Delta 747 crosses street to final destination

Delta Air Lines very carefully moved a Boeing 747-400 jumbo jet across a city street to its museum at its headquarters near the Atlanta airport on Saturday morning, to prepare for an exhibit featuring the retired widebody.

The multi-hour mission to move Ship 6301 to the Delta Flight Museum required detailed planning.

The 747 will be on exhibit sometime in early 2017 and open to the public for tours.

The plane has an interesting back-story. It was the first 747-400 built by Boeing, and was initially flown by Northwest Airlines. Delta acquired Northwest in 2008.

Before it began flying as an airliner, it took its first flight in 1988 and was used for engine testing by Pratt & Whitney.

Over its lifetime, Ship 6301 flew more than 60 million miles. The airline’s final flight before retirement was Flight 836 on Sept. 9, 2015, from Honolulu to Atlanta.