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.
1977 Dan-Air Boeing 707 crash 1977 Dan-Air Boeing 707 crash The 1977 Dan-Air/IAS Cargo Boeing 707 crash was a fatal accident involving a Boeing 707-321C cargo aircraft operated by Dan Air Services Limited on behalf of International Aviation Services Limited (trading as IAS Cargo Airlines at the time of the accident), which had been sub-contracted by Zambia Airways Corporation to operate a weekly scheduled all-cargo service between London Heathrow and the Zambian capital Lusaka via Athens and Nairobi. The aircraft crashed during approach to Lusaka Airport, Zambia, on 14 May 1977. All six occupants of the aircraft were killed. The aircraft was a Boeing 707-321C