Happy 50th, 747 (OT)

Photo: Eduard Marmet

Ned Bunnell tells us that today it's been 50 years since Boeing announced the 747 on September 30th, 1968. It was expected to be retired after 400 planes were made, but the latest version of the aircraft is still current and production reached 1,546 last July.

Credit: University of South Florida

To put that in context, it was only 54 years, 8 months, and 29 days between the date of the very first commercial passenger flight (January 1, 1914) and the day the 747 was introduced!

Mike
(Thanks to Ned)

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

R. Edelman: "The Boeing 747—what a great plane! I first flew on one in 1971, when they were still being introduced to the airline customers. I flew from Amsterdam to New York on a KLM 747, and what a ride. The entire plane was a student charter (the only criterion was that you were a student somewhere), so there was only one class of passenger. I asked for a forward seat, figuring correctly that I would get a larger, first-class seat. The cabin crew decided to open the bar (free Heineken!) and proceeded to kibbitz with the passengers. Some of the passengers finished smoking a certain mood-altering drug in the extra large open spaces that they had by the exit doors back then. (The drug was tolerated in Amsterdam, but not in the US, so the incentive was there to finish the stuff before the flight was over).

"That summer I also visited Israel. El Al had just taken delivery of its first 747, and they showed it off by flying it in circles over Tel Aviv a few times. The 747 was designed to be a luxurious jet in an era when airlines still felt that all of their customers deserved to experience a comfortable flight, no matter where they were seated. I think that we all miss those days."

Mike replies: ...Flying high while flying high. And yes, I miss the days when all the seats felt roomy and luxurious.

Speed: "The 747 is still in production at Boeing's Everett plant but it is almost a special order item. Wikipedia reports orders for six and 14 in 2017 and 2018 respectively and shipments of 14 and four also for 2017 and 2018 respectively. 2018 isn't over yet. For comparison, Boeing's 737 build rate is almost two per day! A tour of the Everett facility where 767, 777 and 787 aircraft are also built (cameras not allowed—not even phones) is time well spent. The 747 is almost hand built, riveted together from thousands of small bits of aluminum and magnesium (I'm oversimplifying) over many weeks, while the newest 787 is assembled from large components (lots of composites) in days.

"When I visited last year they were working on an order from UPS for 14 747 freighters and one 'executive' version for a wealthy middle-eastern customer. I was already amazed that such a large machine could fly but the engineering that goes into designing and manufacturing such a massive and complex device that routinely and reliably carries people and packages around the world is quite remarkable."

Geoff Wittig: "The Boeing 747 is indeed remarkable for its longevity, when many commercial and military aircraft run the gamut from first flight to scrapyard in a decade or less. But the champion for active lifespan has to be Lockheed's remarkable C-130 military transport. It's a strikingly homely and utilitarian aircraft, yet its efficient, practical, durable design has never been bettered. The first example flew in 1954, and it is still in active production to this day, an astonishing 64 years later. That's vaguely analogous to a Sopwith Camel [a WWI biplane —Ed.] still being produced in 1981."

David Zivic: "I remember two things about the Wright Brothers' first flight, one involving a 747. The length of the first flight was shorter than the wing span of a 747. And, the iconic flight photo with one brother the pilot and the other releasing the wing tip from the ground was taken by a friend, and it is the only photo he ever took before or after...you know, squeezing a bulb for a shutter release."

c.d.embrey: "In August, 1960, I flew from Monterey, California, to Baltimore, Maryland. A 24-hour trip flying on four different piston powered planes. In January, 1961, I did the return flight from Baltimore to LAX in a 707. What a difference a few months makes when it comes to technology.

"When I was young, Pan Am was the USA's premier overseas airline. Juan Trippe invented tourist class, and Boeing built the 747 at his request. Pan Am went out of business in the early 1990s."

Mike replies: There's a vivid and informative book that I enjoyed about the fall of Pan Am called Skygods by Robert Gandt.

Paul De Zan: "United made an excellent video on the occasion of their retirement of the aircraft."

John Masters: "As a young man, I worked for Delta for a number of years at both DFW [Dallas/Forth Worth] and ATL [Atlanta]. During those years, Delta had no 747s, and I would always pause when I saw one land or take off for American, Lufthansa and other airlines. For me, being drawn to a 747 is one of those nebulous things whose attraction could only be summed up as '...there's just something about a 747....' As awesome and long-serving as the L-1011, DC-10, etc., were, they didn't have the immediate eye appeal of a 747.

"I never flew on, but was part of ground crews on British Airways' Concorde aircraft in and out of DFW in the late '80s. The interior of the Concorde, while very nice, was necessarily cramped and disappointing. But seeing that Concorde take off was the only commercial jet that could cause more shivers in me timbers than a 747 roaring for takeoff. (Military jet roar is a whole other beast.) I was able to ride a 'tug' around and under one of the two Presidential 747 in Texas (in for electronics upgrade at a company I was interviewing with). That was beyond awesome for me. There's just something about a 747...."

Rick D: " I was a Boeing Kid whose dad worked there; he was part of the crew relocated from Renton to Everett to build and then run the new factory home of the 747. Heady days. Boeing supposedly developed the 747 after losing the C-5 transport contract to Lockheed. I picture them sitting glumly around a conference table asking, 'So we have plans for this ginormous airplane, what are we going to do with them?' Thus, they tackled the plane that changed an industry.

"Only problem was it cost so much to get to production the jumbo jet nearly bankrupted the company, and Seattle. Dad was among many thousands who lost their jobs and a famous billboard appeared: 'Would the last person leaving Seattle please turn off the lights?' Hard to imagine in today's tech boomtown Seattle how dire things were then. On a recent visit I took the kid past my childhood house and saw its eye-popping Zillow 'Zestimate' was precisely one hundred times what my folks paid for it when we transplanted there from Seattle. Dad found other work and we stayed.

"My junior high overlooked Boeing Field and we kids were all quite versed in their product line, literally able to I.D. the models by sound. The 747's sound was very different from the others and they were worth looking at; it has always seemed to just hover on its approach. Something about the scale has the brain asking: 'How does that thing stay in the sky?' If I understand correctly, very long-haul point-to-point aircraft like the 787 are shoving hub-and-spoke jumbos aside. I think they'll always be around, but no longer the dominant planes of intercontinental travel."

Comments

[Mark Bridgers]

The things one learns on a “photography “ blog....

[Patrick Perez]

I found myself on a red-eye from Los Angeles to London (non-stop) on the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' first flight. I even knew of the anniversary before the pilot announced it. I also marveled at the thought it was only 66 years from Kitty Hawk to Tranquility.

Patrick

[Malcolm Myers]

Another point of comparison: The first flight of the Avro Lancaster (piston-engine) bomber was on 9 Jan 1941. The first flight of the Avro (same company) Vulcan (jet-engine) bomber was on 30 August 1952.

So just over 11 years difference. Shouldn't we be flying at Mach 10 by now?

[Nigli]

The 30th of September also marks the 53rd anniversary of the TV show, 'Thunderbirds'.

[MikeR]

Thanks for this one, Mike. Not OT for me. I hope to get to Oshkosh in July for EAA AirVenture

[John Robison]

I don’t have opportunity to fly very often, once every 3-4 years. My regret is that, in my 70th year, I’ve never flown on a 747.

[Richard Nugent]

I have two 747 recollections. The first is from 1978 or 1979 looking down from the observation deck at Simon Bolivar International airport near Caracas on a 747 parked next to a Concorde and thinking which one of these looks like it could actually fly...and it wasn't the 747! The second recollection was flying into Hearhrow in about 1990 while seated in the furthest row forward on a 747 and actually being able to look out and see ahead of the plane for the first time because the tapering of the fuselage allowed a view forward. I think that was the last time that I flew on one. Cheers, Dick

[Sal Santamaura]

Fifty years later, we've 'progressed' to cattle-car seating, dehumanizing TSA experiences and fees for everything. Unless there's a large body of water between where I am and where I want to be, I drive rather than fly commercially. No matter how long it takes.

This from a retired Boeing engineer. :-)

[Dave]

What still amazes me about aviation history is that the Wright Brothers flight happened five years before the Ford Model T started production.

[hugh crawford]

I once got bumped from two flights in a row and the third plane was a 747 and the only available seat was in the hump with a standup bar and a piano.
As far as I know the only other aircraft equipped with a piano was the Hindenburg.

[KeithB]

I wish I had it online somewhere to post, but my flight was delayed at LAX because a very special* 747 came in for a landing. I managed to get a pretty good picture of it.

I managed to fly in the upper lounge once, that was pretty cool.

*Air Force 1

[Chuck Albertson]

Shortly after after our family moved to Seattle in 1970, my dad and I went down to Sea-Tac airport one rainy morning to watch the 747 prototype shoot some touch'n'go landings there. That was when they still had an observation deck for the public. I was astounded that anything that big could fly (I still am). It's still my aircraft of choice for long-haul flights (BA and Lufthansa operate the type between here and UK/Europe, KAL, Eva and Asiana to Asia).

It was intended to be a "bridge" aircraft until the airlines all started flying the SST, after which Boeing would sell freighter versions of the 747 to make their money back. The SST didn't get off the ground, but the 747 changed/democratised passenger air transportation. Ironically, with orders for the passenger version tailing off, it will be the freighters that keep the type flying for at least another twenty years.

[Mike Plews]

Here in Omaha you can see a lot of Boeing aircraft at Offutt Air Force Base.
It is home for the E4 fleet which are the emergency presidential command posts and are based on the 747. You will also see a lot of variants on the "dash 80" air frame. RC, KC, EC and plain old C135 aircraft are regulars out here. In civilian livery the Dash 80 enjoyed long success as the 707 airliner.
We also have occasional visits from B52 aircraft.
The Dash 80 and the B52 both entered service in 1954 and there is no plan to stand them down anytime soon.
I have been lucky enough to do stories involving flights in KC and EC135s and a 12 hour ride in a B52 back when it was still tasked as a low level penetration bomber.
Sitting in the IP seat while they flew that monster up a canyon in Wyoming full tilt, 150 feet off the deck in the middle of the night kind of put the zap on then young head.
A few weeks earlier one of the planes had come back from a night training mission with a big piece of a pine tree embedded in the end of a wing. Apparently the crew had tried a turn a little too close to the ground.
As one of the pilots said after my ride "Boeing makes a really tough airplane".

[Jay Burleson]

On February 9, 1969, my family was living about a 2 miles (as the 747 flies) off the end of the runway that Boeing's 747 plant uses. I was just 4 1/2 years old. My father came home from work early that day and gathered the whole family in the yard to watch the first flight of the "City of Everett", the official name of 747 #RA001, the first flying Boeing 747. I'll never forget that big thing in the sky. Thanks for the memory!

[hugh crawford]

Some great photographs of the insides of 747s when they were at peak wonderfulness

http://www.messynessychic.com/2014/03/13/lets-reminisce-airplanes-piano-bars-cocktail-lounges-pubs-restaurants/

and apparently women were wearing medium sized furry animals on their heads...

[KeithB]

I know we are not supposed to comment on comments, but working on Kirtland AFB, I get to see a lot of C130's take off every day. I am pretty sure the pilots take off low over the parking lot to set off car alarms! 8^)

[Arg]

How did they get fast enough shutter speed in 1914 to freeze that plane in flight? (I know it wasn't going fast, but the background shows no panning blur; the water doesn't look all that sharp.) I'm actually quite suspicious.

[scott kirkpatrick]

I commuted from NY to Tel Aviv fairly frequently in the 1990s (because of a two-continent relationship) and did much of it, thanks to upgrades, in the comfortable business class seats of TWA's recycled Greek 747's, bought from the failed Olympic airways. Sitting next to a deadheading pilot, I heard great stories of low level B52 antics in his previous service. That plane, unfortunately, blew up as TWA 700 a year or so later.

[David Lee]

The Remarkable Persistance of The 747.

Amazing plane. It still turns heads. I visited the Boeing Everett plant and also Boeing Field in the 80’s. It was like a pilgrame for pilots back then. I was flying the little sister, the 727 in those days.

[ScottP]

40 years ago (!) when I lived in Boston, I would occasionally fly home to Detroit on a Lufthansa 747. The flight originated, I think, in Stuttgart, landed in Boston where nearly everyone got off, and then on to Detroit. It was standby, and cost something like the deflationary equivalent of $50.
There was no worry about getting a seat, because I shared the plane with perhaps 30 snoring auto executives and (it seemed like) 20 or 30 flight attendants. Wunderbar!
The flight attendants were very kind, talked to me through the whole flight (since they had nothing else to do) and allowed me to practice my grammatically disastrous German. Sadly, they had no particular interest in a scruffy graduate student, so our relationship ended when the wheels came down.
All the same, it was truly the most elegant airline experience ever, flying through the night in my own, nearly empty, personal 747.

[Dan Khong]

Unless the fuel consumption has improved with new turbine technology, the old 747 was a fuel guzzler that made it expensive to operate.

[DavidB]

My best memory of a 747...

We were in a Cessna 421 taxiing out to the runway at Miami International Airport. The next aircraft behind us was a 747. I remember looking back at that enormous plane and hoping they could see us in front of them!

[Michael Perini]

I still remember the Piano in the upstairs in First class.
They didn't last long they changed to additional seating.

[ScottP]

The old skinny turbojet engines turned vast quantities of fuel into noise and smoke.
The new, fat, turbofans are way better.

[John Wilson]

The Buffalo B52 still flying, 1952 first flight and US AIR FORCE still have 76 on line till 2040,