Hey Lou, Yes- even my CS 707-300 barely lifts off 16L at KSEA fully loaded and has a heck of a time getting to cruising altitude. Many times, if loaded to max TOW I have to level off every now and then to pick up some airspeed before I continue the ascend. Was it like that in the real world with a fully loaded 707-331?
Also,was water injection mandatory for a successful take off on the 100's or was it just used when the plane was heavily loaded? The 100 sounds like a really fun plane to fly based on what you've been talking about.
I would imagine a real stick and rudder man like yourself would be bored with" fly by the wire" planes these days?
Did 707 pilots ever use dead reckoning as a test for electronic navigation or vice-verse? I do that when sailing just for the sake of amusement. I would imagine dead reckoning would be tricky moving at 500k. I have seen youtube videos of Pan Am 707 pilots actually using a sextant. My have times have changed.