On August 7, 1955, Alvin M. "Tex" Johnston stuns the crowd at the Seafair Gold Cup hydroplane race on Lake Washington by barrel (or aileron) rolling the prototype Dash80, the precursor to the Boeing 707, thus launching the era of the modern commercial jet. Johnston's copilot was Boeing test pilot James R. Gannett (19232006). (What Johnston did with the airplane was called a barrelroll but some consider it an aileron roll in which a plane rotates on its long axis, rather than describing a "barrel" loop. However, unlike a conventional aileron, or snap, roll, Johnston maintained positive gravity through the maneuver.) Even Boeing President William Allen is taken by surprise as he escorts potential customers who are seeing the jet for the first time.

Flying at more than 400 miles per hour just 400 feet above the water, Johnston commenced a sudden ascent. The jet's sweptback wings spiraled as the 128footlong, 160,000 pound plane rolled, flying for a short time upside down. Then, for extra measure, Johnston performed a second barrelroll. Boeing President Allen asked a guest with a heart problem if he could borrow his pills. The potential jet buyers were duly impressed.

By the time Johnston broke the transcontinental speed record in 1957 by flying from Seattle to Baltimore in three hours, 48 minutes, orders for the new 707 were pouring in.