Ageing Gracefully

The incredible legacy of the Boeing 747

One by one, airlines around the world are farewelling the Boeing 747 from their fleets. A giant in its physical dimensions, the size of its impact upon air travel can hardly be measured. It didn’t merely take aviation to the next step in 1969 when it first took to the sky, it made a massive leap that changed our world.

The 747 was born of a time when air travel was expanding at a great rate and airport congestion was a growing problem. Pan Am’s President, the legendary Juan Trippe, sought out Boeing to design an aircraft far greater in size than the existing 707 and under the guiding hand of the Chief Engineer, Joe Sutter, the vision became a reality.