Boeing 707 Douglas competition, Boeing soon realized this would not provide a viable payload, so it widened the fuselage to to allow five-abreast seating and use of the KC-135's tooling. Douglas Aircraft had launched its DC-8 with a fuselage width of . The airlines liked the extra space and six-abreast seating, so Boeing increased the 707's width again to compete, this time to . The first flight of the first-production 707-120 took place on December 20, 1957, and FAA certification followed on September 18, 1958. Both test pilots Joseph John "Tym" Tymczyszyn and James R. Gannett were awarded the first Iven C.
Boeing 720 costs, which allowed it to be successful despite few sales. The company built 154 Boeing 720s and 720Bs from 1959 to 1967. The 720's wing modification was later added on the -120B and on -120s retrofitted to the B standard. The Boeing 720 is a four-engined low-wing cantilever monoplane. Although it was similar to the Boeing 707, compared with the 707-120, it was 9 ft (2.73 m) shorter in length, and had a lighter structure through use of lighter forged metal parts and thinner fuselage skins and structures. The rearmost of the 707's over-wing emergency exits was deleted on each