This piece originally ran in the April 2020 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine.
The aircraft that would become the Boeing 757 began as a development of Boeing’s then bestselling aircraft, the 727. This early display model, circa 1978, shows the aircraft’s lineage in its T-tail. As development proceeded, more and more of the 727’s features were removed from the 757 and replaced with more elements from the 767, which was being developed concurrently. One of the last changes Boeing made to the design was to abandon the T-tail in 1979 for a more conventional tail. This reduced the risk of a deep stall and also widened the fuselage slightly at the rear, allowing for more passengers. The model was received as part of the Borman Collection in 2018.