Boeingīoeing eventually lost the bid for the CX-HLS, but it wasn’t going to let the aircraft’s development go to waste. Lockheed went with a spine that ran the length of the fuselage while Douglas and Boeing elected for cockpit pods. Due to those front-loading requirements, all three finalist designs placed the cockpit above the cargo area. Of those, the military pared the list down to Boeing, Douglas, and Lockheed. That’s a huge wishlist, and Boeing, Douglas, General Dynamics, Lockheed, and Martin Marietta all had their bid for the best CX-HLS. Fully loaded, the CX-HLS would weigh 600,000 pounds (around twice that of a 707), have the range to carry a 100,000-pound load 6,000 nautical miles, and have a rugged enough undercarriage to permit landing on rough fields. The aircraft would have cargo doors in the front and rear to allow for quick loading and unloading. The project was dubbed the Cargo Experimental-Heavy Logistics System, or CX-HLS.įor the CX-HLS, the military sought an aircraft with a fuselage large enough to carry its largest cranes, missiles, radars, and other equipment. In 1963, the military finalized what it was looking for in its Request for Proposal for a large military transport aircraft. A number of aircraft manufacturers took on the challenge. This proposed aircraft would also complement the Lockheed C-141 Starlifter. In 1961, the United States Air Force began looking into a replacement for the Douglas C-133 Cargomaster. There is another event that happened that helped thrust the 747 into existence. We’d see this concept decades later–and arguably too late–with the super jumbo Airbus A380.īut Boeing? It was primed to change the world. When Boeing itself looks back on the 747’s development, it mentioned the same ideas. And having one plane full of tons of people would reduce airport congestion. The airline executive’s idea was that if Pan Am could fit more people on a plane, it could charge less per seat. When the 707’s success meant further expansion, Pan Am CEO Juan Trippe looked to capitalize on the explosive growth of air travel with an aircraft with double the capacity of the 707. As Simple Flying notes, 707 launch customer Pan American World Airways worked closely with Boeing on the aircraft’s development. The 707 helped reshape air travel in the early years of the Jet Age and it can be argued that without the 707’s success, there would be no 747. First flown in 1957, the iconic 707 wasn’t the first commercial jet, but it was one of the most successful. The story of the Queen of the Skies starts with the Boeing 707. We are proud that this plane will continue to fly across the globe for years to come.” “For more than half a century, tens of thousands of dedicated Boeing employees have designed and built this magnificent airplane that has truly changed the world. Kim Smith, Boeing Vice President and general manager for 747 and 767 Programs, released a statement on the occasion: The Everett plant, the world’s largest building by volume, will no longer build the aircraft that it was constructed for. We’ve all known that this day would come, but it’s still a bit of a shock. And the final aircraft in the order book were for Atlas Air. The very last 747 that UPS will get rolled out of the paint shop. Let’s take one last look at the incredible story of a majestic plane.īack in April, I wrote about how Boeing was cracking through its final five orders of its famed 747. The aircraft enjoyed a production run over half of a century-long, earning the nickname “the Queen of the Skies” and becoming synonymous with the term jumbo jet along the way. When the 1,574th Boeing 747 gets delivered to Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings early next year, it’ll mark the end of an era. On Tuesday night, the very last Boeing 747 rolled out of the aircraft maker’s Everett, Washington factory.
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