Boeing 247

Updated: October 2026 – Compact, polished to a shine, two radial engines and room for ten passengers: next to today’s jets, the Boeing 247 looks tiny. Yet it is regarded as the world’s first modern airliner. In 1933, it brought all-metal construction, a cantilever wing and retractable landing gear together in everyday scheduled service – and was nevertheless overtaken by the Douglas DC-2 after a short time. Here you will learn how the 247 came about, why it of all aircraft gave the impetus for the DC series, how it fared in the race to Melbourne and where you can find the four surviving examples today.

What is the Boeing 247?

The Boeing 247 is a twin-engine all-metal low-wing monoplane from the Boeing Airplane Company of Seattle. The fuselage is built of aluminum in semi-monocoque construction, the wing supports itself without struts and bracing wires, and the main landing gear retracts into the engine nacelles in flight. It is powered by two air-cooled Pratt & Whitney Wasp radial engines. In the cabin sit ten passengers, one on each side of the aisle, looked after by one flight attendant; up front work the pilot and copilot.

What sounds self-evident today was new in the early 1930s. Many airlines were still flying three-engine high-wing aircraft like the Ford Trimotor or the Fokker F.VII, with wooden wings or corrugated skin, and the landing gear hung fixed in the wind. In Europe, the Junkers Ju 52 with corrugated skin and three engines set the standard. The 247 was clearly faster than that generation, and according to the literature, with controllable-pitch propellers it could even hold altitude on a single engine at full takeoff weight – a real safety gain.

The 247 made its first flight on February 8, 1933, and entered service with Boeing Air Transport as early as May 22, 1933. A total of 75 examples were built. You can read more about the manufacturer and its later development on the page about Boeing.

How the 247 came about – and why it triggered the DC-1

In the early 1930s, Boeing belonged to the United Aircraft and Transport Corporation, a group that united aircraft manufacturers, engine builders and airlines under one roof. Pratt & Whitney, the engine supplier, was part of this group as well. You can learn more about the group and its later breakup on the page about United Aircraft.

The 247 was originally planned larger: with 14 seats and more powerful Hornet engines. After reviewing the concept, though, the pilots of the group’s airline United pushed for a smaller design. Boeing therefore scaled the 247 down to ten seats and the proven Wasp engines. That decision would later come back to haunt it, because the size became precisely the disadvantage against the competition.

The first 60 aircraft went exclusively to Boeing Air Transport, one of the airlines in the group, which later merged into United Air Lines. For other airlines, that meant: if you wanted a 247, you had to wait until United was supplied. TWA also got no quick commitment – and therefore put out its own call for an all-metal airliner. At Douglas, this led to the DC-1 and finally the Douglas DC-2. So the 247 unintentionally set off the most successful airliner family of its time.

The versions: 247, 247A and 247D

The production run stayed manageable, but the differences between the versions are interesting for identifying surviving aircraft.

Version	Features	Note
247	Original version with fixed-pitch propellers and narrow ring cowlings around the engines, forward-raked windshield	Majority of the initial United deliveries
247A	Special version with more powerful Wasp engines	Built in 1934 for Deutsche Luft Hansa
247D	NACA cowlings, controllable-pitch propellers, normally raked windshield with anti-glare shield above the instrument panel	Fastest and best-known version; many older 247s were retrofitted to this standard
C-73	247Ds impressed by the US Army Air Forces in World War II	27 aircraft

The forward-raked windshield of the early aircraft is a nice detail for type collectors: it was meant to prevent reflections but in practice caused reflection problems itself. The 247D therefore got a conventionally raked windshield. When you see photos from the 1930s, this detail often reveals the version right away.

The 247 in competition with the DC-2

When the 247 entered service, it was America’s fastest and most modern airliner. The lead lasted only briefly. In 1934, the Douglas DC-2 came onto the market: also all-metal, also twin-engine, but with 14 seats, a roomier cabin without a spar, and flaps. For airlines, seats per flight counted, and here the Douglas was clearly ahead.

The duel was finally decided by the Douglas DC-3, which was in scheduled service from 1936 and, depending on seating, carried more than twice as many passengers as the 247. Even United eventually switched to Douglas. The story of this classic is told in the article Douglas DC-3. In the following years, the 247 moved on to smaller airlines, to cargo and charter operators, to companies as a business aircraft and to the military.

The 247 in Europe: two aircraft for Luft Hansa

In Europe, the 247 remained an exception. The then Deutsche Luft Hansa – predecessor of today’s Lufthansa in the historical sense – ordered three aircraft of the 247A version, and two were delivered. One of them, the 247A with the registration D-AGAR, was so badly damaged on March 24, 1935, in a ground collision with an Air France aircraft at Nuremberg that it was not repaired. The second aircraft was used mainly for testing and as a source of spare parts. How German registrations were structured in this period is described in the article on the history of German aircraft registrations.

The 1934 MacRobertson Air Race

The 247 made its most famous appearance at the great air race from England to Australia in October 1934. The start was in Mildenhall, England, and the finish was in Melbourne. The American racing pilot Roscoe Turner entered together with Clyde Pangborn with a modified 247D that carried race number 57. The cabin interior was removed, and additional fuel tanks sat in the fuselage instead.

The competition was prominent: the de Havilland DH.88 Comet “Grosvenor House,” built especially for the race, won. In second place came the KLM DC-2 “Uiver,” an ordinary airliner with passengers and mail on board. Turner and Pangborn finished in their 247D third on elapsed time, taking second place among the transport aircraft. So of all competitors, the direct rival from Santa Monica was ahead – a symbolic result for the duel between the two types. You can read more about the Uiver and its dramatic night in Albury on the page about the DC-2.

Place (by elapsed time)	Aircraft	Crew
1	de Havilland DH.88 Comet “Grosvenor House”	C. W. A. Scott, Tom Campbell Black
2	Douglas DC-2 “Uiver” (KLM)	Crew led by Koene Dirk Parmentier
3	Boeing 247D, race number 57	Roscoe Turner, Clyde Pangborn

This very racing aircraft survived: it stands today in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., and carries on one side the 1934 racing livery with the registration NR257Y, on the other the colors of United Air Lines.

Military service and the first automatic blind landing

In World War II, many civil 247s were impressed. The US Army Air Forces took over 27 aircraft of the 247D version under the designation C-73 and used them mainly as transports and for training. The Canadian air force flew several 247Ds as transport aircraft at the start of the war. If you are interested in old US serial numbers, the article on US military serials helps.

A 247D of the Royal Air Force with the serial DZ203 wrote a chapter of technical history. It served as a test bed for radar and landing systems and on January 16, 1945, made the world’s first fully automatic blind landing. The airliner that had been quickly overtaken in scheduled service thus helped develop a technology that is taken for granted at every major airport today.

The three features that are enough to identify it

The final confirmation comes from the registration. On museum aircraft, markings are often historical ones that do not match the last real registration. How to sort such a thing out cleanly is covered in Understanding aircraft registrations.

Boeing 247, DC-2, DC-3 or Ju 52?

With 1930s airliners, the mix-ups are different from those in today’s everyday airline world. The finder helps you narrow it down.

The DC-2 is the most obvious mix-up because both types share the same construction. The Junkers Ju 52 is quickly ruled out by its three engines; its story is told in the article Junkers Ju 52. The Beechcraft Model 18 is also a small twin with radial engines but has a twin tail. The De Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide you recognize at once as a biplane. If you want to follow the Boeing line further, take a look at the four-engine Boeing 307 Stratoliner with its pressurized cabin and the flying boat Boeing 314 Clipper.

Where to see the Boeing 247 today

Of 75 aircraft built, four survive. None fly anymore: the last airworthy 247 landed for the last time in 2016. So your chances lie exclusively in museums.

Place	Aircraft	Note
Museum of Flight, Seattle	247D N13347	airworthy until 2016, displayed in the Aviation Pavilion
National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C.	247D, Turner/Pangborn racing aircraft	one side in NR257Y racing livery, the other in United colors
Canada Aviation and Space Museum, Ottawa	247D CF-JRQ	Canadian history of the type
Science Museum Group, Wroughton (England)	247 N18E	storage, not regularly open to the public

Seattle. The 247D N13347 at the Museum of Flight has an eventful history. It went to Pacific Air Transport in the United group in July 1933, later flew for Pennsylvania Central Airlines, served in Canada in 1940/41, came back to the United States via airlines in Canada, the US and Costa Rica, and worked in the 1950s as a crop duster and for cloud seeding. In the 1960s, it stood retired in California until the museum’s predecessor organization brought it to Seattle. After a thorough restoration in the early 1990s, it remained airworthy. It made its last flight on April 26, 2016, from Paine Field in Everett to Boeing Field. Today it stands in the museum’s Aviation Pavilion. You will find information about the location under Museum of Flight at Boeing Field – there you can combine the museum visit with current traffic at Boeing Field.

Washington, D.C. The National Air and Space Museum shows the 1934 racing aircraft in its dual livery. If you are in the capital anyway, a detour to Gravelly Point for the approaches to Reagan National is worthwhile.

Ottawa. At the Canada Aviation and Space Museum at Rockcliffe airfield stands the 247D CF-JRQ – fitting the role the type played with Canadian operators and the air force.

You can gauge how special your sighting is with How to gauge the rarity of a sighting. A broader introduction to identifying old types is provided by Recognizing vintage aircraft in the sky.

Photo tips for the Boeing 247

The 247 is a rewarding subject: bare metal, radial engines and a line that shows how modern aircraft construction already was in 1933. A few points help.

If you do get to experience historic types with running engines at some point, for example at airshows with a DC-3 or Ju 52, the tips in Photographing propellers will help. You will find dates with historic aircraft via Airshows in Europe, and how airlines today recall their early years with retro designs is shown in Retro liveries.

Common mix-ups and how to rule them out

Conclusion

The Boeing 247 was ahead of its time and at the same time a victim of its own success: in 1933 it showed what a modern airliner looks like, but remained too small to hold its own against the DC-2 and DC-3. That United received the entire initial production is what gave Douglas the reason to develop the DC series in the first place. With third place in the race to Melbourne, the first automatic blind landing and four surviving examples, it is still a key type for aviation fans – and a rare entry in any collection.