All about the Boeing 747. Or almost everything ...

The 747, easily recognizable by its humpbacked fuselage, is in fact a by-product of the military development of the 1970s. At that time, the US government needed a large-capacity transport aircraft, to which a tender was announced. Boeing did not receive a military order, but felt that a large civil-transport aircraft would be in demand on the air transportation market.

So there were developments of the Boeing 747 Jambo Jet, which was twice as large as the largest aircraft of that time. Each aircraft of this design was then worth about 16.8 million dollars (1966), so the company needed a large customer, which became the company Pan American. She ordered 25 aircraft of this design for a total of $ 525 million.

In 1969, the Boeing 747-100 was first introduced at the Paris Air Show, and in the first six months of 1970 Pan Amenique carried the first million passengers on the London-New York route through these planes.

Since then, Boeing has produced various aircraft, passenger versions of which are very diverse. First, a 747-100V model was created, with a larger take-off mass. Then for the Japanese users released 747SR, which was intended for short flights and volume passenger traffic. For long flights, the Boeing 747 SP was intended. At the same time, it should be noted that the original model 747-100 was modified for the Civil Reserve - in 19 aircraft of this series, transformations were made that make it possible to turn a passenger aircraft into a transport vehicle for two days.

Today, aircrafts such as the 747-200 fly over different countries and continents, which can transport about 450 passengers at a time to a distance of up to 12.7 thousand km, climbing a maximum height of 13.7 km. Also it is possible to note its variant - Boeing 747-300 with the extended upper cabin for passengers, which allows to accommodate a maximum of 660 people.

The Boeing 747 transport ships participate in both civilian and military passenger transport. In 1990-1991, these stamps were involved in the transfer of American troops to Iraq (about 640 thousand soldiers were transported). At the production base of Boeing and Lockheed, a model Yal-1A, carrying a combat laser on board to destroy enemy missiles, was developed. There is also a variety of 747-100 - 747-123, which carries a space shuttle on the "back" (thirteen flights have been made with the shuttle "Enterprise").

The drawbacks of the aircraft in this series include the fact that in the first years of their flights the airports did not cope with passenger traffic, while simultaneously unloading from receiving a large number of aircraft. For example, the airport of Paris Charles de Gaulle with difficulty "processed" the passengers arriving for 2-3 Boeing, because their total number was 700-1000 people in a short period of time.

In addition, the crashes of such vehicles are fraught with a large number of victims. In 1996, two passenger ships collided in India - 747 and IL-76. This accident killed more than 350 people. And when two 747 (206B and 121) crashed in 1977, about 580 passengers died.