The wingspan of the 747 is longer than that of the Wright brothers’ first flight from near Kitty Hawk near North Carolina. The gasoline-powered, propeller-driven biplane stayed aloft for 12 seconds and covered 120 feet on its inaugural flight.

In 1966, Boeing started constructing one of the largest buildings in the world in Everett, Washington, for manufacturing the 747.

Its first flight was on February 9, 1969; the aircraft entered commercial service 11 months later on Pan Am’s New York to London route.

In the 50 years that this aircraft has been in commercial service, it has hauled nearly the equivalent of the world’s population, ferried space shuttles across the US and has been the aircraft of every US President since Ronald Reagan.

Boeing 747 customer airlines’ fleets logged 57 billion nautical miles (121.5 billion km), which are equal to 1,37,000 trips from the earth to the moon and back.

The 747s have flown more than 5.9 billion people or 78 per cent of the world’s population.

Source: Boeing website

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