Originally Posted by
renfrew
The first 747 flight was LHR-JFK 14 April 1971.
There was a proving flight JFK-PIK-LHR the day before and I was lucky enough to get a ride down from PIK. on G-AWNE.
This was about 12 months after the first deliveries, the first three BOAC aircraft came in Spring 1970. There was a non-agreement with the pilots which led to them being unused for a considerable time. BOAC made a financial virtue of this by leasing out the JT9D-7A engines to other operators who were being plagued by the unreliability of the early units (in fact some of the engine issues never went away).