On January 31st, the delivery of the last 747 took place at Boeing‘s factory in Everett, Washington, in front of thousands of guests. Present were members of the team responsible for designing and manufacturing the first Jumbo, which rolled off the production line in 1967. The opportunity was taken to pay tribute to ‘the original design team as the B747 number 1,547 was handed over to its new owners.
John Dietrich, president and CEO of Atlas Air, highlighted Boeing’s commitment during the more than five decades of 747 production, and remarked that the aircraft still has much to give despite the end of production. “We are honored to continue our long history of flying this iconic aircraft for all of our customers,” Dietrich said. “Atlas Air was founded more than 30 years ago with a single 747-200 converted to freighter. Since then, we have traveled the world operating nearly every type of 747 fleet.”
The latest Boeing 747 in history is the 747-8F variant, i.e. its largest cargo model. It is 76.25 meters long and has a wingspan of 68.5 meters. It uses four General Electric GEnx-2B67 turbofan engines and can carry more than 133 tons of cargo. Its cruise speed is around 900 kilometers per hour and its range is over 14,000 kilometers.
It is fitting to deliver this final 747-8 freighter to the largest operator of the 747.
Stan Deal, President and CEO Boeing Commercial Airplanes
The delivery of the last Boeing 747 brings an end to the Queen of the Skies’ history as a production aircraft. But the active units still have a lot to offer, especially in the cargo sector. In fact, it is estimated that the newest 747-8 aircraft, such as the one Atlas Air just received, will be able to fly without major problems until the 2050s.
It is clear that the shutdown of the Boeing 747 marks a before and after in the aviation industry. The Jumbo not only changed the passenger transportation industry by introducing the concept of a double-aisle cabin, but also demonstrated a remarkable versatility to be adapted to many other projects, several of which had nothing to do with its original use.
The legendary Pan Am was the first customer for this model in 1969. The boom in intercontinental jet aircraft was in full swing and the Jumbo confirmed it: it was a giant four-jet with unbeatable cargo capacity, an upper deck adapted as a first-class passenger lounge and an economy class with so much capacity that, due to economy of scale, it could offer seats at prices that had been unthinkable until then.
With the 747 really began the great expansion of commercial aviation and its subsequent boom, an explosion that mortally wounded the regular lines by ship. Many shipping lines closed down and others were reconverted into 100% tourist cruise companies due to the impossibility of competing with fast, safe air transport at increasingly acceptable prices.
The story of the mythical American aircraft, which was replicated by Airbus with its A380 (it has also ceased production after 251 units built) was born from a quiet meeting on John Wayne’s yacht between Juan Trippe, founder and president of Pan Am for 46 years, and William McPherson Allen, president of Boeing for 23 years.
The two executives had jointly developed the successful Boeing 707 jet and Trippe saw a future with even larger, more capable and longer-range aircraft. From that trip on the ship of the actor symbol of westerns, there remained a famous exchange of phrases between the two aeronautical executives: “If you buy it from me, I’ll build it” and “I’ll buy it from you if you build it”. The initial order book was signed by 26 airlines from all over the world. Many more followed, and it became a myth with wings that combined glamour and the democratization of air transport until the late 1990s.
In the twentieth first century, the new European and American twin-engine aircraft such as the B777, B787, A330 and A350, much more economical to operate and capable of offering more direct routes, hit the waterline of the giant airplanes that, although they will continue to fly for many years, are now history.
Among the most notorious cases are the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, modified variants to transport the Space Shuttle orbiters between missions; the VC-25s under the orders of the U.S. Government, popularly known as Air Force One, and even the E-4B, one of the “doomsday planes”, prepared to survive a nuclear holocaust. SOFIA was a Boeing 747 that served NASA as an airborne astronomical observatory, or the crazy project that tried to turn the Jumbo into a flying aircraft carrier during the Cold War.
