Icon of the Skies: A Look Back at the Early Days of the Boeing 747

A two-story airplane may have seemed like science fiction before the Boeing 747 rolled out in the late 1960s. Since then, the "Queen of the Skies" has grown to be a passenger pleaser, an instantly recognizable silhouette on tarmacs around the world, and a marvel of modern engineering. Here are some of our favorite images from the history of the jumbo jet.

By Cynthia Drescher and Corrie Vierregger

September 10, 2015

This week saw the retirement of N661US, a Boeing 747 that was the first of the 747-400 generation. Originally flying with Northwest Airlines and now a part of Delta Air Lines, the jumbo jet will spend retirement at the Delta Flight Museum at Atlanta's Hartsfield Airport. The first 747 took the skies in 1969. Since then, the aircraft has been upgraded and upsized through many versions, but always known as the "Queen of the Skies." Here, two go-go fabulous models pose in front of a Boeing 747 for a TWA ad. Trans World Airlines was also one of the first to fly 747s and, for a time in the 1980s, the airline flew nearly 50 percent of all passengers traveling on transatlantic routes.
The Boeing 747 prototype seen during its roll-out at Boeing's Everett, Washington plant on September 30, 1968. Named City of Everett, this particular aircraft can still be visited at the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field, in Seattle.

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Pan Am was the first airline to fly the Queen of the Skies. Here, flight attendants pose following the arrival of the plane, Clipper Victor, at London's Heathrow Airport for the first time, in 1970.
When TWA launched their New York–London route with the 747 in 1970, they celebrated by crowning a 7-year-old British girl "Little Miss Superjet."

BOAC, predecessor to today's British Airways, also began flying 747s in 1970. Here, first-class passengers are served lunch.
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Inside a Pan Am 747's upper deck. The upstairs of the aircraft was at first reserved for socializing, with a bar and comfortable seating where passengers could relax—and drink, and smoke—during the flight.

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The first-class cabin on the main deck of a Pan Am 747.
JAL, Japan Air Lines, sought to stand out from other airlines flying 747s in the 1970s by focusing on service. Here, a flight attendant in a kimono takes a meal tray through the upper deck.

Here, a passenger demonstrates one the features of a first-class compartment on-board a Singapore Airlines 747 in 1975. Separate beds are still available on 747s today, most notably in Lufthansa First Class on-board the 747-8i.
Six new Boeing 747 tails, viewed beyond the embankment of the Boeing Everett Factory, waiting to be delivered to their airlines. To order a 747-100 in 1967, it cost an airline approximately $24 million. In 2007, the cost of a 747-400 was $228 million and up. Today, the newer and longer 747-8i sells for $351.4 million.

In 1972, Lufthansa showed off the capacity of a 747 freighter by filling it with 72 Volkswagen Beetles.
Virgin Atlantic began as an airline entirely of 747s. Here, Richard Branson inaugurates his new airline with a swig of Champagne on the steps of the Boeing 747-200 Maiden Voyager in 1984.

One of the most famous 747s ever is Air Force One, which is actually a pair of 747-200Bs that alternate trips. Here, President Barack Obama gazes out the window while flying over Australia. This aircraft is due to be replaced by a the newer, larger, more fuel-efficient 747-8, continuing the legacy of the 747 as the presidential aircraft.