Quick Links The design originated from a failed military bid Pan Am had unprecedented influence The B747-100 had a short-range derivative There is still one 747-100 active today You can visit the first B747-100 The Boeing 747 revolutionized airline transport. Far bigger than anything that came before it, the B747 slashed operating costs per seat and thus reduced the cost of long-haul international airline travel, making it available to the masses. Over 1,500 of the aircraft were manufactured across six variants (-100, SP, -200, -300, -400, and -8), but let’s take a closer look at the very first, the Boeing 747-100.
1 The design originated from a failed military bid Lockheed won and built the C-5 In 1963, the United States Air Force (USAF) sought bids for a very large strategic transport aircraft that would use new high-bypass turbofan technology to increase power and fuel economy. Boeing, Douglas , and Lockheed were given study contracts for the airframe, and all three created similar designs. As the proposed aircraft needed to be able to be loaded from the front, a door had to be included where the cockpit usually was.
All the companies solved this problem by moving the cockpit above the cargo area: Douglas had a small "pod" just forward and above the wing; Lockheed used a long "spine" running the length of the aircraft with the wing spar passing through it; and Boeing blended the two, with a longer pod that ran from just behind the nose to just behind the wing. The USAF c.