From war-torn Beirut to Dubai's Royal Stables – the long journey of one Boeing 747

Construction number 21098, a 747-200M, rolled off the production line at the enormous Boeing plant in Everett, Washington State on June 20, 1975. Resplendent in its new livery of white and red, and with a green cedar tree painted on the tail, the 253rd jumbo jet to be delivered was about to become a flagship for Middle East Airlines. History had other ideas ― 1975 was the year the Watergate scandal caught up with President Richard Nixon, Hanoi celebrated victory in the Vietnam war and Margaret Thatcher was elected leader of Britain’s Conservative Party. It was also the beginning of a bitter, 15-year civil war in Lebanon. An early casualty was Beirut’s international airport, which closed as fighting raged around it. Built to fly MEA’s premier routes to London, Paris and New York, the shiny new Boeing 747 was effectively homeless. Nearly 50 years later, this week the final Boeing 747 left the assembly line, destined to carry freight for Atlas Air, an American cargo airline. More than 1,570 have been built since 1969, but no more will be made. Once the Queen of the Skies, the aircraft whose glamour epitomised international travel now largely ferries parcels and packages. Nearly a third are still flying, although the oldest is only about 32 years old. The class of 1975 may be all but extinct. _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ But much of the story of the jumbo jet can be told through this single 747-200, the second version of the aircraft, introduced in 1971, with more powerful engines that increased its range. It was too valuable an asset for MEA to leave idle on the ground. And so, in June 1977 the aircraft joined the fleet of Saudi Arabia’s Saudia airline. It was the second of what would be 10 changes of airline. Four years later, the 747 was back at MEA, until leaving for Bahrain’s Gulf Air in 1985. The ownership then passed to Carter Leasing, with Gulf Air keeping the aircraft for only six months. British Airways was next, with the aircraft repainted and renamed the City of Lancaster, and flying long-haul destinations from London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports. Now 15 years old, BA was introducing new models and the 747-200 was taken back ― under lease from Carter ― for its third stint at MEA. It operated from Beirut for two more years before, in a series of eight transfers in only six years, it was loaned to Indonesia’s Garuda in 1992, back to MEA, then Nigeria’s Trans-Air Services, a cargo airline, in 1995. Within the year it was returned to MEA but then sent to Philippine Airlines until 1996. The 747 was then sold by Carter Leasing to MEA, who promptly sent it to Kalitta Air, an American cargo airline founded by its namesake Conrad Kalitta, a former drag-racing champion from Michigan. A year on, in 1998, there was another change of ownership, to Kitty Hawk International, a Dallas-based cargo airline, and named after the place where the Wright brothers made the first powered flight in 1903 for a distance of 37m ― less than the wingspan of a 747. Its 495 seats ripped out and the champagne service of first class now just a memory, it might be assumed the jumbo jet’s glory days were over. But there was one last twist. As the 21st century dawned, this flagbearer for aviation in the 20th was bought for Dubai’s Royal Air Wing. Painted a gleaming white, and with the callsign Dubai 008, the aircraft was converted in 2000 as a flying horsebox, transporting racehorses from Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid’s Godolphin Stables. Capable of carrying up to 50 horses, with their grooms and equipment, to any racecourse in the world, it visited Britain, Ireland, Japan, Australia, South Africa, Brazil, France and the United States ― its new passengers arguably more famous, and certainly more valuable, than any previously. It remained in the service of Sheikh Mohammed, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, until 2010. After 35 years in the air, Construction Number 21098 made its final flight to Kemble-Cotswold Airport, a former Royal Air Force base that is now a storage facility and aircraft graveyard. The fuselage around its passenger door had been signed with dozens of farewell messages. “Ma Salama. It’s been a long way here,” read one. “Blue skies and smooth ride. It’s been great,” another. In its lifetime, the 747 had flown for airlines in seven countries and flown a distance totalling more than 2,000 circumnavigations of the Earth. Surrounded by other relics of the jumbo jet age, by 2013 it had been cut up for scrap and recycling.

From war-torn Beirut to Dubai's Royal Stables – the long journey of one Boeing 747

As Boeing ends production of its Queen of the Skies this week, one aircraft tells the story