Boeing Model 80

The Boeing Model 80 was a three-engine biplane airliner of the late 1920s, designed in early 1928 for Boeing Air Transport to carry twelve passengers as well as airmail. Boeing chose a biplane layout, unlike the Fokker and Ford trimotors, for good takeoff and landing performance at the high-altitude airfields on its routes. The first aircraft flew on July 27, 1928 with three Pratt and Whitney Wasp radial engines, and the improved Model 80A with Hornet engines carried eighteen passengers. In May 1930 Boeing Air Transport used Model 80 aircraft when it introduced female flight attendants, and the type stayed in service until the Boeing 247 replaced it in 1934.