C-97 for commercial use?

BIG, double-deck, four-engine, medium to long range, high altitude, high speed, commercial transport airplane
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FireRescue85
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C-97 for commercial use?

Post by FireRescue85 »

Hey guys,

Saw something odd which I've never seen before. To the best of my knowledge one of the easiest ways to differentiate a B-377 from a C-97 is from the radar blister on the chin of the aircraft, commercial variants (B377) didn't have this. I was scrolling around pictures of 377's on a website and came across Pan Am Clipper Invincible, a B377 which seems to have that same radar dome on the chin of the aircraft from the C-97 variants. Does anyone happen to know if this was just a late model B377 with some design updates? I haven't been able to find any information on this.

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Pan-Amer ... ppXb8INDPN
Fire Marshall, Firefighter/Emergency Medical Tech.

B-17G
B377
L-049

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CAPFlyer
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Re: C-97 for commercial use?

Post by CAPFlyer »

The chin radar was something added to many B-377s late in their front-line lives. Operators, especially United and Pan Am, started adding weather radar to all of their aircraft in 1952-1953 both as a safety enhancement, and as a marketing device. As the forward fuselage of the two airplanes are identical, Boeing simply used the same structure as they did with the C-97, so this is not a "spotting feature".

However, B-377s can be fairly easily identified simply by looking at the windows. No B377 was delivered with passenger windows. All had 6 square windows pretty much evenly spread across the length of the upper deck cargo area on each side. There was also a single round window placed ahead of the first square window and slightly above in the same position as on the B-377.
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FireRescue85
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Re: C-97 for commercial use?

Post by FireRescue85 »

So that's why I haven't been able to find the radar dome in the description of later model B377's, it was essentially an aftermarket feature that was added by the airlines themselves? This would also explain why there's pictures of Clipper Invincible without the radar dome in early pictures, and then with the dome in subsequent pictures.
Fire Marshall, Firefighter/Emergency Medical Tech.

B-17G
B377
L-049

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