Supersonic Reducer

Last week's rejection of the monorail reminds us of an earlier failure by Seattle to produce cool futuristic transport -- no, not the Jetfoil. We're talkin' SST.

On September 29, 1966, Boeing unveiled a full-scale mockup of its supersonic airliner, capable of blasting 274 passengers around the globe at 1,800 mph. Boeing first studied commercial SST use in 1952, and officially began its SST program in 1958. By1963, to compete with the British-French consortium that eventually produced the Concorde, the federal government began subsidizing the development of an American SST. At the time of the mockup's unveiling, Boeing had already spent $35 million on the project (and Uncle Sam kicked in another $45 million), vying with Lockheed for a federal contract. On New Year's Eve, 1966, the Lazy B was awarded the contract, calling for the construction of two SST prototypes.

The yet-to-be built craft inspired the nickname and original logo of our first major-league franchise, which began play in 1967. Four year later, just as Sonics came off of their fourth consecutive losing season, Congress shot down the SST. With no more funding for the project, massive recession and major layoffs ensued. Boeing's workforce, peaking in 1968 at 101,000, had by late 1971 plummeted to 38,000.

The decision was largely based on public outcry: the SST would likely be too expensive, too damaging to the ozone layer, and above all, too noisy. However, the dreaded "Sonic Boom" became a Sonics slogan in their late-70s championship drives; today, one might shop at Sonic Boom Records for discs by Washington recording artists Soundgarden, Steve Fisk and the Screaming Trees, all released on California's SST Records (okay, here it actually stands for Solid State Tuners).

The Concorde managed only 27 years of iffy service between 1976 and its permanent grounding in 2003. One of 'em now rests at the Boeing Museum of Flight, just down the runway from the Boeing Developmental Center, where the mockup was first unveiled. As for the mockup itself, the $2 million model was quickly sold off for a mere $31,119. It spent several years as a Florida roadside attraction, and today it's on display at California's Hiller Aviation Museum.

Finally, back to the monorail. For those dismayed by recent developments, there's this silver lining: the original Alweg monorail, which was slated for demolition to make way for the new monorail, will stay put. So we got that going for us, which is nice.