The last Boeing 747 left the company’s widebody factory in advance of its delivery to Atlas Air in early 2023
As shown in the photos accompanying this post, the final Boeing 747 departed the company’s widebody facility ahead of its handover to Atlas Air in early 2023.
“For more than half a century, tens of thousands of dedicated Boeing employees have designed and built this magnificent airplane that has truly changed the world. We are proud that this plane will continue to fly across the globe for years to come,” said Kim Smith, Boeing Vice President and General Manager, 747 and 767 Programs, in a company news release.
The 747 has been central to Boeing’s long-standing leadership in aerospace:
- Production of the 747, the world’s first widebody jet, started in 1967 and continued for 54 years, during which 1,574 aircraft were manufactured.
- Measuring 250 ft 2 in (76.2 m), the 747-8 is the longest commercial airplane currently in operation. At normal cruising speed, it can cover a distance equal to the length of three FIFA soccer pitches or NFL football fields every second.
- The last aircraft produced is a 747-8 Freighter. This version can carry 133.1 tonnes of revenue payload—enough to haul 10,699 gold bars, or about 19 million ping-pong balls or golf balls.
The 747 was created through the efforts of about 50,000 Boeing employees. Nicknamed “the Incredibles,” these construction workers, mechanics, engineers, secretaries, and administrators made aviation history by building the world’s largest civilian aircraft in about 16 months in the late 1960s.
Boeing says the push to design the massive 747 was driven by lower airfares, rapid growth in air travel, and increasingly congested airspace. After losing the bid to build the huge C-5A military transport, Boeing decided to design a new large commercial jet that could use the high-bypass engines developed for the C-5A. The core idea behind the 747 was to create an entirely new airplane, and aside from the engines, the team deliberately chose not to reuse hardware from the C-5.
The final 747 design was available in three versions: a full-passenger model, a dedicated freighter, and a convertible passenger/cargo variant. The freighter and convertible types could load 8-by-8-foot (2.4-by-2.4-meter) cargo containers through the aircraft’s large, hinged nose.
The 747 was enormous in scale. Building this huge airplane led to the creation of the 747 assembly plant in Everett, Washington, a 200 million-cubic-foot (5.6 million-cubic-meter) facility that became the largest building in the world by volume. The first 747’s fuselage measured 225 feet (68.5 meters) in length, with a tail as tall as a six-story building. Its pressurized cabin contained about a ton of air. The cargo bay could hold 3,400 bags and be fully emptied in just seven minutes. The wings covered an area larger than a basketball court, yet the entire global navigation system weighed less than a modern laptop.
Pilots trained for the 747 at Boeing’s training school. To practice taxiing such a huge aircraft, they used a device nicknamed “Waddell’s Wagon,” after chief test pilot Jack Waddell. It was a replica 747 cockpit mounted on a truck supported by three-story stilts. From this elevated position, pilots learned to handle the plane’s height by giving radio instructions to the truck driver below.
NASA later converted two 747-100 aircraft into Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. The subsequent model, the 747-200, can seat around 440 passengers and fly about 5,600 nautical miles (10,371 kilometers). In 1990, two 747-200Bs were adapted for use as Air Force One, replacing the VC-137 (707) jets that had served as the U.S. presidential aircraft for nearly three decades. The 747-300 features a lengthened upper deck and can accommodate even more passengers than the 747-200.
The 747-400 was introduced in 1988. It has a wingspan of 212 feet (64 meters) and features 6-foot-high (1.8-meter-high) winglets at the tips. The 747-400 is available as a freighter, a combined passenger-and-cargo model, and a special domestic variant without winglets designed for shorter routes.
In August 1999, work began on assembling a militarized 747-400 Freighter to serve as the platform for the U.S. Air Force’s Airborne Laser (ABL) program. The aircraft rolled out on Oct. 27, 2006, and was later designated YAL-1. Boeing, the prime contractor, supplied the modified jet, the battle management system, and acted as overall systems integrator for ABL, which was intended to use laser technology to destroy all types of ballistic missiles during their boost phase. ABL partners included Northrop Grumman, which provided the COIL (chemical oxygen iodine) high-energy laser and related systems, and Lockheed Martin, which built the nose-mounted turret and the beam control/fire control system. On Feb. 11, 2010, the airborne test platform successfully shot down a ballistic missile off Southern California. The program was terminated in 2011, and in 2012 the YAL-1 was flown to the U.S. Air Force “boneyard” near Pima, Arizona, to be dismantled.
Another version is the Dreamlifter, a specially adapted 747-400 used to carry large composite parts—such as major fuselage sections of the 787 Dreamliner—from global partners to Everett, Washington, and Charleston, South Carolina, for final assembly. Its oversized cargo is loaded and unloaded through a hinged rear fuselage. The fourth and last Dreamlifter began operating on Feb. 16, 2010.
The longer-range 747-400 models, known as 747-400ERs, were introduced in late 2000. The 747-400ER (Extended Range) series comes in both passenger and freighter variants. These jets are the same size as standard 747-400s but can fly 7,670 nautical miles (14,205 kilometers), compared with the 747-400’s 7,260 nautical miles (13,450 kilometers). They feature a reinforced -400 Freighter wing, strengthened fuselage and landing gear, and an auxiliary fuel tank in the forward cargo hold, with the option to add a second tank. When the full range is unnecessary, operators can remove one or both tanks to create extra cargo space.
In November 2005, Boeing introduced the 747-8 family, which includes the 747-8 Intercontinental passenger jet and the 747-8 Freighter. These aircraft adopt advanced technologies from the 787 Dreamliner. The “-8” designation was chosen to highlight this technological link, which includes General Electric GEnx-2B engines, raked wingtips, and other enhancements that deliver a 30 percent smaller noise footprint, a 15 percent cut in in-service carbon emissions, improved performance retention, lower weight, reduced fuel burn, fewer components, and decreased maintenance needs.
The 747-8 Freighter made its first flight on Feb. 8, 2010. It measures 250 feet, 2 inches (76.3 meters) in length—18 feet, 4 inches (5.6 meters) longer than the 747-400 Freighter. This stretch gives operators 16 percent more revenue cargo volume than the earlier model, equivalent to four additional pallets on the main deck and three more pallets in the lower hold.
The passenger variant, the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental, targets the 400- to 500-seat market and completed its maiden flight on Mar. 20, 2011. Features such as contoured ceilings, larger overhead and side storage bins, a redesigned staircase, and adaptable LED lighting contribute to a more comfortable onboard experience. Offering 51 more seats and 26 percent more revenue cargo space than the 747-400, the first 747-8 Intercontinental was delivered as a Boeing Business Jet to an undisclosed customer on Feb. 28, 2012. Lufthansa, the launch airline, received the first commercial Intercontinental on Apr. 25, 2012.
Photo by Boeing/Paul Weatherman
