SSTupendous

After four months of subsonic scrutiny, the White House last week decided to go ahead with the construction of a supersonic transport. The President authorized Seattle's Boeing Co. to build two prototypes of the delta-winged. 338-ton 1,800-m.p.h. SST, which will fly 300 m.p.h. faster than the Russian and joint British-French prototypes already being built, and will carry 300 passengers to its competitors' 130-odd. The U.S. aircraft, to cost $40 million each, will be able to fly from New York City to Paris in two hours and 20 minutes, v. seven hours for standard jets. Transportation Secretary Alan Boyd estimated a minimum sale of 300 aircraft under the SST program. Boeing President William M. Allen anticipates that the plane will be flying by 1971, about the same time that its slower, trans-Atlantic competitors go into service.

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