In the early 1970s at the time of the launch of the British Aerospace BAe-146 (back then still Hawker Siddeley), there was considerable interest in STOL airliners in the industry. This particular design proposal was the Boeing/Aeritalia 751, a joint venture with the Italian aircraft company Aeritalia which at the time of this STOL airliner proposal, had just been formed with the merger of Fiat Aviazone and Aerfer. Aerfer built Italy's first supersonic jet, the Saggitario. Aeritalia merged with Aermacchi in 1990 to create Alenia Aeronautica. Work on the 751 began in 1970 with 40 Aeritalia engineers assigned to Boeing Renton. Unlike the BAe-146 though, it was a larger aircraft, seating 100-150 passengers. It would have had the capability of carrying 100 passengers 500 miles using runways under 2000 feet long. The design would have used the jet augmenter wing concept, which takes the concept of blown flaps further by arranging the exit slots in a way that boosts the airflow over the wing by pulling in ambient air and augmenting the airflow over the flaps. NASA tested a jet augmenter wing STOL on a converted DHC-6 Buffalo. However, the Arab Oil embargo in 1973 and subsequent rise in fuel prices led the 751 being quietly shelved. One of the drawbacks of jet augmenter designs is the added weight of the systems needed to allow STOL performance of the wing. The short range of the 751 also lessened its commercial appeal. It wasn't all for naught, though. Working with Aeritalia proved beneficial and in 1974, Boeing and Aeritalia signed a risk-sharing agreement to work on a new widebody twin that eventually became the Boeing 767. It was a new approach for Boeing, from the start of the design process, the 767 had to have better operating costs than any other previous design. #avgeek #aviation #aircraft #planeporn #instaplane #BAESystems #BritishAerospace #BAe146 #Boeing #Aeritalia #instagramaviation #splendid_transport #instaaviation #aviationlovers #flight #AvgeekSchoolofKnowledge #AvGeekNation https://www.instagram.com/p/CfB_rsVL-0S/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
