747: The Jumbo Revolution

These days it is all about Super-Jumbos like the Airbus A380 or the Dreamliner which is really the Boeing 787.

This documentary is about the Boeing 747 jumbo jet from its incredibly short development time at the behest of Juan Trippe of Pan Am who originally wanted to double decker plane in the sky.

The 747 was a game changer in aviation but in the Boeing factory it was supposed to have played second fiddle to their supersonic project which was eventually abandoned.

In the 1960s Boeing gambled their entire wealth for this revolutionary plane that simply could not fail or the firm would go belly up. It featured cutting edge technology and the latest safety enhancements. This wide bodied plane allowed cheaper air travel and became a cash cow for Boeing.

The documentary features people like Joe Sutter the chief designer of the 747 who now in his 90s tells how he was not deemed diplomatic enough to inform Juan Trippe that there could not be a two tier aircraft because of safety concerns but a twin aisled wide body jumbo which he eventually got around to accept.