Pan American Airways  Boeing 747-121  N744PA   (c/n  19651) 

                                          

                                             In 1966 Pan American World Airways repeated the history it had made with the procurement
                                             of the first jet airliners by placing an order with Boeing for the huge model 747 which could carry
                                             some 350-400 passengers at a clip. This was roughly twice as large as any other airliner flying at
                                             the time.  The original model 747s (later to be extended and stretched even further) were first put
                                             into operation in January of 1970 (TWA were close behind).  This shot of N744PA in early livery
                                             is from the Ellis M. Chernoff collection and shows "Clipper Star of the Union" (where did they get
                                             those names?) at LAX in 1980 taxiing to the active for the "Over the Pole" route to London (I
                                             actually flew this aircraft many times in the 1970s on business trips).   It was sold to General
                                             Electric in 1991, re-registered N747GE and used as an engine test-bed, based in Victorville, in
                                             Southern California's "High Desert" country.