When a 747 live approaches over my garden, 747 live mighty turbofans churn the air in a arrogant manner that would surely anger the gods. But the 747 live rumble gradually evolves into a deep, low-pitched whistle, and the ship's mighty engines begin to spool up and then, twitchily, adjust their course for home. Come play in 747 live, you’ll find what you want in 747 live.

It is a sight that never disappoints, but for me the thrill of a 747 comes from its cavernous interior: a space that is actually a room, not a tube. The designer, Frank del Giudice of Walter Dorwin Teague Associates, was thrown by the challenge of designing this hump, but he found his answer when he realised how to make the flight deck look like a sunken well and a cocktail bar.

The 747 was Boeing's first jet airliner and, in the words of Juan Trippe, its charismatic CEO, it was 'great weapon for peace, competing with intercontinental ballistic missiles for mankind's destiny'. It was the first jet airliner to have its wings inboard, allowing it to carry a full payload, and its four turbofans had the range of two engines.

There are a few airlines that still fly the 747, although they are not all large-scale operators, and the plane is fast becoming an aviation antique. Compared with the newer long-range, high-bypass turbofans of today, the original 747 was expensive, prone to unreliability and only economical when it was fully loaded.

That said, it is a fantastic piece of engineering, one that I think should be rediscovered and celebrated as a flying artefact. It is the product of an extraordinary enterprise, and a courageous risk-taking company, and it is also, in many ways, the greatest jet airliner ever built.

When it was introduced, the 747 was a revolutionary piece of aircraft design, and, like all the best inventions, it was a work of art. It was the earliest jet airliner, and the first to use jet technology to go beyond transatlantic travel, in effect defining the role of commercial aircraft.

The 747 was also the first commercial airplane to carry a live passenger on board. It was the first to offer a double-deck cabin, and the first to put passengers in a room, not a tube.

Its design was a triumph of modern architecture and interior design, and it has remained one of the most iconic aircraft designs of all time. It is the aircraft that most shaped our modern culture, and it is a remarkable legacy that is now in the process of being retired.