I found some pictures from the Boeing factories taken in 1979 and I thought it would be worth scanning them and sharing them here. In comparison to the B 787- and A 350-production-threads, it might be interesting to see how it was about 33 years ago.

B 747 cockpit

Unfortunately I cannot say which 747 this actually is. I wonder if such a drawing helped or rather contributed to the reader’s confusion.  

B 737 cockpit

Is it still this way with all the fasteners and tools are laying loose around? I would think that from time to time something fell down onto the fuselage section, something from which a 787-manager would get a heart attack  

B 737 fuselage factory

Four guys having a nice lunch break next to the fuselage sections. Is it still allowed to eat there?

The tailplanes of some UA and Syrian Arab Airlines B727s:

22043 / 1559, B 727-294 destined for Syrian Arab Airlines
21908 / 1560, B 727-222 for United
22044 / 1561, B 727-294 destined for Syrian Arab Airlines
21909 / 1562, B 727-222 for United
21907 1558, B 727-222 for United

However, the two RB 727s never flew for Syrian Arab Airlines. Instead of this they were delivered to AVENSA.

B 737 / B 727 final assembly line in Renton

The first one is a Britannia B 737-204, followed by a Saudia B 737-268, Maersk B 737-2L9, Air Florida B 737-2T4 with “First Air Florida B 737” titles, delivered on December 17th 1979, Piedmont B 737-201 and finally a BA B 737-236.

The “First Air Florida B 737” title is obviously referring to the first B 737 produced for Air Florida since Air Florida operated second-hand 737 well before 1979. After being delivered, this Air Florida 737 looked as follows:

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Photo © Tim Chaloner

and this is how she looked about 26 years later (don’t know if she is still there today).

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Photo © Michael Carter


Back to the pic from 1979, does anybody know why the B 727 wings are covered with red tape? Looks nice.

Some feedback to my questions would be nice.
Best regards
N14AZ