59 years ago today, on February 11, 1956, Lufthansa put pen to paper and committed to  the purchase of 4 Boeing 707 aircraft.   It would be Lufthansa’s first step in advancing their fleet into the Jet Age and there would be no looking back.   At that point in time, Boeing was on the -400 series of the 707 and Lufthansa would be the first customer of this latest iteration.

The first of the 707-400s,  registered as D-ABOB, was completed in November 1959 and took its first flight on December 18, 1959.  It would be delivered to Lufthansa on February 3, 1960 at which point it was christened as ‘Hamburg’.

Over the course of  over 25 years, Lufthansa would own and operate 23 707 aircraft.    The last Lufthansa 707, D-ABUF (Hannover) was retired on May 7, 1984.

The last ever 707 operated by an airline for scheduled passenger service was flown by Iran’s Saha Airlines until April 2013.

Lufthansa’s First 707, D-ABOB / Hamburg. Courtesy of Piergiuliano Chesi (Wikimedia Commons)