Boeing shows Pictures of B747-8F

Last week Boeing showed pictures of the almost complete new Jumbo version, the Boeing 747-8F freighter on its Blog by Randy Tinseth, vice president for marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes in Seattle. The first airframe is roughly 80 % finished and should be rolled out in October and take first flight in the fourth quarter of 2009. The aircraft has been powered on and is "alive". I must admit it really looks great. I will write an article on this future Boeing 747 variant shortly.
You can see the aircraft when you click on the following link:

http://boeingblogs.com/randy/archives/2009/08/big_time.html

The Boeing 747 - The Queen of the Skies Part III

The intermediate version - The Boeing 747-300
In this third part of my article series on the queen of the skies I will inform you about a version of the Boeing 747 which is quite rare - the Boeing 747-300. This subtype was first offered in 1980 and the most visible change was the stretched upper deck. (SUD - which was later also retroactively refitted on several 100B and 200 series aircraft). The upper deck was extended by approximately 7.11 m and an emergency exit door was installed on both sides. Another change was the straight stairway to the upper deck instead of the spiral staircase found on the earlier versions. Due to some minor aerodynamic changes of the airframe, the cruise speed could be increased from Mach 0.84 to Mach 0.85. Also from the start the 300 series was offered with an engine choice of Rolls Royce, General Electric and Pratt & Whitney. From the beginning the Boeing 747-300 was no sales success, with airlines hesitant to buy the Jumbo with the stretched hump. Most carriers were waiting for the next and vastly improved version, which was launched in 1985 as the Boeing 747-400. Also a combi version and a short range version for the Japanese domestic market (with reduced MTOW and derated engines and with seating for more than 600 passengers) were built. Production of the 300 ended in 1990, after just 81 aircraft were handed over to the airlines. Although no freighter model was offered by Boeing, several aircraft were converted to all freighter configuration after the year 2000. Most 747-300s in the passenger role are now retired, with Saudi Arabian Airlines, Aerosur, Pakistan International, Surinam Airways and Orient Thai Airways still operating the type. The picture on top shows the last Boeing 747-300 built in combi version, which was delivered to the Belgian flag carrier Sabena in September 1990. This particular aircraft now flies in an all cargo configuration for the Russian cargo airline AirBridgeCargo Airlines.

The Boeing 747 - The Queen of the Skies Part II

The classic version - The Boeing 747-200B
In the second part of my article on the Boeing 747 we will take a look at the most classic of all versions - the Boeing 747-200B. Early on it was clear that the 747 held enormous potential for growth and therefore several upgrades and changes to the airframe were studied by its manufacturer including even such radical desings as a 747 trijet (with two engine under the wings and a third engine in the tail). The 200B version enabled airlines to operate non-stop services from the West Coast of the U.S. to airports in Western Europe by increasing the MTOW (versions from 351.534 kgs to 378.000 kgs). The 747-200B was introduced in 1971 with KLM Dutch Airlines (serial number 96). Starting that same year the 10 windows on each of the upper deck sides became production standard. While externally the dimensions of the upper deck remained unchanged, internally it was rearranged so that there was additional seating for 16 more passengers available. The 200 was also offered as a combi version, the 200M, which mixed passengers and cargo on the main deck, separated by a removable partition with the cargo loaded in the aft section of the aircraft through a side cargo door (SCD). Also a C version was built which could be easily converted from passenger to freighter model in a matter of hours, with the seats installed on pallets which could be easily offloaded. This C version retained the nose of the dedicated freighter model. This dedicated freighter model, the 200F was a sales success right away from the start. Both F and C models could be ordered with or without the side cargo door of the combi version. The 200 series was also the first version which was offered with an engine choice of General Electric, Rolls Royce and Pratt & Whitney - while the earlier 747-100 was only offered with Pratt & Whitney engines. I will depict all available engines for the Boeing 747 in a later part of this article series. A total of 367 civilian Boeing 747-200s plus 6 military versions for the U.S. Air Force (of which two were VC-25s, known as “Air Force One” once the U.S. President takes a ride on them) were built, with the last one delivered in 1991. A few 200s from KLM and UTA (which subsequently merged with Air France) were later retrofitted with the stretched upper deck (SUD), which was a standard production feature of the later 300 and 400 versions, thus making the Boeing 747-200B SUD externally indistinguishable from a Boeing 747-300, which will be featured in the next part of this article series.

The Boeing 747 - The Queen of the Skies Part I

The first version - The Boeing 747-100
In this multi-part article I will introduce you to the true queen of the skies - the Boeing 747. First conceived in the mid 1960s the Boeing 747 is still being produced after 40 years, a myriad of different versions of this truly distinctive airliner (more than 20 different configurations) has been built. As of July 2009 1.419 Jumbo Jets rolled of the assembly lines near Seattle, Washington. The 747 is assembled in Everett inside a huge aircraft production plant which is still the biggest building of the world by volume. The 747 is flying as a passenger plane, as a freighter, as a combined passenger / cargo carrier, some are in government use as means of transportation for heads of state (the most famous being Air Force One - the transport of the U.S. President) and some even serve as firefighters or are carrying back the Space Shuttle from California to Florida. The 747 can probably be identified by most members of the travelling public due to its distinctive hump on top of the main aircraft body. Originally the Boeing 747 was a participant in a military contest for a new heavy transport aircraft for the U.S. Air Force. Boeing lost this competition and the production order went to Lockheed and its heavylifter which would eventually become the C-5 Galaxy. Later the losing Boeing design was adapted for use as a passenger mover for up to 400 or even more people and thus became the first widebody passenger jet. Legendary American carrier Pan American Airways was the first taker of this aircraft which would soon be named the Boeing 747. Initially the airline industry expected that in the 1970s subsonic passenger aircraft would be replaced by supersonic planes (like the European Concorde or Boeings own planned Boeing 2707), which would render their subsonic predecessors obsolete. Therefore the front loading cargo door was retained for the freighter version as - at that time - Boeing thought that in a few years only the freighter version would still generate sales. Well, history had some other plans and only 14 supersonic Concords were built and all other civil supersonic aircraft remained on the drawing boards. Subsequently both the passenger and freighter version of the Boeing 747 gained impressive sales with the before mentioned front loading door becoming a unique feature of the F-model (F=Freighter) of the 747 series. The first version was the Boeing 747-100 which entered service with Pan Am in January 1970 on the New York - London route. Originally this version was only offered with 6 windows (three per side) on the upper deck, as originally the upper deck was envisioned for use as an inflight bar. Later airlines found out that additional seats could be installed there - often exclusive business or first class seating - and subsequently Boeing offered 10 windows for the upper deck and also offered the retrofitting of the additional windows on older aircraft A total of 167 aircraft of the 100 series have been built plus an additional nine aircraft of the 100B version with improved MTOW (Maximum Take Off Weight) of up to 340.000 kgs, (the original 100 version has an MTOW of 333.000 kgs) which has only been ordered by Saudi Arabian Airlines and Iran Air. The maximum range with a full load of passengers and underfloor cargo and mail is 5.300 Nautical Miles (9.800 km). No 100 series aircraft has been specifically built as a freighter but many have been converted to freighter after their lifes as passenger airliners had ended. As of 2009 approximately 20 aircraft of this early Jumbo version are still in use. The Boeing 747-100 was superseded in the 1970s by the Boeing 747-200 which will be featured in the next part of this article.