On September 30, 1965, Bill Allen, president of Boeing, met Juan Terry Trippe, president of Pan American Airways, at Pan Am’s New York headquarters at the foot of Park Avenue.  The view from Trippe’s office overlooking Manhattan was inspiring, but the news Allen received was not--Lockheed had just beaten Boeing for the contract to build the massive C-5 military transport.

Undoubtedly, Allen was distressed by the news, but Trippe seized the moment, and suggested a new project to Boeing, a jetliner “two-and-a-half times as large as the 707.”

“If you build it,” Trippe said, “I’ll buy it.” Allen quickly replied, “If you buy it, I’ll build it.”

Less than three months later the two men had hashed out an agreement and Pan Am signed a letter of intent to purchase 25 jumbo jets for $450 million, giving birth to the Boeing 747.