John Travolta’s Boeing 707

In a recent episode of Oprah’s Big Give, the remaining three contestants were flown from Florida to Chicago in a Boeing 707 with a famous pilot, John Travolta. Travolta has been a licensed pilot for a number of years and is one of the few private citizens who owns and flies his own commercial sized aircraft.

While Travolta’s Boeing 707 has most certainly been altered to fit the lifestyle of a person who flies friends and family to various locations, lets take a look at the history of the Boeing 707.

Boeing developed and designed the 707 in the early 1950s. The company delivered over 1000 707s and the plane went on to dominate passenger air transportation in the 1960s and into the 1970s. The plane was originally designed for both commercial and military use, in the end many commercial 707s found their way into military service. The first flight of a production run Boeing 707 occurred near the end of 1957 and the FAA certified it the following year. The last year that the passenger 707 was produced was 1978.

What a thrill it must be to pilot yourself around the country, if not the world, in your very own commercial aircraft.