Exactly 50 years ago, the first Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet reached for the skies for the very first time.
On 9 February 1969, Boeing test pilots Jack Waddell and Brien Wygle, together with Jess Wallick at the flight engineer’s station, took control of the first Boeing 747 – msn 001 and nicknamed ‘City of Everett’ – and took off for a test flight over Western Washington.
Since that day, more than 1.500 Boeing 747 Jumbo Jets have been built in multiple civil and military variants. The aircraft has served most legacy airlines all over the world including British Airways, United, Lufthansa, KLM, Qantas and ANA.
Even today, the Boeing 747 is still in production. The end of the line appears to be near however, as most airlines have moved away from four engined jets as modern twin engined long haul aircraft have become more reliable and economical to operate.
Fortunately, we can still enjoy the Queen of the Skies at many airports in the world.
Here are some photos of the Boeing 747 that have been taken at various European airports in the last twenty years. Let’ hope we’ll be able to take many more photos in the years to come.
Happy Birthday Queen of the Skies!
9 February 2019
Photos: copyright (c) Ivan Coninx / Maarten Van Den Driessche
