Is it a Bird? It’s a Plane! Boeing 707 Based at MIT-Lincoln Lab

Clipper Seven Seas

Much of West Bedford woke to the unaccustomed roar of a Boeing 707 taking off from Hanscom Field at 7:15 on Mother’s Day morning. The deafening roar could be heard far into the distance as the plane headed west.

What Was That?

One Facebook member wondered if her husband had arranged a celebratory flyover to mark the start of Mothers Day, and another called it “a big-a** airplane.”

Thanks to Colin Valentine and John Harris for their research, posted almost immediately on Facebook.

Get The Bedford Citizen in your inbox!



Valentine shared a link to a flight-tracking website that showed the plane to be a Boeing 707. Harris searched its tail number and turned up the Pan Am Historical Foundation, a site devoted to the historic airline.

Aircraft engineer Rick Coveno, a subcontractor to MIT/LL provided information on the history of the plane at http://www.panam.org. According to the website, the aircraft that took off on Sunday morning was christened Clipper Seven Seas when commissioned in early 1965, one of the first B-707s with what was then new technology, the Pratt and Whitney Turbofan engine.  The aircraft flew millions of miles, carrying thousands of passengers before her retirement. In 1989, Clipper Seven Seas was restored and became a research and development aircraft owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and based at Hanscom Field.

“You could say last Sunday’s flight was a restart of air operations that have been closed since mid-March,” said Scott Anderson, Assistant Director for Operations at MIT Lincoln Labs. “It was a logistics flight,” he continued, “timed for maximum efficiency.” Because of concerns about coronavirus transmission in the cockpit’s close quarters, the crew was tested and confirmed to be Covid-negative before undertaking the mission.

According to information on the flight tracking site recommended by Valentine, Clipper Seven Seas flew to Grand Junction, Colorado, before heading back to Bedford by way of Kansas City, touching down at Hanscom around 5:30 on Sunday afternoon.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Subscribe
Notify of

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

All Stories

What’s Bedford Thinking about the Red Sox?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...
  • Junior Landscaping
Go toTop