Northwest Orient Cargo

N616US - a 747-251F (F for 'freighter') on a test flight in 1975 over Mount Rainier, Washington. 

Not all 747s carried paying passengers - many carried cargo, and continue to do so. This is a 747-251F, a freighter varient of the famous jumbo jet, which was delivered to Northwest Orient Cargo in 1975.

Delta Airlines bought Northwest in 2008, shut down the cargo operation, stored the long-serving N616US for a couple of years then sold the 35 year-old airframe to Kalitta Air in 2010. As of July 2012 it is in storage. I doubt it was ever as shiny again as it was in 1975, in this wonderful study which shows N616US the traditional pre-delivery pose, high over Mount Rainier in Washington.

This image was scanned from an 8x10in print, and I haven't done much to it. I cloned out some weird staining in the upper right, corrected a yellowish color cast and did some dust and scratches reduction but that was pretty much it.