Boeing 707 center section tanks. Its first flight was on January 11, 1958; 69 turbojet 707-320s were delivered through January 1963, the first passengers being carried (by Pan Am) in August 1959. The 707-420 was identical to the −320, but fitted with Rolls-Royce Conway 508 (RCo.12) turbofans (or by-pass turbojets as Rolls-Royce called them) of 18,000 lb (79 kN) thrust each. The first announced customer was Lufthansa. BOAC's controversial order was announced six months later, but the British carrier got the first service-ready aircraft off the production line. The British Air Registration Board refused to give the aircraft a certificate of airworthiness,
William Boeing 74, just three days before his 75th birthday, and a year before the first successful commercial jet airliner, the Boeing 707, would take its first flight. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the Seattle Yacht Club, having had a heart attack aboard his yacht in Puget Sound, Washington. His ashes were scattered off the coast of British Columbia, where he spent much of his time sailing the "Taconite", his yacht. He was posthumously inducted into the Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio, in 1966. In 1984, Boeing was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame