Farewell to the Queen of the Skies! Final 747 Delivery Medal
airplanenut
Posts: 22,240 ✭✭✭✭✭
Today was a bittersweet day at work as we celebrated the delivery of the 1574th and final 747, which first entered service 53 years ago. The 747 is an engineering feat of epic proportions and arguably has done more to make the world smaller than any other aircraft. You will never convince me that another airplane is more beautiful (the 747-400, of course, being the single most beautiful plane ever built). I could see 500 planes at a busy airport and be satisfied, but show me one 747, and I'll be giddy all day. In all, this is an airplane that I love, and it holds an important role in many aviation stories in my life.
As we were leaving the event, medals were handed out containing metal shavings from the last airplane. I don't usually get too excited about trinkets handed out at work, but this is one I'll treasure.
Comments
Thanks for sharing.
I also really like the Boeing 747! I travel overseas at least twice a year, so I do get on large bodied planes. On a recent flight within the past year, I was on a Lufthansa Boeing 747. They announced over the speaker that it is one of the latest iteration of the 747 design. It was absolutely heaven!
The engineering and foresight that went into this aircraft is so amazing. Yes, there are more efficient planes out there, but the 747 is still a viable aircraft today! It lasted the test of time and just because the last plane left the production facility, parts will still be manufactured and the plane will continue to soar the skies for some time to come.
BST: Tennessebanker, Downtown1974, LarkinCollector, nendee
The last time I flew on a 747 was coming back from Ukraine back in Dec 2009. All of my overseas flights since then have been 777 or 787 with Air Canada.
Bittersweet though it is, they will fly for many years as freighters. In fact they were the mainstay of PPE deliveries during the Covid thing.
While I was working (and the last twenty years of corporate work was in Seattle), I flew on 747's several times. I always enjoyed flying on that plane. I still recall my first flight on a 747, many years ago... At that time, they had a lounge on the upper deck, and the sales guys would gather there for cocktails and tell jokes. Was a great flight. Cheers, RickO
I remember when they first flew. It's a decent story to 🙂
My first flight on a 747 was on December 26, 1971 when I was on my way to Fort Dix in New Jersey to be discharged from the army. I had flown out of Asmara, Eritrea (then part of Ethiopia) that morning on an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 720 and stopped briefly in Athens, Rome and Paris. In Paris I changed planes and flew to JKF in New York on a Pan Am 747. I was amazed at its size. It was the first time I had seen one. I was discharged the next day.
That piece is a great addition to the long line of relic or "made from" medals that are a very popular topical collecting area. It joins medals partially or wholly made from famous (and lesser known) ships, spacecraft, tanks, disasters and tragedies, trains, buildings and much more. I'm not a fan of loops but this medal reminds me a bit of the British 1805-1905 Admiral Nelson medal made from brass recovered from his flagship "Victory" - also looped but maybe 1/10 the diameter.
Awesome piece. Thanks for sharing.
Any idea of how many were made?
RIP Mom- 1932-2012
My late Father worked on the 747 assembly line. As a result, that bird will always be special to me. Hate to see the last one roll out, but what a run.
Dave
There has always been something endearing about the guppy headed 747. I too share your affinity and elevated adrenaline level each time I see one.
The only time I flew a 747 was for a job. I was evaluated on a 747 simulator for a FedEx pilot slot - passed, hired. Even though FedEx had 6 of the jumbo jets from their Flying Tigers purchase in the late 1980's, they were gone by the time I had enough seniority to qualify on it. I stayed true to Boeing though, flew only 727s and 777s for 25 years until retirement.
fka renman95, Sep 2005, 7,000 posts
Awesome!
My first 747 flight was in 1990 on Sabena Airlines. I remember thinking it was like a flying auditorium. I've flown somewhere around 3/4 million miles, but on a 747 only one other time..... from Japan to Okinawa on an ANA plane in 1992. I was scheduled to fly on a Lufthansa 747-800 again last year, but schedules changed and I ended up on a Airbus of some sort. I was sorely disapointed.
My sister was employed at Boeing as a PhD mechanical engineer on the 747 for a few years. What a magnificent airplane. Long may she stay in the skies.
I hope this airplane flies well past 2050.
My good friend's dad was a 747 captain for Northwest Airlines. He flew every generation up to the 747-400. He had some fascinating stories about flying these airplanes. He once had a rudder partially jam flying over the north Pacific and had to work the problem for a couple of hours. The -100s had to have extra long final approaches because the autopilot would sometimes oscillate while capturing the ILS and it could take awhile to stabilize. The -400s were a "dream" according to him. Flying those was quite the career.
That medal is awesome.
Cool - thanks for sharing the medal!
I flew once from Seattle to Fairbanks on a PanAm 747 around 1975 - red eye flight - - it was during the Alaska pipeline years and they were flying a lot of freight - there couldn't have been more than 20 of us on board. It was a real treat.
The last time was 4 years ago from Seattle to London in business class for a golf trip - still a big thrill.
Nice medal! I have always liked the 747 and was sad to see the production end. T.A. Wilson spoke at the 747-400 rollout in 1988, was fortunate to be there. I worked on a program to re-tool the 747 fuselage structures production line, leading a team of industrial engineers from the program proposal as a small group, through completion. The AFA in the picture below was "Accurate Fuselage Assembly" which transformed master model and gage-based production tooling to determinate assembly tooling using then new CATIA software (1994), improving quality and efficiency in fuselage assembly. FAIT was Fuselage Assembly Improvement Team. I do miss working at Boeing, retiring last year after 36 years.
Just one more bit of evidence that civilization has peaked and is in decline.
It has been fascinating to read the comments evidencing personal connections to the 747. I have flown the aircraft numerous times but one that stands out was an inaugural flight to Honolulu to Tokyo for a particular airline. Even though I was seated in coach we were treated just like first class passengers and I still remember the lobster that was served. We were even allowed to climb the stairs to the upper level while in flight. As I recall there were a number of travel agents on that flight, apparently as guests of the airline to promote their new service.
Another personal connection - my now daughter-in-law pictured with the then President of the United States aboard the Air Force One 747 when she was ABC's Washington Correspondent.
I worked on the first 747 Air Force One program which delivered in 1990, nice coffee mugs were given out:
From reading these posts, it seems like the first ride on a 747 was an unforgettable adventure. So I will relay my experience:
Sometime in the late 80's, I accompanied my wife to Seattle. She was working the trip as a Delta flight attendant and I was flying non-rev. We lived in the DFW area. The trip out was uneventful and we had a great layover there. However, the flight home was 100% full and no non-rev's were able to board. I checked the boards and there was a Thai Airline flight to Dallas leaving shortly after the Delta flight. Even though I was 100% non-rev (not even quarter fare), the nice people at Thai allowed me to hitch a ride. I even had a window seat in their 747. I could not believe how high we were off the ground as we taxied and how smooth the flight and landing were in that big, beautiful bird.
Now can we start a thread about the DC8's with the retrofit CFM56's Delta used to fly? I loved that plane as well:
Tim
No, but I’d have to guess five figures. My understanding is around 10,000 employees were at the event, but no idea of how many they made relative to that. Hopefully a bunch of extras.
Very cool! I work on the 777-9 now, and have been on and off for the last decade plus. I was right next to the runway for the 777F’s first flight, and boy has that plane become a game changer. Also jealous of the 727. Been years since I last saw one, but oh how exciting they are!
The president of my flying club retired as a 747 captain from Northwest. I love hearing his stories.
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The 777F was a game changer for FedEx. We had an order For 10 A380's; FedEx was the launch customer. There was one painted in purple and orange, then, at the last moment Fred Smith cancelled them and went the 777F route. That hurt Airbus, that line is now 'toast'. We have around 40 777Fs now.
I liked the 727-100s and 200s; it was the last stick-n-throttle plane in our fleet. Fifteen years in that plane; I have the hearing loss to prove it.
fka renman95, Sep 2005, 7,000 posts
It did and didn't hurt them. The A380 has three enormous design flaws for a freighter. First, the floor separating the upper and lower decks is structural, so its size can't be utilized for oversize freight. Second, the cockpit sits between the two floors, so there's no way to get the nose out of the way like the 747 for nose loading long cargo that can't fit through a door (where a plane of that size would really shine). Lastly, it's volume is so big that it hits max takeoff weight far before it is full, so for the type of cargo it can carry, a smaller plane is simply more efficient. The reason FedEx (and UPS) walking from the A380 didn't hurt Airbus is that the freighter would have been a flop, and when both companies went to Boeing, Airbus no longer had to use the resources to make the freighter.
In the early 1990's I was flying a lot with Chicago being a frequent destination. Northwest had a 747 repositioning flight to Chicago several times a week for their Chicago-Tokyo route. With gold status at the time I was lucky enough to get a seat up top most every trip. It was only a 400 mile / one hour flight but it is still memorable. (Every other long flight in the U.S. or to London & was always in the ubiquitous Northwest DC-10s)
I was considering a trip to Thailand a few years ago (ended up doing something else). One of the draws was Thai flying a 747 on the quick hop from Bangkok to Phuket. Missed that opportunity 😢
It's amazing that an aircraft designed before the moon landing is still being made and sold new to customers today, though I'm sure the flight controls and systems are all "modern".
I flew in my first 747 sometime in 1971 from Honolulu to Chicago. Being only 9 years old at the time, I hardly remember the experience.
Sam Chui did a nice YouTube of the final delivery event.
The 727 was a great plane. It was the first airliner I taxied. Nothing like the MD11 which can get a person in trouble if your not proficient or careful.
I just came across this photo I took for my office of the 747 Air Force One as I captured it with my camera on its approach to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richarson:
And here is a photo I took from my airplane window at Sea-Tac this past year of the 747 Air Force One with the present President aboard. (We sat on the tarmac for several hours as a bomb threat was being responded to before the President, and then we, could depart.)
What a wonderful piece of aviation memorabilia.
It seems to me that coin collectors also seem to love aviation for some reason-- I am no exception there. I have a passion for the 747, and I even learned to fly it years ago. I have been fortunate to travel on the flight deck of a 747 from LA to Sydney many years ago. I also have a memento from 747-451 Reg N667US in service from 06/28/1990 - 11/18/2017. I made many trips to Boeing field and the plant when I lived in Portland. Thanks for sharing this!!!
American technology at its finest!
Well said!
Adding to the theme of this thread, I just came across these photos I took in Seattle:
I agree...that was a beautiful aircraft. When I worked at American Airline we had the 747 SP which, IMO was the ugliest version of the 747 made. Flew on one a few times and the cabin was fine but the shortened fuselage always just looked odd to me.
K
She's been recently repainted and that whole area of the museum put under a roof. I'm glad the airplanes are protected, but it was always nice to see that collection when landing at SEA from the north.
Very Cool, that medal is special!
Curious if the paint scheme and colors remained the same.
Is Nixon's Air Force One now under the roof too? I thought it was cool to get to go inside the plane especially since when I was in Japan it landed there enroute to Korea with the then Secretary of the Treasury aboard whom I had previously known when he was a banker in Chicago. The call he made to me was likely from that very plane.
Yes, same colors, just a fresh coat. And the old AF1 (along with a Concorde, the first 737, the first 727, a 787, and others are there, too).
Thanks. Next to the Smithsonian that is my favorite "Air" Museum.
Some great photos and information here. Enjoyed the read and the medal. Many years ago I worked freight for a few months at a local airport to help out a contractor friend. Loaded the plane as well as guided out the plane, and with headsets communicated with the pilot in the checklist rundown. One time I was allowed to sit in the pilots cockpit seat. What a great experience to see the view from the pilots perspective. And no, did not taxi the jet out of the area.
Although not a coin collector my late Uncle was fortunate to see Lindbergh land at out local airport in 1929 on one of his USA tours. 3 of my cousins were collectors of stamps and coins. And all 3 served in the Air Force and also built/flew model radio controlled airplanes. So based on this, yes, planes and coin collecting interest seem to co mingle.