In 1930, the travelling public was likely to take the train for long journeys. The current airliners (i.e. the Ford Tri-Motor, etc.) were uncomfortable, noisy, and not much faster than the new streamliner trains. Boeing, as part of the United Aircraft and Transport company, decided to develop a new airliner based on it's previous single-engined Monomail and retractable undercarriaged B-9 bomber. The result was the Model 247, which carried 10 passengers at 155 mph in a new level of comfort. Pratt & Whitney 550 hp Wasp engines were used (P&W was also part of the United conglomerate, as it still is today), and an order for 59 (huge at the time) was placed by the airlines of the United empire: Boeing Air Transport, Pacific Air Transport, National Air Transport, and Varney Speed Lines. The new plane went into service with Boeing Air Transport in March, 1933; in 1934 the constituent airlines were merged into United Air Lines and the new airline took over operations of all the 247's. A later development, the 247D, provided improved aerodynamics, hot and high performance, and cruising speed: 13 were built, others were apparently converted to the new standard.
It appeared that the Model 247 had a bright future in airline service, but the large order (which took up all of Boeing's manufacturing capacity) lead other airlines to search for alternatives, which sent TWA to Douglas and the DC-2. The DC-2 had a greater capacity and 40 mph higher speed, and soon most US airlines were ordering. DC-2's. United still had a fleet of 247's until 1942, when they were taken over by the military as C-73's. After the war, the glut of better planes (Douglas DC's, and Connies) took it's toll on the 247, and they soon drifted away from airline service. Only two 247's still exist, one in Seattle at the Boeing Museum.
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