Wide-Body: The Triumph of the 747

Irving, Clive

ISBN 10: 0688099025 / ISBN 13: 9780688099022

Published by William Morrow & Co, 1993

About this Item

The book is in good condition with all pages and cover intact, including the dust jacket if originally issued. The spine may show light wear. Pages may contain some notes or highlighting, and there might be a "From the library of" label. Boxed set packaging, shrink wrap, or included media like CDs may be missing.

Seller Inventory # BSM.14FWD

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Wide-Body: The Triumph of the 747
• Publisher: William Morrow & Co
• Publication Date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0688099025
• ISBN 13: 9780688099022
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: good

About this title

Synopsis

Chronicles and lauds the technological and business/financial achievements that put those auditoriums into the sky. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

Reviews

The Boeing 747, the jetliner which revolutionized air travel, was launched on its first commercial flight in 1970. For the past two decades, it has been the most popular large plane, with the wide body accommodating hundreds of passengers per flight. The exciting story of the events of the four years that led up to the triumphant debut of the 747 is ably told here by Conde Nast Traveler editor Irving. Boeing had made its reputation largely with military aircraft and was the first major company to believe that jets could serve as the civilian planes of the future. In producing the 747, the firm worked jointly with Pan Am, whose enigmatic, quixotic president, Juan Trippe, put constant pressure on the Seattle corporation, according to Irving. The interplay of personalities related here between Trippe and Boeing Chief Bill Allen is interesting, as are the clashes between two types of engineers: formulaic and intuitive. This is business history at its best. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This intriguing book is as much a history of commercial passenger aviation as it is of the development of the Boeing 747 wide-body jet airplane. Given the cast of characters, which is as large as that of War and Peace , remembering who is doing what can be difficult. At times, the story reads like a mystery and at times like a thriller. Behind the different business enterprises of building airplanes and providing air transport for the masses was an unlikely melding of the personalities: CEOs, chief engineers, lawyers, scientists, test pilots, and accountants. It is these diverse personalities who grab and hold the reader's interest, while the author spins his stranger-than-fiction tale of how the plane that couldn't fly not only flew but changed the face of intercontinental air travel. Highly recommended for popular collections.
- Eric C. Shoaf, Duke Univ. Lib., Durham, N.C.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.