The Boeing 377 Stratocruiser

By Chris Banyai-Riepl

There's something about that big double-bubble fuselage that's attractive to the Boeing 377, and when Academy came out with a kit of it I just had to try my hand at profiling it. Here are three of my renderings, showing the prototype and a couple of the Pan Am birds. For those of you who want to use these as modeling references, please note that the propellers are wrong. They should be silver, not black.

Boeing 377-10-19
NX 90700
Serial No. 15922
July 8, 1947

This is how one of the prototypes appeared in mid-1947. Compared to later Boeing prototypes this was a very plain scheme, with the name in blue above a red cheatline.

Boeing 377-10-19
N1022V
Serial No. 15922

When Pan Am first took delivery of the 377, this is how they were finished. Natural metal overall, with the Clipper names on the nose and behind the door on the rear fuselage.

Boeing 377-10-26
N1030V
Serial No. 15930

In the middle of Pan Am's 377 usage the livery changed to this scheme, with the upper deck of the Stratocruiser painted white. The main fuselage graphics stayed the same, with the big change being the large "PAA" on the tail.

In the final days of the 377 with Pan Am, they were finished up with the more familiar Pan Am globe on the tail, which came out when Pan Am moved into the jet age. Building all of Pan Am's 377 liveries would make for an interesting collection (and a big one, if you did it in 1/72).