In this issue we wave a fond farewell to the iconic Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet. Boeing has announced that after half a century of production, the final Boeing 747 has been delivered to Atlas Air Worldwide.

Known as the ‘Incredibles’, the Boeing employees who designed and built the first 747 returned to be honoured at the Everett factory where the journey of the 747 began in 1967. All in all, the factory produced 1,574 aircraft over the lifetime of the programme.

The 747 was truly monumental in size. Fun facts recently published by Boeing say that it required the construction of a 200 million ft³ 747 assembly plant in Everett, Washington, the world's largest building by volume. The fuselage of the original 747 was 225ft long and the tail as tall as a six-story building. The 747’s core design with its distinctive hump and seating in the upper deck has delighted generations of those passengers who could afford it.

As the first twin-aisle aircraft and jumbo jet, the 747 enabled airlines to connect people across vast distances and provide non-stop trans-oceanic flights - and helped solidify Boeing's role as an industry leader in commercial aviation.

Stan Deal, Boeing’s president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes said the monumental day was a testament to the generations of Boeing employees who brought to life an aircraft that ‘shrank the world’, and revolutionised air travel and cargo as the first widebody.

I’d like to remember the 747 as one of the model aircraft I first fell in love with - and so began my passion with the sleek curves and lines of aircraft designs. Much like Concorde, the memory of the Jumbo Jet - particularly in its iconic Pan Am Airlines livery - will live on for years to come.