between Los Angeles and Boston as well as international
connections to Paris.
The two TWA aeroplanes were later sold to American
Airlines, which used them on its Dallas-Fort Worth to Tokyo
service as well as operating routes between New York and both
London and Brussels.
Elsewhere in the USA, United Airlines acquired its 747SPs
from Pan Am in 1986 and used them on flights to London,
Hong Kong, Tokyo, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro and São
Paulo. Meanwhile Braniff took delivery of three 747SPs for its
ultra-long haul routes in the Pacific and South America.Reopened
The last regular production 747SP was delivered to the Iraqi
Government in August 1982. It was the 44th example to be
produced and many observers thought they’d seen the end of
the production line.However, in 1987 Boeing agreed to reopen the line to
produce one final aircraft. This 747SP (c/n 23610) was
destined for the United Arab Emirates Royal Flight and first
flew on March 31, 1987. With the 45th aircraft complete,
Boeing finally shut down the 747SP line for good.
While the aircraft met limited success with the airline
industry, it found a new lease of life with the ultra-rich. The
high performance, low capacity 747SP became the aircraft
of choice for heads of state, celebrities and heads of industry
wanting the ultimate in executive transport.Still going strong
Of the four 747SPs that entered service with Iran Air,
just one (EP-IAC) remains active today; this being the only
example left in passenger service in 2015.
However, a dozen other examples continue to fly with
corporate and government operators around the globe.
The governments of Bahrain and Oman each fly single
examples while the Government of Saudi Arabia retains
three airframes. Other examples continue to fly with Ernest
Angley Ministries, Fry’s Electronics and Las Vegas Sands
while Pratt & Whitney Canada (PWC) retain two 747SPs
as engine test-beds.SOFIA
While the PWC test-beds are certainly unusual aircraft,
the most distinctive 747SP to have ever flown must surely be
NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy
(SOFIA) astronomical observatory.
This aircraft has had its fuselage modified to carry a 2.5m
diameter reflecting telescope to high altitude where it is
unaffected by more than 99.9% of the light-absorbing water
vapour in the atmosphere. Observations are made through a
13ft square hole in the port rear fuselage and a sliding door
covers the aperture when the telescope is not in use.Legacy
Boeing said it needed to sell 45 examples to ‘break even’ and
it did just that, but having to reopen the production line to do
so would not have come cheap.
Irrespective of whether the aircraft was deemed a commercial
success, the 747SP played an important role in proving
technologies that would later be employed on the ‘full-sized’
747 and other members of the Boeing family.NASA’s Stratospheric
Observatory for
Infrared Astronomy
astronomical
observatory has had
its fuselage modif ied
to carry a 2.5m
diameter reflecting
telescope to high
altitude. NASA
Pratt & Whitney
Canada uses a pair of
747SPs as engine test-
beds. This example is
C-FPAW, seen here
departing for a test
sortie in 2004. PWC
http://www.airlinerworld.com 35THE SOFIA aircraft carries
a 2.5m diameter ref lecting
telescope