Boeing 747-400 model airplane, commercial plane model

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Boeing 747 model airplane

In 1963 the US Air Force began to study and define its requirements for a heavy logistics transport aircraft the would supplement the Lockheed C-141 StarLifters that were almost due to enter service, this led to a design competition initiated in May, 1964. The result was that Boeing, Douglas, and Lockheed were each awarded design development contracts. Lockheed was declared winner of the competition on September 30, 1965, a decision leading to that company becoming prime contractor for the USAF's C-5A Galaxy. Boeing was keenly disappointed to lose this military contract. Perhaps it had been envisaged that, as with the Model 707, a military contract would prove a sound stepping stone to a civil airplane, an idea then already in the background of the design team's thoughts. With the C-5 contract now awarded to Lockheed, however, Boeing was able to concentrate on the design of what was identified from the outset as the Boeing Model 747. The most staggering feature of this airplane was its fuselage size, providing a cabin 20 ft. 1 1/2 in. wide and 185 ft. long. This would provide nine-abreast seating with two aisles. However, until there was positive airline interest it was not possible for the company to make a commitment to build the 747, not with a price tag of more than $16.8 million for each airplane in 1966. Not surprisingly, the first press reports that followed Boeing's announcement were well laced with adjectives which implied magnitude: everything was on a giant scale, and very soon it was called a jumbo-sized airplane, leading to the name "jumbo-jet", which is perhaps better known to large numbers of the world's population than the official Model 747 name. No prototype of the Model 747 was built, the original production airplane being intended as Boeing's demonstrator. The first flight was completed on February 9, 1969, and on January 22, 1970, Pan American inaugurated its first service with the airplane, introducing it on the New York-London route. The introduction into service of the Model 747 caused few serious problems for the airplane operators; it was the airport operators who, initially, had the problems. Unused to the arrival of an airplane that could (but rarely did) accommodate up to 500 passengers, the passenger handling facilities were completely swamped when two or three 747s arrived almost simultaneously to unload between 700 and 1,000 passengers. The 747-400 was a completely revised version of the airplane with stretched upper deck, new technology engines, "glass" two-man cockpit, lengthened wingtips, and 6 foot drag-reducing winglets. The 747-200B was powered by four 50,000-lb. thrust Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7FW turbofans giving the airplane a maximum speed of 602 mph at 30,000 feet, cruising ceiling of 45,000 feet, and a range of 5,980 miles (with 442 passengers and baggage at maximum takeoff weight).