British Airways Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet aircraft (Image: SOPA Images/SIPA USA/PA Images)
It was February 9, 1969 and Jack, with co-pilot Brien Wygle and flight engineer Jess Wallick, was at the controls of a prototype world-shrinking passenger jet that would change the face of global travel. While the oh-so-glamorous supersonic Concorde would be making its first test flight just a few weeks later, it was only for the elite – or pools winners – and not a game-changer like the big bird flying over the Pacific Coast that winter’s day. For the Boeing 747 – the glorious jumbo jet hailed as the Queen of the Skies – would revolutionise and “democratise” long-haul aviation for the masses for five decades.
It was a tremendous engineering and design innovation with a double-decker “bubble” for extra seating upstairs and a twin-aisle wide-body fuselage typically carrying up to 416 passengers, which almost doubled the capacity of aircraft it replaced. It also offered an impressive range of 5,320 miles and a brisk cruising speed of 650mph.
These extra bums on seats enabled (indeed compelled) airlines to offer much more competitive fares to fill the “back of the bus” and make flying long-haul far more affordable for the travelling public.
And how they responded: in its 50 years of service and in various, ever-larger versions, the global fleet of 747s have flown more than 5.9 billion people – the equivalent of 78 percent of the world’s population.
To create this titan of the skies required the construction of the world’s biggest building, at Everett near Seattle, for Boeing to manufacture it, after being asked by 60s airline giant Pan Am to design an aircraft more than twice the size of the then industry-standard Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 jets.
Pam Am’s visionary chief Juan Trippe wanted a plane that would empower travellers who were “charged with curiosity, enthusiasm and good will, who can roam the four corners of the world, meeting in friendship and understanding the people of other nations and races’’.
So to work: nicknamed ‘The Incredibles’, 50,000 Boeing staff – engineers, mechanics, construction workers, administrators – responded by creating the largest-ever civilian aircraft in under 16 months.
Capt Douglas Redrup and crew before the first scheduled 747 flight (Image: Evening Standard)
New, more powerful engines were needed too, with US manufacturers General Electric and Pratt and Whitney rising to the challenge, followed by Britain’s Rolls-Royce.
The original order was for 25 and today 1,556 have been delivered, logging between them more than 75 billion miles flown, equal to more than 137,000 return trips to the Moon.
But now the Queen of the Skies – which went into commercial service on January 22, 1970 on Pan Am’s New York City-Heathrow route – has abruptly abdicated.
British Airways, the world’s largest operator of jumbos with 31 747-400s in the fleet, last month said it will retire all of them with immediate effect – not 2024 as planned – as the coronavirus pandemic hits airlines worldwide, causing an industry meltdown.
Somewhat ironically, one of those heading to the scrapheap (or second hand plane shop) is BA’s stylish 1964-1974 look British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) jet, which got a the retro livery to mark the carrier’s centenary last year.
The plane is a beautiful icon and loved by pilots, cabin crew and passengers. But the airline accountants do not love her as she’s a four engined all-metal fuel-hungry giant from a bygone age, with just 30 in left in passenger service worldwide after the BA announcement, though several hundred still ply cargo routes.
As BA Captain Dave Wallsworth said on Twitter after the news broke: ‘’An aviation icon and the aircraft most pilots grew up wanting to fly…along with Concorde, the most recognisable aircraft in the world.
In modern aviation terms, sadly, the 747 is a dinosaur. Today’s long-haul fleets are now mostly made up of fuel-efficient twin-engine aircraft such as the Boeing 777 and composite-material Boeing Dreamliner and Airbus A350.
And, whisper it, they are whisper quiet compared to the jumbo. If you were on board a 747 you certainly knew when it was taking off with a real sense of speed and surging power on the runway – and it had a stupendous jet roar you could hear from the Heathrow airport hotels on Bath Road and beyond.
Compare that to the modern double-decker Airbus A380: I was in my seat on the top deck lost in my Kindle and didn’t even notice we’d taken off as it was so quiet.
That A380 seat was economy and, similarly, some carriers had economy seats in the 747 bubble and what a cool ‘upgrade’ it was to end up in that select little cabin. And, once, I got lucky with a ‘turn left’ to First Class seat 1A. Beyond as as good as it sounds.
So farewell you noisy, glorious, gas-guzzling, gutsy old girl and thanks for all those air miles of marvellous memories… from Sydney and Singapore to Los Angeles and Las Vegas via Vancouver, Dubai, South Africa, the Caribbean and Brazil.
Times change and huge, much-needed advances in aircraft technology mean the reign of the the Queen of the Skies is over, with twin engine jets flying further, faster, and more frugally.
That first test in 1969 was cut short when the three flight deck crew decided to return to the Boeing plant in Everett, Washington State, after the jet developed a technical fault, but it was still regarded as a triumph.
Their verdict on what would become known as the Queen of the Skies?
Appropriately enough: “Rather majestic.’”
JUMBO SIZED
The 195ft 8in wingspan of the first Boeing 747-100 was greater than the distance of the Wright Brothers’ first flight in 1903, at just 120ft.
JUMBO HOLLYWOOD
The 747 was a movie A-lister, appearing in more than 300 Hollywood films including Airport 1975, Air Force One, Die Hard 2 and the bonkers but brilliant Snakes On A Plane.
JUMBO QUOTE
“This is not how we wanted or expected to have to say goodbye to our incredible fleet of 747 aircraft. So many people, including many thousands of our colleagues past and present, have spent countless hours on and with these wonderful planes – they have been at the centre of so many memories, including my very first long-haul flight. They will always hold a special place in our hearts at British Airways.” – BA chief Alex Cruz
JUMBO FACTS
British Airways Boeing 747-400
Number in fleet: 31 (retired)
Passenger capacity: up to 345
Length: 231ft 10in
Wingspan: 211ft 5in
Height: 68ft 8in
Engines: 4×Rolls-Royce
RB211-524H Thrust: up to 60,600lb each
Maximum speed: 614mph
Range: up to 8,357 miles
