The 5 on the steps refers to aircraft line number 5, which was N93101. At the time, it was still in the test flight program, and did not have a fully furnished interior; note the bare passenger door.
N93101 was first delivered to Trans World Airlines (TWA) in August 1970 after her first flight on July 13, 1969. She was the fifth Boeing 747 to be produced and the first to be delivered to TWA. The airline celebrated that this was their first Jumbo Jet with painting a “5″ on the front of the aircraft.
The 747-100 didn’t stay in service with TWA for long. It was sold to the Iran Air Force in March 1975 (reg#: 5-280) and has been in service with the Iran Air Force (reg changed to 5-8101)and Iran Air (reg#: EP-NHV) until 1985. After that, she has flown only for the Iranian Air Force.
This aircraft is special, since not only was it the first of 30 Boeing 747′s operated by TWA, it is also the oldest flying Boeing 747 flying today. This amazing aircraft has been flying for about 41.5 years.
The Iran Air Force has quite the Boeing 747-100 collection. They also have aircraft numbers 8 and 9 (both with similar histories to aircraft #5) with a total of seven actively flying Boeing 747-100′s.
Now, I am not a big history buff, but the idea that Iran was able to get quite a few almost-new Boeing 747-100′s only five years after they were delivered seems like there might be more to the story. Anyone have some thoughts?
Click the registration numbers above for additional photographs. This is the newest photo of the 747 I can find, taken in December 2010. Thanks to MK for pointing this airplane out to me.
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Maybe we threw in a couple of 747′s to get the deal done?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975_Algiers_Agreement
It was several years before the Iranian Revolution in 1979 – so relations between the two countries were still good at that time.
The west-friendly Shah was still in power and always threw lots of money around. There are still F-14s and F15s in service w/ the Iranian AF (although spare parts aren’t easy to find).
They do not have F-15′s. Maybe you
meant F-5′s, Jeff?
TWA had long started airlines like Saudia, Ethiopian, and many in Europe. 10,000 TWA employees had lived in Saudi Arabia over the years for instance from DC3′s to L1011 and 747′s. I was off the approach end at my school recess the day that first TWA 747 came to MCI near Kansas City at the overhaul base. All of us just about had dads working at the airline and watched it in awe. 6 months later I was on it in the front row going to Saudi Arabia for 5 year assignment my dad took. TWA often sold planes to other airlines. the 707′s that had sraps on their skin from stress went to EL AL for instance. No one ever bought the convair 880′s and they were shreded after I had grown up to be a navy pilot and saw them when home on leave. My dad had 45 years total with TWA and Saudi Arabian Airlines.
Iran had a “few” in disrepair of the 80 or so f14′s flying when I was a young LT in the straight of hormuz and the airbus got shot down by Vincennes. The photo recon was mostly their mission (doubt they had TARPS) They had F4′s and F14′s, my ops officer had his hand in the safe burning documents as a flight instructor there when the shah fell. They did not have 15′s as I recall, the Saudis do as our ally and they had lightnings before that with british mercenary pilots.
Probably none of the shah era f14′s had any weapons capability since the Phoenix missile was not provided and a Rockwell variant was, and sidewinders and guns won’t work against a ship it is anti air only. This spare parts issue for supplying them did led to ITAR and the US Munitions list violations with many persona non grata’s being created over the years on the STATE DEPT banned forever list for export violations. F14′s could not drop bombs anyway until almost their retirement from the US Navy F14A+’s etc we called it the bomb-kitty vs tomcat or tom-kitty. The reports the day of the airliner incident mixed up signals from the ground and what actually took off if you read the messages that day. A mixed airfield for military and commercial was always dangerous in a Straight due to international flight and shipping rules. Also aegis in auto auto mode was dangerous since the montgomery more analog told them not to take the track.
Hey George, thanks so much for the additional details and personel connection.
David
[...] Lost in Time: The Oldest Flying Boeing 747 – N93101 from Airline Reporter N93101 was first delivered to Trans World Airlines (TWA) in August 1970 after her first flight on July 13, 1969. She was the fifth Boeing 747 to be produced and the first to be delivered to TWA. The airline celebrated that this was their first Jumbo Jet with painting a “5″ on the front of the aircraft. The 747-100 didn’t stay in service with TWA for long. It was … [...]
Just read all this interesting info!Thanks.I’ve wondered about those ex-TWA’s flying with the Iranian Air Force. Judging by the info and photo’s on the net,those classic 747s are in very good hands. I don’t mean to sound like a know-it-all, but wasn’t that big number 5 painted on the fuselage of N93101 because it was #5 off the line,and one of the 5 test planes at Boeing??(rather than being painted on as a celebration for TWA’s first 747).
There is a tail-scrape test video on You-Tube of Pan Am’s N747PA, which has a big #2 painted on the side of it.(Line number 2,which sadly was scrapped as a run-down, abandoned restaurant in Korea last year).N7470,the very first one built,also has a #1 on it.
There were 5 test 747′s that comprised the FAA Test inventory. The TWA airplane was the 5th on the line up at the Everett assembly plant. The other four planes were painted in PAA colors. R0003 was damaged when it landed a the Renton airport. I’ll skip the gory details but the starboard wing gear caught on the north seawall and the gear rammed back into the wing flaps and flap track supports. My connection with all five planes amounted to being one of the laison engineers responsible for the refurb effort. Before that I had several test flights on r0005(twa) where we determined the coffin corners of those PW engines. We climbed to 55 thousand and shut of an engine. Set the engine up for restart fuel and ignition on and did a rapid decent. At about 50 thousand the engine started and it sounded like the whole plane exploded! Both flights tests were conducted at night.The big backfire also caused a very bright flash inside the cabin which cause my whole life to flash as well. When an airplane was totally refurbed it would fly to Boeing field for airline acceptance. Our crew would climb up to the roof of the Renton assembly plant and witness the take off. In a lot of ways this was very memorable since we all worked so hard to make this project a success.
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