Boeing 747 Artwork by www.dynamicartsgallery.com
When Boeing committed itself to building the 747, it could have never envisioned
that it would be one of the world's most popular long haul airliner for over 40 years!
Ever since Boeing was established by William "Bill" Boeing in 1917 it has earned a reputation for taking risks and producing outstanding aircraft. But its most challenging risk was taken during the 1960s when it made the decision to design and construct an aircraft twice the size of what was available at the time. Failure of the project and task would almost certainly have destroyed Boeing, but as history and the present has shown us it was a very brave decision indeed. During the 1960s everyone at the time thought that speed , going supersonic with Concorde was the way to go. Boeing went for the complete opposite and wanted to solve the problem of over capacity and to carry more passengers to further destinations in comfort.
The first Boeing 747 Registration N7470 was officially unveiled and rolled out in a ceremony at the Everett Factory in Seattle on September 30th 1968. The aircraft was adored and looked upon by all the waiting Boeing employees and World Press. Along the side of the nose of the aircraft was the logos of the 26 customer airlines who had placed over 200 orders at the time. During the first few years of production, as many as seven aircraft a month was leaving the production line.
