default 737-100 pack (see 2 pictures below, for D-ABEC). This was not the first -100 delivery for LH though, but the 3rd for LH (LN 4). The very first 737-100 delivered to LH would be (D-ABEA / LN 2). 

A most fascinating part of 737 and aviation history... (before the operators jumped on the 737-200 bandwagon and the rest is history, as they say...🙂...that continues to this day...) ...!!

 

15 hours ago, Alaska738 said:

Super set of pictures! 😉 

Thank you, Alaska...! Actually, it was your post on the Classic One (-700) that made me dig up the SWA (Classic) 737-300 in the same Classic One Livery...🙂...

 

14 hours ago, johnbow72 said:

Fantastic post Sir , thank you !! .

Appreciated the kind words...!!

 

9 hours ago, pmplayer said:

Beautiful set of shots !

cheers 😉

Thank you, pmplayer, for the comment...!

 

LH 737-100 (D-ABEC):

Edited July 17, 20223 yr by P_7878

Great set and seeing FSX shots bought back many fond memories for me so thank you.

Also...

..my FSX never had clouds looking that good! What addon is that!  I will even go out on a limb here and say they look better than some clouds in MSFS (which tend to give me a kind of cartoon cauliflower feel most of the time)!

13 hours ago, ThrottleUp said:

Great set and seeing FSX shots bought back many fond memories for me so thank you.

Also...

Appreciated your comment...and you're welcome...!! Yes, those of us who came (and still hanging around here...🙂.... since at least the FS9 days, including many, I know, for sure...from FS2002 or earlier...🙂...are loaded with fond memories from this hobby, that never fades away, whether you're actually flying these a/c or not...) ...e.g., I could marvel at (and often fly) the Lufthansa 737-100, (the first ever commercial 737), see above, without getting bored...Even the most modern 737 (-MAX) SIM if/when produced by premiere developers will be great, but that would never really replace this one...speaking from an aviation enthusiast's perspective...So, I'm with you, here...

 

13 hours ago, ThrottleUp said:

...my FSX never had clouds looking that good! What addon is that! ....

To be honest, the cloud perception in the image you've quoted (shot #11), or for that matter, in shot #9 (Blue Southwest Frontal image), which also looks good to me, are actually different (and frankly not that striking) when viewed from a wider viewpoint. They look good because of zooming into a small space around the a/c, where the cloud textures seem enhanced. For comparison, see the same clouds in my last two images (of the Classic 737), but, from a wider viewpoint...

With that said, I have always had the REX basics, which has numerous themes and cloud patterns, but I do not play around with them so much these days, as I used to once...Surely, those parameters can be tweaked in FSX to make your pictures look even better... (I forget which one, I've now, but it's left at one of the default settings, I believe...) ...

From the MSFS pictures, here, that I follow closely, I admire the life-like effects of twilight glows and especially the low-visibility and wet and rainy scenes (my favorites) ...but the clouds, I agree, sometimes need adjustment especially when they appear volcanic...

Cheers and happy flying...!! And thanks again for your interest and query...!!

Thank You..A very interesting History of a Equally Interesting Aircraft.

On 7/19/2022 at 9:17 AM, Phantom88 said:

.... of an Equally Interesting Aircraft.

True, Patrick, and thank you for the comment...!!