[Elspode]

Next up, the legendary Dash 80, Boeing's prototype of the 707. This is the very aircraft that Tex Johnston used to perform two glissades (a one-g slow barrel roll) over Lake Washington during the hydroplane races, and before an assembled crowd of airline execs and military buyers. It is sometimes said that this unannounced demo sold more airplanes than anyone had dared hope. In an interview I saw once, Tex claimed that he had a cup of coffee in a holder in the cockpit, and not a drop was spilled.