BigLar

"Bullitt" was on TMC tonight. It's one of those movies I like to watch again every couple of years.

Anyhow, they're chasing the bad guy at SFO. He's boarding a plane for Rome, or maybe it's London. Flying on Pan Am (and in coach!).

I believe the movie was made before the 747 came on the scene, so does anyone know what those planes were? They were 4-engine models, and the only thing I could think of was the DC-8.

Anyone know for sure?

SMART51

Could be B707

WHBM

In 1968 Pan Am was almost entirely Boeing 707. They did have 20 early DC-8s as well which were retired early and by the time Bullitt was filmed there were only a few left. But there might well have been a spare one lying around for the film-makers. But I'll guess a 707. Believe it was filmed at San Francisco, a Pan Am base (as it had been since China Clipper flying boat days in the 1930s).

Distinguishing features:

707 has a sharp-pointed nose, DC-8 a more rounded nose.
DC-8 has notable little air intakes below and to either side of the nose.
DC-8 has larger cabin windows (just like the MD-11 has larger windows than the 777).

slawecki

There were also Convair 880/990's around. I flew them regularly from Columbus Ohio to NYC in the mid 60's. Pan Am did not have any, but AA did:

http://www.aircraft-photos.net/Convair.aspx

WHBM

The Convair jets, 880 and 990, were commercial disasters, hardly any sold and huge development costs (despite which they did not work properly). Convair used to be in the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest loss ever recorded as a result of the R&D, and ran out of money to sort them out. Howard Hughes (of recent "Aviator" fame) got involved with them and forced them on TWA who did not wasnt them. Strange how many technically troublesome aircraft Hughes put his money into (the beautiful-looking but forever under repair Lockheed Constellation was another).

If you were going from Columbus to New York you would have had the pick between TWA 880s and American 990s. They just didn't have the efficiency or range of the Boeing or Douglas products. Many were being sidelined by the late 1960s after less than a decade of service. Their engines (one of the few Mk1 jetliners to use GE rather than P&W engines) were tremendously smoky.

Distinguishing feature from the 707s/DC8s is a little "dorsal fin" along the top of the fuselage.

Gardyloo

Here's one of PA's B707s at SFO: http://www.airliners.net/open.file/568627/M/ - Note also the "stinger" at the top of the tail. You can see a UA DC-8 lined up behind it.

There were relatively few carriers at SFO that used the DC-8 heavily; UA's fleet was the biggest by far (of course it was a main base for them), also JL used them IIRC. TWA used the Convairs on all sorts of strange routes (SFO-LAS for instance). Western Airlines had a scad of 720s at SFO/LAX that they used heavily as well. AA's fleet at SFO was a mixed bag, and not a very big bag at that.

I remember driving by SFO one evening and seeing this enormous tail fin poking up above the Hilton. Cars on the Bayshore were literally swerving while people gawked at the first PA 747 to land at SFO. Holey Moley.