During the development of the 747, the US State Department asked Boeing to meet with a group of Soviet aircraft designers in a kind of technical exchange.  Otensibly it was a technical information exchange that Boeing agreed to in order to gain some knowledge about titanium.

Boeing was working on development of the 2707 SST at the same time as the 747 and had encountered quite a few problems in working with titanium which was to be used on many of the SST skin surfaces.  The original plans called for the 2707 SST to travel at nearly Mach 3 and at that speed aluminum could not be used since it grew too hot.  The Concorde was speed limited to Mach 2.2 for this very reason.

Since this was at the height of the Cold War (the 1960’s), Boeing was understandably reluctant to share information but thought that if they got enough data on titanium, it might be worth it.  One of the people sent to this discussion was Joe Sutter, the recognized “father” of the 747.  The meeting took place on neutral territory – a restaurant in Paris, France.

The instructions from Boeing to its engineers was to not share any information until they were satisfie with what the Soviets had to share.  Once the Boeing delegation was satisfied that all their questions about this heat resistant metal were answered, they instructed the engineers, including Joe Sutter, to answer their questions and to not hold back.

Surprisingly, the Soviets wanted to know why Boeing had used a “pod” type mounting of their engines on wings (with the exception of the 727) and Joe Sutter engaged them in an hour long discussion about drag, efficiency and balance.  The Soviets took copious notes on napkins and even the tablecloth.  When the discussion was over, the Soviets rolled up the tablecloth and departed with it and the napkins. 

The next Soviet airplane to be designed for commercial (and military) use by the Soviets was the Il-76 which had podded engines, a first for the Soviets.

Source material:  747 by Joe Sutter and Jay Spenser / Legend & Legacy by Robert Serling (Rod Serling’s brother)

Filed under: Trivia by ajax
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