William M. Allen. President of Boeing, who in 1964, after constant requests from Pan Am Airlines President Juan Trippe to build a plane with twice the capacity of the 707; decided along with Joe Sutter, head of development and project/manufacturing manager Malcolm T. Stamper; to bet the entire company on a new plane...given the designation - 747.
Boeing borrowed heavily to build the 747. In April of 1966, Boeing accepted a 25 plane order from Pan Am worth 525 million. Allen knew that nearly 100 planes would have to be sold just for the company to break even. Sutter felt that the 747 would be superseded by supersonic transport planes after 400 copies, so the plane was designed to met the needs of newly introduced containerized cargo systems.
Allen promised to deliver the first 747 to Pan Am by December 1969. That left just 28 months to get the plane off the drawing board and into the air. A new factory had to be constructed from scratch with all the other parts independently developed, tested and coming together for final assembly, where Plant Manager Stamper prayed everything would fit as planned.
Pratt & Whitney created new engines, high bypass turbofans, that delivered enormous power but were very efficient to give the 747 the capability to travel very long distances without refueling. The first 747 was rolled out on September 30, 1968 with the first test flight on Feb 9, 1969. It received FAA certification in Dec 1969 and delivery was made to Pan Am on Jan 15, 1970, just 15 days late. After being christened by First Lady Pat Nixon, the 747 entered service with Pan Am on the New York to London route Janurary 22, 1970.
Allen knew that if the 747 flopped, there was no way Boeing could pay back the loans as he had borrowed much more than the company's entire net worth. Boeing would be finished. He made the decision to build it with 25 orders on hand but soon had firm orders for over 200 planes. He felt selling over 300 planes would be fantastic and reaching 400 would be like winning the powerball lottery.
In December 2009, Boeing delivered the 1418th 747. The plane became a huge hit. Much bigger than anyone every dreamed.
The 747 is currently in service with 71 different airlines and governments across the globe. Over 12 different variants have been made to meet the unique needs of different carriers. A high performance version, the 747SP was manufactured to carry cargo and passengers at high speeds across the world's oceans.
Boeing began delivery of the latest version, the 747-8 this year.
You know I'm a feeder driver, we just have to look at food and we get fat...
<----thank God for treadmills.....
....lol "oreos"
