Boeing 747
December 2nd, 2022
53 years ago today, December 2nd, 1969, the Boeing 747 was FAA certified. For about 50 years the Boeing 747 has been known by many names, such as: "The Queen of the Skies" and "Jumbo Jet". The Boeing 747 first rolled out of the Boeing Everett plant in February 1969, which was a remarkable feat, due to the fact that Boeing Everett plant was still being built while the first 747 was being manufactured there!
One of the many airline, cargo, and military operators of the Boeing 747 was NASA. They had two 747-100's as Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) and also a Boeing 747SP as Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) with a huge satellite near the back. NASA used the SCAs to transport the Space Shuttle Orbiters. Meanwhile, NASA with DLR (the German version of NASA) used SOFIA for many groundbreaking discoveries in space including finding water on the Moon and Mars.
The U.S. Air Force also have and still use the Boeing 747 variants such as the YAL-1, the E-4, and Air Force One.
The YAL-1 was used as a anti-ballistic missile aircraft with a laser onboard to shoot down ballistic missiles. During its approximately 16 years of service, the YAL-1 was stationed at Edwards AFB in California and never attended a single airshow until the 2014 Davis-Monthan AFB Airshow in Tucson, AZ. The estimated cost of the YAL-1 is estimated to be over $7 billion in USD.
The E-4 Nightwatch has been in service since the 1970s and is capable of killing billions within seconds with its onboard gear. The E-4 is also used as the primary transport for the Secretary of War when he goes overseas, and also as a backup Air Force One. The Nightwatch is currently stationed at Offutt AFB in Nebraska.
Air Force One is one of the most famous aircraft worldwide and its mission is transporting the president wherever he is going. Air Force One is currently a Boeing 747-200, but is going to be replaced by a new Boeing 747-800 Intercontinental.
Boeing is now operating the Boeing Dreamlifter which is a specially modified 747-400 to transport parts of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner between different factories. Once in November 2013, a Boeing Dreamlifter from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York going to McConnell AFB in Wichita, KS landed at a tiny regional airport (Colonel James Jabara Airport), and somehow management to take off - even though the runway was a good 300' too short, in addition to being way over the runway weight limit! The Boeing Dreamlifter has also been used for many other missions such as delivering supplies after several hurricanes.
The Boeing 747 has become the most famous with airlines and has flown with over 300 different airlines from Pan Am and TWA to Cathay Pacific to Lufthansa, just to name a few. The 747 also has been used by over 50 different cargo airlines such as Cargolux and Atlas Air. Boeing also built a shorter version of the Jumbo Jet, the Boeing 747SP which was not very popular compared to the Douglas DC-10, McDonnell Douglas MD-11, and the Lockheed L-1011 Tristar due to the fact that it required much more fuel than these other aircraft.
