Originally Posted by
tornadoken
Very grizzled Ppruners remember concrete tie-downs on a couple of dozen 747-100 gliders, Everett, 1970. That got fixed and the type transformed all our lives.
Kept them off their tails that did since the Pratts that should have been hanging off the wings were still short on power. The fact that the 747 was a bit on the heavy side of design goals (sound familiar?) is another story.
Some 747-100 milestones:
Dec 1965 - Letter of Intent signed with Pan Am
Sep 30,1968 - Rollout
Dec 17,1968 - Scheduled 1st Flight - delayed
Feb 9, 1969 - 1st Flight
Dec 1969 - Scheduled EIS commitment to Pan Am - delayed
Jan 21, 1970 - EIS with Pan Am and 1st NY-London service
Jul 16,1970 - 1 million passenger mark passed
There were deliveries of 92 747-100s in 1970. Over 1400 of the original jumbo jet have been delivered thus far.
The amazing part to me is that not unlike Concorde, another revolutionary machine of the time, engineers utilised not much more than paper, pencils and
slide rules.
to design these aircraft.
Chasing the Sun
Sorry for the sidebar - now back to the Super Jumbo.
