AP 118 · No. 10 Section II · Aircraft Plate 174 / 195

Plate 174 of 195 · Cold War · Short-haul twin-jet airliner

Boeing 737-229 Advanced

737-229 Advanced, painted as G-CEAH, a Boeing 737-229 Advanced built in 1975 (c/n 21135) and delivered to Sabena as OO-SDG, later flown by European Aviation Air Charter from Bournemouth Hurn, whose forward fuselage has been kept at Bournemouth Aviation Museum as ‘The Spirit of Peter Bath’ since the aircraft was broken up in 2013: the short-haul twin-jet that became the best-selling airliner ever built, 93 ft in span, with two Pratt & Whitney JT8D-17 turbofans in long slim nacelles slung flush under the wing with their thrust reversers moved aft, the 707’s six-abreast fuselage cross-section cut short, a dorsal fin fillet and eyebrow windows above the flight deck, shown standing on its tricycle undercarriage as it flew in 2005–2006: European Aviation Air Charter’s white fuselage and nacelles with light grey wings, four grey sweep stripes and a red band aft of the wing leading into an all-red tail cone, fin, rudder and tailplane, a red italic ‘EUROPEAN’ title forward of the wing on each side, a white serif ‘EAL’ along the fin, a white ‘G-CEAH’ aft of the rear door, ‘AH’ on the nose-gear doors and a thin red ring on each nacelle (the museum holds only the forward fuselage, so the whole aircraft is shown as photographed in service; small stencils are omitted).

3D model

Turn it over

A procedural model built in Blender from published dimensions, drawings and photographs, painted as G-CEAH, a Boeing 737-229 Advanced built in 1975 (c/n 21135) and delivered to Sabena as OO-SDG, later flown by European Aviation Air Charter from Bournemouth Hurn, whose forward fuselage has been kept at Bournemouth Aviation Museum as ‘The Spirit of Peter Bath’ since the aircraft was broken up in 2013: the short-haul twin-jet that became the best-selling airliner ever built, 93 ft in span, with two Pratt & Whitney JT8D-17 turbofans in long slim nacelles slung flush under the wing with their thrust reversers moved aft, the 707’s six-abreast fuselage cross-section cut short, a dorsal fin fillet and eyebrow windows above the flight deck, shown standing on its tricycle undercarriage as it flew in 2005–2006: European Aviation Air Charter’s white fuselage and nacelles with light grey wings, four grey sweep stripes and a red band aft of the wing leading into an all-red tail cone, fin, rudder and tailplane, a red italic ‘EUROPEAN’ title forward of the wing on each side, a white serif ‘EAL’ along the fin, a white ‘G-CEAH’ aft of the rear door, ‘AH’ on the nose-gear doors and a thin red ring on each nacelle (the museum holds only the forward fuselage, so the whole aircraft is shown as photographed in service; small stencils are omitted). Drag to orbit, scroll or pinch to zoom · download .glb (1.9 MB)

Data plate

Specification

First flight, number built and top speed are for the whole family (nose sections & 737-200); engine, crew and dimensions are for the 737-229 Advanced modelled here.

History

The 737-229 Advanced

By the early 1960s Boeing had the four-engined 707 and the three-engined 727 in service, but nothing for the shortest routes, where the BAC One-Eleven and the Douglas DC-9 had already found buyers. Boeing came late to the market and chose a different layout. Rather than hang the engines on the rear fuselage, it kept the 707’s fuselage cross-section, which seated six abreast where its rivals managed five, cut it very short and put two Pratt & Whitney JT8D turbofans directly under the wing, almost touching its lower surface. Lufthansa launched the programme in February 1965, and the first 737-100 flew from Boeing Field on 9 April 1967.

United Airlines wanted more seats, and the 737-200, stretched by 6 ft, flew on 8 August 1967. It became the main production version. Lufthansa began services in February 1968, and Britannia Airways was the first British operator later that year. Early aircraft had clamshell thrust reversers that worked poorly, and Boeing soon replaced them with target-type reversers on longer nacelles. In 1971 the Advanced 737-200, first delivered to All Nippon Airways, added improved flaps and leading-edge devices, more fuel and more powerful engines, and almost every 737-200 built after that was an Advanced. A gravel kit allowed it to operate from unpaved strips.

Boeing built 1,114 737-200s before the last was delivered in 1988, by when the CFM56-powered 737-300 had taken over. The same basic design has been stretched, re-winged and re-engined ever since, through the Classic and Next Generation families to the 737 MAX, and in 2018 Boeing delivered its 10,000th 737, more than any other jet airliner. Wales, Scotland and the south coast keep the gazetteer’s Boeing airliners mostly as noses and cockpit sections: 707s at East Fortune and St Athan, 747 cockpits and a 737-300 section at St Athan, and the forward fuselage of G-CEAH at Bournemouth.

This airframe

737-229 Advanced G-CEAH

G-CEAHThe airframe modelled

G-CEAH, construction number 21135, was built at Renton in 1975 and delivered to the Belgian airline Sabena as OO-SDG on 12 June that year. It later came to Bournemouth Hurn as G-CEAH with European Aviation Air Charter, which flew 737-200s and BAC One-Elevens on charters and ad hoc work, including Palmair’s Bournemouth holiday flights. From 2007 it flew in plain white, briefly with Jet2.com titles, and after European Aviation stopped flying in 2008 it was stored at Bournemouth. It was broken up in 2013 and its registration was cancelled on 6 November that year, but the forward fuselage went to Bournemouth Aviation Museum, where it is displayed as The Spirit of Peter Bath, with an exhibition inside on Sir Peter Bath, who founded Bath Travel and its Bournemouth airline brand Palmair. The museum holds only the nose, so the model shows the whole aircraft as photographed in 2005 and 2006: white fuselage and nacelles, light grey wings, four grey sweep stripes and a red band leading into an all-red tail, fin and tailplane, a red italic “EUROPEAN” title forward of the wing, a white serif “EAL” along the fin and a white “G-CEAH” aft of the rear door.

See it at Bournemouth Aviation Museum

Where to see one

In the gazetteer

The gazetteer records the 737-229 Advanced in 3 UK collections. The airframe modelled here is marked.

Every airframe and serial All 195 plates

Profiles and models are procedural interpretations built in Blender from published dimensions, three-view drawings and photographs of each airframe. Treat the museum aircraft as the reference.