What do you get if you cross an A380 with a 747? Airplanes by Design

The answer is in a @flightglobal blog posted just last week here and in a patent filed by Boeing here.

Boeing is exploring variations of its classic 747 design that would incorporate larger engines or open rotor engines mounted on a wing that passes through the middle of the full length, double decker aircraft, as you can see in the sketches below.

Mid-wing 747-thumb-560x324-160757

Here is the overview.

Mid-wing 747 Wingbox-thumb-560x524-160763

Here you see how they intend to integrate the wing box into the middle of the fuselage.

Mid-wing 747 open rotor-thumb-560x197-160760

Finally, a glimpse of the open rotor variant — the size of the rotor is the reason for mounting the wings mid-fuselage.

 

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