January 22: Eyes Turned Skywards

747On 22 January 1970, Boeing introduced the 747.

The maiden voyage was made by the Pan Am airline company from New York to London. The 747 was only supposed to be in production for a few years, and production was to be halted after 400 or so airplanes. More than 1448 later, the Boeing Company is still manufacturing the world’s best-selling and most popular airplane! The odds of you being on a 747 if you have traveled by plane are better than 2-1. The most decorated, reliable, passenger friendly airplane ever built has changed the way that mankind has traveled the globe.

The idea of flight has enticed mankind since the beginning of time. Throughout recorded history, from cave paintings to early translated manuscripts, across the world there is evidence that man has longed to join winged creatures in flight. The enticement of travel in the air is consistent with that of exploration, to go into a realm of reality that we currently do not exist.

It has been rumored that in 850 BCE, in what today is London, England, a man by the name of King Bladud attempted flight by attaching wings to his arms and jumped from the highest point in the land. The King took to the air for some brief duration of time before falling to his death in the Temple of Apollo. In 875 CE, in Andalusia, Spain an Islamic priest by the name Abu’l-Kasim ‘Abbas b. Firnas took to the sky in a similar winged device and had a flight of “considerable distance.” His flight, too, ended with a crash that caused him considerable pain throughout the remainder of his days.

In China there are stories of men flying on kites. In Germany, men on machines made of Iron. In France, balloon flight. Finally, in America, with the Wright brothers in 1903, sustainable flight was at last a reality.

Leonardo Da Vinci said it best when summing up what flying means to man, “For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return.”

–Steve Barnhart

Photo Caption: The first Boeing 747 making its public debut.


january 22Meet the Author: Steve Barnhart

I live in Canton and am pursuing a degree in Business Administration. I am the father of a lovely daughter, Chloe.

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