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.
Qantas fleet history of the BOAC titles. Following this, Qantas placed in service twenty-two Boeing 707-338C aircraft, which replaced the Boeing 707-138Bs and provided for expansion of the fleet. These entered service in February 1965 and flew through until retirement in March 1979. From 1971, Qantas operated the Boeing 747-238B aircraft, which strengthened its long haul fleet. When the Boeing 707s were retired in 1979, Qantas became the world's only all Boeing 747 operator. In 1981, two short body 747SPs entered the fleet for flights to Wellington, and they were subsequently used on non-stop flights between Sydney and Los Angeles. In November 1984,