Boeing 747SP

There were 3 significant commercial around-the-world record-setting flights flown by 747SP.

Two operated by Pan Am and the other operated by United Airlines with the aircraft being "loaned" to Friendship Foundation.
(In order to raise money for the foundation).



Those flights are:

Liberty Bell Express
— Flown from New York/JFK May 1-May 3, 1976. 2 stopovers at Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi and Tokyo-Haneda Airport.
The round-the-world flight took 46 hours and 26 minutes over 23,137 miles.
During the mid-1970s, two Pan Am flights operated around the world to set or break previous around-the-world flying records.
Liberty Bell Express, a Boeing 747SP-21 named Clipper Liberty Bell with registration number N533PA, broke the commercial around-the-world record, set by a Flying Tiger Line Boeing 707, with a new record of 46 hours, 50 seconds.
The flight left New York-JFK on May 1, 1976, and returned on May 3, 1976.
The flight made only two stopovers during the journey, one in New Delhi and the other in Tokyo-Haneda, where a two-hour delay was made because of a strike among the airport workers.
Nevertheless, the flight beat the Flying Tiger Line's old record by 16 hours and 24 minutes.


Pan Am Flight 50
—to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Pan Am.
Flown 28–30 October 1977 from San Francisco/SFO, with a time duration of 54 hours, 7 minutes, 12 seconds.
3 stopovers at London-Heathrow Airport, Cape Town International Airport and Auckland Airport.
Flight 50 flew over both the North Pole and the South Pole.

In order to commemorate Pan Am's 50th birthday, the airline organized another around-the-world flight, this time over the North Pole and the South Pole and including three stopovers: in London-Heathrow, Cape Town and Auckland, before going back to its origin—San Francisco.
The 747SP-21 used, Clipper New Horizons, was the former Liberty Bell, making the plane the only one to go around the globe over the Equator (as Liberty Bell) and the Poles (as New Horizons).
The flight made it in 54 hours, 7 minutes, and 12 seconds, creating six new world records certified by the FAI.
The captain who commanded the flight also commanded the Liberty Bell Express flight.



Friendship One
—Flown 29–31 January 1988 from Seattle/SEA, to raise funds for Friendship Foundation.
Two stopovers were made, at Athens Airport and Taipei-Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, (formerly the Chiang Kai-shek International Airport).

The record lasted less than a month, as it was beaten by a Gulfstream IV piloted in part by Gulfstream Aerospace CEO Al Paulson.
The round-the-world flight took 35 hours and 54 minutes over 23,125 miles.


Specifications (747SP)

The Boeing 747SP is a widebody commercial airliner.
It is a highly modified version of its predecessor, the Boeing 747-100 with SP standing for "special performance".
First flight on 4 July 1975.

General characteristics

Crew: 3 (2 pilots, flight engineer)
Capacity: 331 (28 first, 303 economy)
Length: 184 ft 9 in (56.31 m)
Wingspan: 195 ft 8 in (59.64 m)
Height: 65 ft 10 in (20.06 m)
Wing area: 5,500 ft² (511 m²)
Empty weight: 336,870 lb (152,780 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 670,000 lb (304,000 kg)
Powerplant:
4× Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7R4W or Rolls-Royce RB211-524C2 turbofan engines, 46,500 lbf (206.8 kN) each

Performance

Maximum speed: 0.92 Mach (591 knots, 1,095 km/h)
Cruise speed: .88 Mach (535 knots, 990 km/h)
Range: 6,650 nm (7,650 mi, 12,325 km) with 276 passengers


Source: Wikipedia

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