Aircraft

Boeing has released photographs of the specially modified 747-400 design that will transport major components of the Boeing 787 medium twin undergoing structural work at Evergreen Aviation Technologies in Taiwan (pictured below).

Late last month the enlarged upper deck brow section was installed just behind the cockpit, to give the 747-400 Large Cargo Freighter (LCF) its distinctive bubble shape. The volume of the Large Cargo Freighter's main deck will be 1,845m³ (65,000ft³), three times the volume as the standard 747-400 freighter.

The brow bubble, joined to the aircraft's enlarged upper fuselage sections, is designed to carry the 787's large composite sections built in Italy, South Carolina and Kansas; and wings of the 787 from Japan to the Everett, Washington plant where the aircraft will be assembled (as pictured in the artist's impression below) 

Two of the three aircraft conversions are currently undergoing modification and are using ex-China Airlines passenger 747-400s. The third, as yet-unsourced, will follow later in the year. The 747LCF will make its first flight this summer and be certificated by the end of the year before being pressed into service next year.