DALLAS — Today at 11:34 PST, in 1969, the prototype Boeing 747 took to the skies from Seattle, Washington, for the first time. Test pilots Jack Waddell and Brien Wygle were on the flight deck with Flight Engineer Jack Wallick.
"We called this fine team of aviators the Three Ws," said the late Joe Sutter, "Father of the 747." Sutter had led the engineering team that developed the aircraft in record time, just 29 months from conception to roll out.
Delayed Maiden Flight
Initially, the maiden flight had been scheduled for the anniversary of the Wright Brothers' historic first flight on December 17, 1903. However, delays inevitably pushed back the historic event.
The prototype 747 was christened 'City of Everett' after the location of the factory where Boeing built the jet. Appropriately registered N7470, the aircraft remained with Boeing as a dedicated testbed for other variants of the 747 and, later, the 757 and 777. When it was retired in 1993, it had completed over 12,000 hours.
Today, the jet resides at the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field, Washington, US.
"Queen of the Skies"
The Boeing 747, known as the "Queen of the Skies," was the world's first wide-body airliner. The development of the airplane, which had begun in 1963, was a considerable gamble for Boeing. The manufacturer would risk a significant amount of its net worth.
But it was a risk worth taking. The Boeing 747 is now one of the most recognizable airliners in the world. The aircraft revolutionized civilian aviation, opening air travel to the masses. After more than half a century of production, Boeing rolled out its final passenger 747 from the production line in Everett-Paine Field (PAE) in July, 2022.
In January 2023, thousands of people, including current and former employees, customers, and suppliers, gathered at PAE to mark the delivery of the final Boeing 747-8 Freighter, the 1,574th produced over the course of 55 years.
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Exploring Airline History Volume I
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David H. Stringer, the History Editor for AIRWAYS Magazine, has chronicled the story of the commercial aviation industry with his airline history articles that have appeared in AIRWAYS over two decades. Here, for the first time, is a compilation of those articles.
Subjects A through C are presented in this first of three volumes. Covering topics such as the airlines of Alaska at the time of statehood and Canada's regional airlines of the 1960s, the individual histories of such carriers as Allegheny, American, Braniff, and Continental are also included in Volume One. Get your copy today!
March 2025
