If you were to ask any avgeek to name the most iconic jet airliner of the 20th century, they’d probably respond with “747”. This is mostly due to the first 747, the Boeing 747-100.
When it was released in 1970, the 747-100 was the largest passenger jet in the world. The 747-100 itself would be replaced by the 747-200, and then the 747-300, before being replaced by the 747-400, and most recently the 747-8.
Chances are that if you flew on a 747 prior to 1975, it was probably a 747-100…
Pre-Boeing 747-100
Throughout the 1950’s, aircraft manufacturers raced to produce the world’s first jet airliner. This was accomplished by Britain’s de Havilland Aircraft Company in 1952, with their DH106 Comet airliner.
American aircraft manufacturers such as Boeing, Douglas and Convair would shortly follow with their 707, DC-8, Convair 880 and Convair 990 airliners, which would be released over the course of the 1950’s.
By the early 1960’s, the US military was looking to use jet aircraft as heavy cargo aircraft. To do this, the USAF initiated the CX-HLS program, and began soliciting proposals from the nation’s largest aircraft manufacturers.
Boeing submitted their own design, which was reminiscent of the 747. After much debate, the USAF would reject Boeing’s design in favor of Lockheed’s C-5 Galaxy. Due to this, Boeing would shelve their CX-HLS design.
Over the course of the 1960’s, air travel increased exponentially. It got to a point where the relatively small jet airliners from the 1950’s, were no longer enough. They were simply too small to do their job effectively.
In 1965, Pan Am’s CEO, Juan Trippe, approached Boeing about producing an aircraft that was two-and-a-half times as big as both the 707 and DC-8. Boeing agreed, and begun development of such a jet almost immediately.
Development
At the time, however, Boeing believed that speed was the future, not size. Boeing was still trying to develop their Model 2707, which would be both larger and faster than the incredibly famous Concorde.
Due to this, Boeing was very cautious about how they would design this new, large passenger jet. As such, the aircraft would have to be easily used as a freighter for when supersonic jets became the norm.
To this end, Boeing would bring in the now-famed Joe Sutter (today known as the “Father of the 747”). Previously, Sutter had helped to design the 727 and 737, two of Boeing’s best selling up to that point.
Sutter would then look through Boeing’s previous large aircraft, coming across the shelved CX-HLS design. This design would inspire Sutter, with him designing the 747 largely based of Boeing’s CX-HLS design.
By 1967, Boeing had a design that was two-and-a-half times as big as the 707 and DC-8, which they showed to Juan Trippe. This was exactly the type of aircraft Trippe was looking for, and soon placed a large order for the jet.
The next year, Boeing had a working prototype, named the City of Everett, which it displayed to the public in September 1968. A number of other airlines would place their own orders for the jet too.
Operational History
After the 747-100’s first flight on February 9 1969, 747 would quickly be entered into service with Pan Am in January the next year. From here, the jet would have arguably one of the most intriguing operational histories of any jet to date!
Passenger
Following its introduction with Pan Am, 22 other airlines would also become interested in operating the Boeing 747-100 for their high demand, long-haul routes. The majority of these airlines were national flag carriers.
Whilst a number of these airlines would acquire the standard 747-100, many of them lobbied Boeing for a -100 variant with an extended upper deck. Boeing would acquiesce, releasing the Boeing 747-100SR in 1973.
Most of these Boeing 747-100(SR)s would be used on transatlantic and transpacific routes. By far the most common route was New York-London, with it being the fastest subsonic long haul jet airliner on the route.
Other common routes also included New York-Paris, London-Orlando and Tokyo-San Francisco among others.
By the mid-1990’s, Boeing had released both the 747-200 and 747-300, which were much larger, and cheaper to operate. With this, many of the -100 operators began to sell the -100 to smaller airlines in other countries.
Many of these airlines would operate the -100 until the late 2000’s and early 2010’s, when they began to retire them in favor of newer 747-200 and -300 aircraft. The last commercial 747-100 flight occurred in January 2014, with Iran Air.
Cargo
As of the time of writing, the 747-100 is the only variant of the 747 to not have a specifically designed cargo variant.
Regardless, over the course of the 1990’s, passenger airlines began to sell their 747-100s. Whilst many went to smaller passenger airlines, many more went to dedicated cargo airlines, who bought these old jets at a reduced rate.
After purchasing these old 747s, cargo airlines such as UPS and FedEx gutted the interiors, removing all indication that these jets were once airliners. The jets themselves would also be painted in their own distinct liveries.
Whilst many of these cargo airlines already had these modifications thank to a government program (more on that in a minute!) those that didn’t, would also have the nose of the 747 modified to load freight.
Most cargo 747-100s would be used until the mid-to-late 1990’s, where they were replaced by more efficient trijets, mostly DC-10s and MD-11s. These trijets were often specifically designed cargo aircraft, rather than modified passenger jets.
The last major cargo operator of the 747-100 was UPS, who operated the jet until the Great Recession forced them to retire the inefficient jets in late 2008 and early 2009.
A number of old Boeing 747-100s were also sold to charter airlines, such as Tower Air or Evergreen International Airways. This would see many of them act as both cargo and passenger aircraft depending on the time of year.
Military
Due to the sheer size of the 747, it makes sense why the military would look at the 747 as a potential troop transport aircraft. Briefly, the Air National Guard had orders for specially designed 747-100 troop carriers.
However, budget concerns caused the Air National Guard to drop their order before any were produced. Instead, the Air National Guard, as well as the USAF began to pay airlines to have their 747-100s modified by Boeing.
These modifications included the addition of extra cargo doors, and strengthening the floors. The military did this on one condition: These could be used by the military if they ever needed to ship millions of troops into Europe.
This was because the Cold War was then-ongoing and many believed that Europe would be the main battleground if there ever was a non-nuclear WWIII.
On top of its use with the US military, the Iranian military also have also used the 747-100. Prior to the Iranian Revolution, the Shah of Iran managed to acquire a total of four 747-100s airliners from the US.
Iran would then covert these 747 airliners into air-to-air refuelers for their F-4 fleet. These would be completed and flown to Iran just before the Iranian Revolution in 1979, where they’d be used by the newly formed IRIAF.
Even though the airframes are well over 40 years old, the IRIAF still operate the 747-100 tankers today. Currently, two are still active as air-to-air refuelers, whilst the other two have been converted into VIP transports.
Shuttle Carrier
In the 1970’s, NASA was looking for a lower cost way of putting space shuttle orbiters into space, most notably, the Space Shuttle Enterprise.
NASA evaluated a number of different large aircraft, including the C-5 Galaxy. However, the agency ultimately ended up going with the Boeing 747-100, purchasing one 747-100 and one 747-100SR.
Obviously, these 747-100s were heavily modified for their new role. Primarily, this saw the 747’s iconic hump be modified with most of the Space Shuttle’s mounting struts, with the rest being further down the fuselage.
Beyond just that modification, NASA also strengthened the 747’s fuselage, adding additional vertical stabilizers and more powerful engines. The 747’s avionics would also be upgraded to cope with the increased weight of the aircraft.
NASA would leave the first class seating installed on the 747 by Boeing. These seats would primarily be used by NASA engineers, but also occasionally by journalists covering a particular Space Shuttle launch.
Officially, these two 747-100s would be known as the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA for short. These two SCAs would operate from 1977 until their retirement in 2012.
Museum
Due to how iconic the 747 has become, a number of major aviation museums have decided to have original 747-100s on display. To date, there are a total of seven Boeing 747-100s on display in aviation museums around the world.
Naturally, the majority of the 747s on display are located in the United States. However, the -100 was operated by numerous airlines around the world, and are thus, similarly on display around the world too!
Perhaps the most famous Boeing 747-100 on display is the prototype. This was the first 747 ever produced, which Boeing nicknamed the City of Everett, after the name of the city where the 747 factory is located.
Boeing used the jet to perfect the 747’s design. The FAA would then use the jet for flight testing. Following this, Boeing would operate the jet as a testbed for subsequent 747 technologies.
Today, it is on display at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington, located near the museum’s NASA 515 (first Boeing 737-100 ever produced).
Another famous 747-100 on display is the one at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum. This 747-100 is located on top of the museum’s waterpark, and is naturally, not a museum exhibit per se.
Other Boeing 747-100s on display are located in Paris, San Carlos, Washington DC, Houston and Tucson. As of the time of writing, these jets are all static displays only.
Private Jet
Today, you are probably familiar with Boeing Business Jets (BBJ), which are essentially private jet variants of Boeing’s most popular jet airliners.
Despite that, Boeing didn’t introduce the BBJs until 1999. Even then, these jets are extremely expensive, not only to buy (having the lowest price tag of $85 million) but also to operate (costing over $6,000 per hour!)
As such, even for the world’s billionaires and richest corporations, buying a brand new BBJ from Boeing, was just too expensive.
But this didn’t have to mean that they couldn’t have their own airliner-sized private jet. In fact, it was quite the opposite. They just had to think outside of the box.
For many of them, they saw airlines retiring perfectly good Boeing 747-100s, only for them to sit and rot in the desert. Instead, they decided to give it a new life, as their personal/corporate jet.
To do this, they ripped out its airline interior in favor of a more luxurious one. These jets often received newer, more fuel efficient engines, and occasionally, brand new avionics.
Even though many of these jets are well over 40 years old, many still operate today. With that being said, most have been retired in favor of smaller private jets, mostly old 737s, but also a few Gulfstream jets too.
Specifications
Although the 747 was designed from scratch, the 707’s design had a huge influence on the 747. As such, some of the 747’s specs are incredibly similar to those of the 747, whilst just as many are not.
The Boeing 747-100 would serve as the basis of all future 747 variants, meaning that the jet naturally shares a lot in common in terms of specs. This includes the 747-400 and 747-8 that are most common today!
| Specifications | Boeing 747-100 |
|---|---|
| Length | 231 ft 10 in (70.7 m) |
| Wingspan | 195 ft 8 in (59.6 m) |
| Height | 63 ft 4 in (19.3 m) |
| Crew | 3 |
| Passengers | 366 – 440 |
| Cruise Speed | Mach 0.8 (907 km/h; 564 mph; 490 kn) |
| Range | 8,560 km (5,317 mi; 4,620 nmi) |
| Service Ceiling | 45,100 ft (13,700 m) |
| MTOW | 735,000 lb (333,400 kg) |
How Safe Was The Boeing 747-100?
Today, the 747 has a reputation for being one of the safest aircraft you could fly on. Indeed, that reputation is well earned, with only 4% of 747s that have ever built, having been involved in an accident of some sort.
When you look at aircraft from the 1960’s and 1970’s, you’ll notice that many of them have been involved in fatal accidents, and are thus among the most dangerous aircraft you could fly on!
However, its seems like the 747 has been safe since it entered into service in 1970. Throughout its service 747-100 had a reputation for being incredibly safe, although this did begin to wane from the 1990’s onwards.
In total, Boeing built a total of 206 747-100s. Of those 206 built, only 12 have been involved in any form of accident, with only around half of them being fatal. Sadly, however, this has resulted in a total of 2,012 fatalities.
Naturally, you are probably wondering how 2,012 fatalities classes as “safe”. However, well over half of these fatalities were from two accidents, JAL Flight 123 and the Tenerife Airport Disaster.
Both disasters are remembered for being two of the worst aviation-related disasters in history.
However, there was also a fault with the electrical wire inside the 747-100’s fuel tank, which resulted in the devastating TWA Flight 800. Following the crash, the FAA rewrote its laws pertaining to the inerting system inside the fuel tanks of large airliners.
The remaining accidents were mostly a combination of pilot error and poor maintenance on the part of the airline, rather than anything to do with the jet itself.
Why Was The Boeing 747-100 so Successful?
Today, the entire 747 is known for being one of the most successful airliners in history, having sold over 1,500 times. In fact, the 747 is one of Boeing’s best selling jets to date!
In total, Boeing built 206 747-100s from 1968 to 1986, which was more than its contemporary competitors. This made it one of the most successful jets of its era, especially so for a long range airliner, which are naturally more expensive.
Perhaps one of the largest reasons the Boeing 747-100 sold so well was because of its huge size. The 747-100 could transport well over double the amount of people as jets like the 707 could, whilst still operating at the same airports.
Naturally, this appealed to the large flag carriers, for their highest demand routes. This allowed them to transport more passengers, at a lower cost to themselves, therefore netting the airlines a much larger profit.
Then there’s also the fact that Boeing was the first manufacturer to look at the concept of a second deck on a jet airliner, something it had pioneered on the turboprop Boeing 377.
For airlines, this provided a physical separation. First class would be on the top deck, and be allowed to board first. Business class would be at the front of the bottom deck, with economy being the rest of the bottom deck.
Many airlines had hoped that this would be carried over from long-haul turboprop airliners to their jet counterparts. Alas, this didn’t happen until the 747, released 20 years later, which helped the 747 to sell as well as it did.
Legacy
The Boeing 747-100 was a resounding success, selling well over 200 copies. This helped to give the 747-100 one of the largest and most intriguing legacies of any airliner to date, and something you can still see today!
Boeing
The 747-100 was immensely successful, selling 205 times in total. At a cost of $24 million (in 1972), Boeing made almost $5 billion from the 747-100 alone. Today, that $5 billion is worth $31.3 billion.
Naturally, all this money allowed Boeing to finance a number of new ventures. Many of these weren’t commercial aircraft, but instead, their space or defense divisions.
A year prior to releasing the 747-100, Boeing had released the 737-100, the first variant of the now (in)famous 737 Family. The 737-100 was an engineering marvel, but many simply believed is was just another jet airliner.
However, the release of the 747-100 proved to the world that Boeing was truly ahead of its time. The sheer size of the 747 wouldn’t be matched until the release of the A380, almost 40 years later!
Boeing 747-100
Today, there are only a handful of Boeing 747-100s still in active service. Mostly, these 747-100s are cargo aircraft in second and third world countries, usually because they can acquire these jets for a great discount.
With that being said, the vast majority of the Boeing 747-100s ever produced have been slowly retired and stored since the mid-1990’s. Nearly all 747-100s are in one of the many aircraft graveyards around the world.
Sadly, many of these 747s are simply too old, with it being unlikely that anyone will ever want to fly them again. As a result, many have been cannibalized for spare parts, or have simply been sold for scrap.
Thankfully, a few do remain, having been saved by aviation museums, restored, and placed on display.
Many believe that over the next decade or so, more aviation museums will acquire the few remaining 747-100s and similarly place them on display too!
Future Aircraft
The Boeing 747-100 would prove to be just what airlines wanted. The -100 proved that size was indeed king, and airlines soon began demanding a stretched variant of the 747, which would become the 747-200.
Over time, the 747-200 would be replaced by the much larger 747-300. However, the -300 was sometimes a little too for certain routes. Due to this, Boeing began to develop a short range variant of the 747.
Boeing would call this 747 variant, the 747SP. The SP was designed to compete with aircraft like the L-1011 Tristar, DC-10 and MD-11 mid-to-long-range trijets.
Much of the technology that Boeing invented for the 747 would be shrunk down and used on the other Boeing jets. Mainly, this was the 737-300 and the entire 737 Next Generation Family.
What do you think of the Boeing 747-100? Tell me in the comments!
Featured image courtesy of Clemens Vasters via Flickr.