The Boeing 747, whose final copy is delivered on Tuesday, marked the history of civil aviation by becoming the first two-aisle aircraft.
Some 50,000 mechanics, engineers and administrative employees participated in the construction of the first copy in approximately 16 months, for a construction site which began in 1967. To assemble it, Boeing had to build the factory in Everett, in the North- western United States, which remains the largest building in the world by volume. First commercial flight in 1970 for this giant of the air, a little less than a year after the first tests.
Over 1,500 aircraft have been manufactured for over 100 airlines. The aircraft can theoretically carry more than 600 passengers. The latest version of the aircraft, the 747-8, has a wingspan of 68.4 meters, a length of 76.3 meters and a height of 19.4 meters. It can cover the equivalent of a marathon in 2.5 minutes, and has a flight range of 14,430 kilometers in passenger version, 8,010 kilometers in cargo version.
NASA has transported space shuttles thanks to the 747
In the 1970s, NASA modified two 747s to carry its space shuttles on the back of the plane. The official aircraft of American presidents, Air Force One, has been a 747 since 1990. George Bush Sr., Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden have all flown the aircraft.
In 1979, John Paul II arrived in Ireland in an Aer Lingus 747 for the first visit by a pope to the country while Ayatollah Khomeini ended his exile by returning to Iran on board a 747 d ‘Air France.
The deadliest accidents in civil aviation remain the collision, in March 1977, of two 747s at Tenerife airport in the Canary Islands (583 dead), and the accident, in August 1985, of a Japan 747 Airlines between Tokyo and Osaka (520 dead).