Several Sources: Boeing 747 50th Anniversary - 8 Feb 2019
Feb 9, 2019, 4:13 pm
#1
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Several Sources: Boeing 747 50th Anniversary - 8 Feb 2019
The earliest 747s were underpowered and not very reliable, compared to today’s. My friend Ken (RIP) originally was a Navigator, later Chief Navigator, for Pan Am. He spoke about an early 747-121 he flew from New York to London that lost all four engines toward the end of the trip. He managed to land at a U. K. air base. The “Queen of the Skies” didn’t start out that way; the original design problems and slow start nearly put Boeing into bankruptcy.
Want to fly in the last “Queen of the Skies” variant, the model being used for the next “Air Force 1” presidential aircraft? Only three commercial carriers fly psssenger versions of the 747-8: Air China (7), Korean Air (17) and Lufthansa (19).
Link to 50 years ago today, the first 747 took off and changed aviation, by Erik Lacitis, Seattle Times
But that’s a long time ago, as the first -100s flew fifty years ago. (You can visit the prototype, RA001 / N7470, “City of Everett” at the Aviation Pavilion at the Museum of Flight at 9404 E. Marginal Way South, Seattle, Washington just south of Seattle - link).
Link to 747: 50 years of flight, Boeing Company
Link to Fifty years on, Boeing's 747 clings to life as cargo carrier by Eric M. Johnson, Reuters
BBC video
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-engla...the-boeing-747
Illustrations: Boeing 747-121 vs 747-8 (Nick Knapp, Airliners Illustrated)
Boeing 747-121 N7470 original analog cockpit (Joe A. Kunzler)
Boeing 747-8 digital “glass” cockpit (Gordon Calder)
Want to fly in the last “Queen of the Skies” variant, the model being used for the next “Air Force 1” presidential aircraft? Only three commercial carriers fly psssenger versions of the 747-8: Air China (7), Korean Air (17) and Lufthansa (19).
Link to 50 years ago today, the first 747 took off and changed aviation, by Erik Lacitis, Seattle Times
But that’s a long time ago, as the first -100s flew fifty years ago. (You can visit the prototype, RA001 / N7470, “City of Everett” at the Aviation Pavilion at the Museum of Flight at 9404 E. Marginal Way South, Seattle, Washington just south of Seattle - link).
Link to 747: 50 years of flight, Boeing Company
Link to Fifty years on, Boeing's 747 clings to life as cargo carrier by Eric M. Johnson, Reuters
BBC video
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-engla...the-boeing-747
Illustrations: Boeing 747-121 vs 747-8 (Nick Knapp, Airliners Illustrated)
Boeing 747-121 N7470 original analog cockpit (Joe A. Kunzler)
Boeing 747-8 digital “glass” cockpit (Gordon Calder)
Last edited by JDiver; Feb 9, 2019 at 4:26 pm
Feb 15, 2019, 7:29 am
#3
Join Date: May 2011
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Wow! 50 years! I was living in Tacoma, Washington back in 1969 and remember seeing the original test plane fly over my house. It made an impression on me because we weren’t in the typical flight pattern for SeaTac some 45-50 miles to the north. It also has stuck in my memory as I had just graduated from college and the job market in the Pacific Northwest was in the dumpster and actually was going to get worse before it got better. Back then the major employers in western Washington was Boeing and Weyerhaeuser so you could build planes or be into logging. Not exactly the beginning of the end but Boeing was just starting to lay off some 60,000 employees, the majority in the Pacific Northwest. That led to the famous 1971 billboard “Will the last person to leave Seattle—Turn out the lights”. Tough times.