Some interesting ideas. We'll have to revisit this thread in 2020~25 and see who is / was right.
My own guess is that we will see the 747F being built for quite a few years yet. If Boeing squeal long and loud enough, it wouldn't surprise me that some military assistance comes along: in much the same way that the KC-10 and KC-767 kept the those production line humming far longer than would otherwise have been the case.
And I suspect that the big bird will still be flying around longer than most of us here. It is an overused term but the 747 was, in every sense of the word, a
GAME-CHANGER 
