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Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet
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Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet

Author: 
Carroll Gantz
Designer: 
Walter Dorwin Teague Associates
Date: 
1969
Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet

The Boeing 747 "jumbo-jet" made its first public flight in 1969. It carried 342-490 passengers and was 231 feet long. Interiors were designed by Walter Dorwin Teague Associates (WDTA). It went into transatlantic service in early 1970 for Pan American Airlines. The ancestry of the 747 started with a military version (C-97) of the B-29 (which dropped the atomic bombs on Japan in 1945). In 1946, a commercial version of the C-97 became the Stratocruiser, the first post-war luxury-class transatlantic airliner, which carried 55 to 100 passengers. Interiors were designed by Frank Del Guidice of WDTA. This was probably the first commercial plane with interiors by an industrial design office, and for this purpose, WDTA established a permanent design office at the Boeing plant in Seattle. The Stratocruiser was followed by a modification of the Boeing KC-135 Air Force tanker jet developed in 1955 for Pan Am commercial use. Again, Del Guidice and WDTA designed interiors and livery, as well as some exterior contours. A later version of this in 1958 became known as the Boeing 707, the first transatlantic commercial jet. It had four engines and seated 147-181 passengers. WDTA again did the interiors, but Henry Dreyfuss Associates developed those for American Airlines, and Raymond Loewy whipped up interiors and livery for the famous Air Force 1version in 1963, first used by President John Kennedy. The two-engined Boeing 737 debuted in 1967 with a capacity of 108-189, and became the best-selling jetliner in aviation history. Interiors, of course, were by WDTA. The 747 came next in 1969. In 1982, the 767 and the fuel-efficient 757 appeared. The latter seated 194-231. WDTA interiors on both. In 1988, a later model of the 747 (747-400) seated 420-566.

Sources: 
100 Years of Design consists of excerpts from a book by Carroll M. Gantz, FIDSA, entitled, Design Chronicles: Significant Mass-produced Designs of the 20th Century, published August 2005 by Schiffer Publications, Ltd.
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