What numbers will Boeing use for its passenger jets when it runs out of 7?7 numbers? That is, after the 797, will the next one be the 7107, the 807, or something else?
They already entertained that with the 787 with other ideas to expand the designator to 4-digits. It was only after much deliberation and public vote that they stuck with the 787 Dreamliner deisgnator. Other designators were entertained. Under development it was refered to as the 7E7 [note the 757 was the 7N7, the 767 the 7X7 and the 777 the 767-X].
I went looking at Boeing publicity pictures of the 787 and they don't show the wings flexing quite this much. I wouldn't think the first flight would be at full load flight so the wings are going to flex even more when this plane leaves for Japan. Well, with that much dihedral it should be stable.
People at Boeing are discussing whether they want to static load the wings until breakage. I read that one of the executives commented that the wings might touch the fuselage before breaking.
Some of that is the camera. Some is the static dihedral. And the other is the natural flex of the carbon fiber wing. If you look at the 767 and 777 the wing flexes a huge amount too. The above exacerbates that.
Actually Boeing is hoping that Teleportation will have been invented by then so the won't have to make that decision! All kidding aside, wasn't their failed SST called the 2707? Maybe they'll go along those lines.
I have at least one 2707 model (a double kit actually) though I can't remember the manufacturer. It was a re-issue within the last five(?) years. I say double kit because one was built in the landing configuration (wings out and nose double cranked) and one in cruise flight. I'm sure with a little effort on your part you can find the re-pop.
I wish they had saved the first 2707 mock-up. That was really something....