One of the first 100 747's built, this -100 series has an varied history.
Built in 1970 for Delta as N9898, it moved to China Airlines in 1975 as B-1860. After briefly appearing on the Irish register as EI-BOS, in 1984 it moved to the iconic airline 'Pan Am' as N725PA.
In 1991 it was converted into a freighter and became part of the Evergreen fleet. It spend some time on lease to Garuda Indonesia, before returning to Evergreen freighter duties.
It was later converted into a fire tanker and given the tailcode '979' with the deserved legend 'Supertanker'.
Two 747 Supertankers were built, and initially used successfully, however when the US Forest Service (USFS) moved to using fire-retardant instead of water, the FAA expressed concern about the additional airframe stress caused by the denser fluid, and no further operations were carried out.
Sadly, this old girls career looks to be at an end, although she looks in pretty good shape.
c/n 19898, l/n 94.
Pinal Air Park, Marana.
Arizona, USA.
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