On this day in 1967, the Boeing 737 airliner made its first flight just two years after the launch of the project. The flight would takeoff from BFI Boeing Field in Seattle, Washington.
In command was Boeing's Assistant Director of Flight Operations, Brien Wygle and the Chief Test Pilot, Lew Wallick was co-pilot.
The official story is that the two and a half hour flight from Boeing Field to Paine Field was uneventful and Wygle even radioed down during the flight to say “I hate to quit, the airplane is a delight to fly.”
The real story is that that actual first flight took place April 7, but that it had been plagued with problems and was downplayed so official press releases advertised the second flight, on April 9 after the bugs were worked out as the official first flight.
