Jetrader - Autumn 2016 - 61

One of the first 747s for Pan Am alongside a 707, emphasizing the
enormous leap of the first "jumbo jet." Even the tractor was jumbo size.
Photo: Boeing Images.

heading out to sea. And, of course, Pan
Am's new double-deckers would be named
"Clippers" just like the old flying boats.
But Boeing had a tough time making a
business case for Mr. Trippe's double-decker.
Moreover, back in 1963 the U.S. government
began to fund a competition to develop an
American supersonic transport that had to
be bigger and faster than the British/French
Concorde already in development and which
had been ordered by Pan Am, among others.
With that, everyone "just knew" that
the stretched DC-8s and the new, hopedfor Boeing double-decker 707 would very
quickly be rendered obsolete as soon as
Concordes and U.S. SSTs began to arrive
in the 1970s. All long-haul travel would
obviously go on the supersonics. Boeing
"just knew" they would be lucky to sell even
100 of the stodgy double-deckers, so it was
essential that any production beyond the
100 be freighter variants; otherwise the
program made no economic sense at all.
Trouble was the double-decker 707 would
be a lousy freighter, capable of carrying
only ordinary pallets and half of them being
loaded and unloaded some 25 or 30 feet
above the ground.
As carefully and diplomatically as possible, Boeing broke the news to Mr. Trippe
that he could not have his double-decker
with the two rows of portholes. Instead of
being built high, it had to be built wide.
And even then, after the first batch was
delivered, we "just knew," of course, the
production of the new airplane would have
to switch to the freighter variant.

Starting Over, Again
Back at the factory, we engineers with
our slide rules went through countless
iterations of the size and configuration of
the new concept. In effect, we were now

Current production Boeing 747-8i, showing the long extension of
the upper passenger deck. Photo: Google Images.

designing a freighter, with some of the
first deliveries to be passenger variants.
The freighter would need to be a noseloader, so the cockpit had to either go up
high or down low. The "down low" cockpit
option under the nose didn't gain much
traction, but it made for some interesting sketches. The cockpit looked like the
gondola under an airship; great for looking
forward and downward from the cockpit,
but it was a non-starter if you worried
about a wheels-up landing or ditching. So
the "up high" option won and the airplane
got its iconic hump.
In our aerodynamics group we estimated
the lift and drag and payload-range capability, pushed for a cruise speed of Mach
0.9 and prepared performance guarantees
for the sales department to take to the
customer airlines.
Soon, orders were in hand and the program was launched and given its name
"747." Boeing agreed to deliver the first
one to Pan Am in just 28 months. All that
needed to be done now was to build the
world's largest factory, manufacture the
biggest airplane in that factory, find
engines for it and get the whole thing
certificated. Thousands of engineers were
hired to design and test every single piece,
large or small, that would go into the new
airplane. Almost nothing from nose to tail
was available off the shelf anywhere.

At Last, Juan Trippe's
Double-Deckers
Boeing initially envisioned the empty
space behind the 747's cockpit might be
used for a crew rest area on long flights,
but Pan Am chose to use the space for
the passengers. Thus was reborn the spiral staircase and a small dining lounge on
the upper deck for the first 747-100s. The

The best and most authoritative account of
the Boeing 747's development is the book
simply titled 747, written by Joe Sutter, my
one-time boss and chief engineer in charge
of the program from the very beginning.
Joe Sutter also appears in the two-hour
documentary 747: The Jumbo Revolution,
replayed from time to time since 2015 on
the Smithsonian cable channel. Joe, by
then long retired, appears on screen, providing some pithy commentary.
lounge had only three small windows on
each side and for evacuation considerations
the lounge could not be occupied during
takeoffs or landings.
On later 747-100s, more upper-deck windows were added and soon the space could
be used for takeoffs and landings. With the
introduction of the 747-200s and -300s, the
upper deck was extended further aft for
even more passenger seating space.
The current production version, the
747-8i, is a stretched model with even
more passenger seating on both decks.
Had he lived to see it, Pan Am's Juan Trippe
would be happy that his wish for a true
double-decker with two rows of portholes
was finally granted.

Post Scripts
The U.S. government's supersonic
transport program, launched by President
Kennedy as a competition in 1963 and
awarded to Boeing in 1967, was expected
to displace all other jet aircraft on longhaul international routes. Funding for the
program was canceled in 1971 when it was
clear that the technology simply wasn't
ready. With that, the way was clear for the
747 program to live on for at least another
50 years.
Jetrader * Autumn 2016 61
Jetrader - Autumn 2016

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