FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - OTish: The reason for the 747 'hump'
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Old Jan 9, 2006 | 12:21 pm
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BearX220
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In its gestation period, the 747 was definitely not seen as the landmark aircraft it has become. The really sexy project at Boeing in the mid-1960s was the B2707, the swing-wing SST, which everyone "knew" would dominate long-haul travel within ten to twenty years. The 747, by comparison, was this big, slow, dumb freighter whose passenger version would be a transitional aircraft while the supersonic age came along. The smaller hump on the -100 and -200 accommodated precious few extra passengers (many 747 operators launched service with a first class lounge up at the top of the spiral stairs -- extra space for pax with assigned seats downstairs/forward) and it wasn't seen as a revenue engine until the mid-1970s, when 1) it became apparent that SSTs weren't going to take over and 2) airline economics forced the removal of piano bars and such in favor of maximum seating.
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