The first ever telling of the story of the Jumbo Jet from the man who oversaw its design - Joe Sutter. It's a fascinating transport back in time to the mid 1960s - a time when anything seemed possible - a time when America was pushing the boundaries trying to get Man on the Moon and fly the common airline passenger faster than the speed of sound. What Sutter also reveals is that the embryonic 747 faced the same probing questions as the Airbus A380 faces today; "is it TOO big?", "how can it be operated at a profit?", or "is it just an oversized white elephant?".
Joe Sutter guides the reader through the political minefield that had to be negotiated to answer these questions, and how he had to fight at every turn with his bosses to get resources, money and credibility within Boeing in order to release a product that many considered would be dead within a few years - at the same time dealing with some of the larger-than-life individuals at both his own company, and the 747's launch customer Pan Am. The story is surrounded by good narratives on Sutter's pre-747 career cutting his teeth on earlier models such as the 707 and 737, and how he has contributed to pretty much every Boeing product to the present day right up to the 787 Dreamliner.
If the book has a weakness, there is just a little bit too much Boeing back-slapping from time to time. Sutter is keen to praise the technical achievements of every Boeing aeroplane ever designed, but is reluctant to concede that other, equally as worthy contributions to airliner technology have been made by other manufacturers.
Nevertheless this book is a must for any aviation enthusiast.