- Boeing's 747-400LCF Dreamlifter has flown its first COVID-19 airlift mission, flying 1.5 million medical face masks from Hong Kong to South Carolina.
- The Dreamlifter is one of the largest cargo planes flying thanks to its oversized fuselage, built to aid 787 Dreamliner production and part transport.
- Four of the modified Boeing 747-400 freighters are currently flying with three being offered for aid missions.
- President Donald Trump first announced the Dreamlifter would be flying COVID-19 missions on March 27 during a press conference.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
A massive Boeing cargo plane has begun helping to distribute supplies and materials in the fight against COVID-19 with its first mission having been flown on Sunday.
Nearly one month after President Donald Trump boasted during a coronavirus task force briefing that Boeing has offered the use of three 747-400LCF Dreamlifters, the one flew its first mission from Hong Kong to South Carolina via Anchorage. It arrived on Sunday with 1.5 million medical face masks onboard.
One of the largest cargo aircraft in the world, the Boeing 747-400LCF or Large Cargo Freighter, temporarily departed from its current mandate of transporting parts between global production facilities as part of the 787 Dreamliner program to aid in distribution efforts to supply the frontlines.
Boeing's Dreamlifter was originally intended to transport parts such as wings and fuselages for the 787 Dreamliner, the next-generation twin-engine wide-body produced by Boeing that revolutionized air travel when it debuted.
The aerospace manufacturer was also an intended recipient of a $17 billion bailout loan from the federal government, the Washington Post first reported, but has not yet announced receiving any federal aid despite work stoppages due to the virus.
Take a look at Boeing's latest weapon in the fight against COVID-19.
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The first official flight for the Dreamlifter as a member of the COVID-19 came on April 26 when the Boeing jet made a pitstop in Hong Kong on its way back to the US from an Asian supply run for its 787 Dreamliner aircraft.
Source: Boeing
Instead of flying from Nagoya, Japan directly to its Boeing 787 Dreamliner production facility in North Charleston, South Carolina via Anchorage, as FlightAware data shows is a common route for the bird, it headed to Hong Kong, four hours from Nagoya, before coming back to the US.
Source: FlightAware and Boeing
Working in conjunction with Prisma Health and Neil Ferrier of engineering firm Discommon, the Atlas Air-operated Jumbo Jet then picked up 1.5 million face masks to fly to Greenville, South Carolina.
Source: Boeing
The extra payload was loaded into the aircraft's belly cargo hold while the primary cargo of aircraft parts was stored in the oversized cargo hold on the main deck.
Source: Boeing
The typical run for the Dreamlifter from Everett, Washington to Nagoya and onward to North Charleston via Anchorage takes around 23 hours while the added stops on this trip added around seven hours of flight time, which were all donated by Boeing.
Source: FlightAware and Boeing
President Trump first announced that Boeing would be donating three of its Dreamlifter aircraft in a March 27 press conference, proudly holding up a picture of the oversized bird in his daily briefing with the White House coronavirus task force.
In assisting with the fight against COVID-19, the aircraft is departing from its usual mission as the aircraft doesn't typically transport commercial cargo.
Despite being one of the world's largest cargo planes, Boeing didn't build the plane for commercial cargo use, rather the use of one primary customer: itself.
The idea for the Dreamlifter, an enhanced version of the existing Boeing 747-400 Freighter, came about as a need arose for the quick transport of parts for a new, revolutionary aircraft: Boeing's 787 Dreamliner.
Source: Boeing
The Dreamlifter was specifically designed to transport the wings and other parts for the Dreamliner to reduce transportation times as production for the aircraft would be a global affair.
Source: Boeing
Despite having itself as a customer, Boeing contracted out the use of the plane to cargo operators to then fly on Boeing's behalf. Now-defunct Evergreen International Airlines was the first to fly the plane.
Source: FlightGlobal
US cargo giant Atlas Air was later awarded the contract, which FlightGlobal reported was part of a compensation deal stemming from delivery delays for the Boeing 747-8i of which Atlas was a large customer.
Source: FlightGlobal
The centerpiece of the massive bird is its extended fuselage with 65,000 cubic meters of capacity, allowing it to carry two Dreamliner wings or multiple 787 fuselage pieces.
Source: NBC News
Unlike standard Boeing 747 freighters, cargo is loaded and unloaded straight in and out through the rear of the aircraft.
The aircraft also has a standard belly cargo hold as seen on passenger airliners, where COVID-19-related supplies fly.
Purpose-built for the 787 Dreamliner, as seen with the aircraft's formal name of Dreamlifter, parts for the next-generation aircraft easily slide in and out of the oversized flying truck.
The rear section of the aircraft is hinged to allow for a swing-tail door, ideal for loading oversized items.
The aircraft can usually be seen flying globally between Boeing facilities, with most trips beginning or ending at Dreamliner facilities in Everett, Washington, or North Charleston, South Carolina.
Here it is at Paine Field in Everett, Washington where Boeing produces the 787-8 and 787-9 variants. Production on the 787-10 is primarily done at Boeing's North Charleston facility on the grounds of Charleston International Airport.
The Dreamlifter will also be transporting face shields being produced by Boeing, additionally announced by the manufacturer on March 27.
While its size is enough to make it turn heads, the Dreamlifter caught public attention when it accidentally landed at the wrong airport. In Wichita, Kansas, the aircraft accidentally landed at a small general aviation airport instead of its intended destination of McConnell Air Force Base.
Source: Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association
Despite the incident, the Dreamlifter has proved to be a vital tool for Boeing in its Dreamliner production by drastically reducing transportation time for parts.
Though the aircraft is large, Trump incorrectly referred to the Freight Queen of the Skies as the "largest plane in the world."
The largest cargo plane in the world by wingspan is the Antonov AN-225 Mriya, a Soviet Union-era aircraft still flying for a Ukrainian cargo carrier.
Source: CNN
The six-engine jet began flying COVID-19 airlift missions in April once it returned from a two-year stay in maintenance.
The Dreamlifter isn't the only oversized cargo plane as Airbus developed its own, the A300-600ST, similarly designed to carry aircraft parts around the world.
Read More: Airbus's massive new cargo plane that looks like a whale is now fully operational
As Airbus' stable grew, as did its cargo fleet with the larger BelugaXL designed to carry the wings of its Airbus A350 XWB aircraft.
Though the Dreamlifter is perhaps one of the most iconic aircraft in the COVID-19 airlift, Boeing's first mission flying supplies to the frontlines was flown by a smaller jet.
A Boeing Business Jet based on the 737-700 airliner, flew the first mission from China to New Hampshire.
The interior of the jet, donated from Boeing's own corporate fleet, was stuffed with 500,000 masks for the journey.
As of April 27, Boeing has only flown two COVID-19 missions but is pledging more aircraft to the airlift, including the Boeing 777 ecoDemonstrator.
