America entered the age of the jet transport on July 15, 1954, when the Boeing 707 prototype, the model 367-80, made its maiden flight from Renton Field, south of Seattle. Forerunner of the more than 14,000 Boeing jetliners built since, the prototype, nicknamed the "Dash 80," served 18 years as a flying test laboratory before it was turned over to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in May 1972.