supersonic transport

Young Mainelli lived in Seattle twice — as a newborn and again in the late 1960s when his dad returned to work on the ill-fated supersonic transport jet project.

In November 1956 he became chairman of the newly formed Supersonic Transport Aircraft Committee, or STAC.

To make matters worse, the federal government withdrew support for Boeing’s supersonic transport.

Blame weak sales for the new 747, orders slowing for other models and cancellation of federal aid for the planned supersonic transport.

"While the most prominent and important uses for much of its history was to uphold Jim Crow and white supremacy in the South," Schickler said, "it has been used for other purposes as well — and now is used routinely by both parties. One of the early cases of it being used by liberals was to kill the Supersonic Transport plane project in 1970."