40 years ago today, Lufthansa launched the world’s first ever cargo dedicated Boeing 747-200 Freighter on their cargo route between Frankfurt and New York’s JFK. A route that it would operate 6x/week with this single aircraft.
The aircraft, registered as D-ABYE was delivered to Lufthansa on March 10 of the same year and was “one of a kind” for several years to come. Ultimately Lufthansa operated 7 of these cargo dedicated queens of the sky. The most recent one entered service in 1988.
If you ever wanted to know why the 747 has a “bubble top”, read about it here.
Images of world’s first Cargo configured 747: