great photo!

Truly excellent, like all of your photos Gary!

The first ever Delta 747 (When it was NWA) was based out of my hometown airport in Detroit Metropolitan. It is ashame that Delta is going to phase out the 747 in 2017 (rumored). I can see why, maintaining 4 engines, vs 2 in the 777 along with fuel savings are a big help. The 747 is more designed for Cargo, than passenge, although its iconic state will never waiver.

Thank you, John and AAflyer. I very much appreciate your complis.
Steven, it's no rumor. DAL is indeed phasing them out. The process of doing so has already begun.

Too bad Delta is discontinuing the 747. From 1971 through 1975 I had to virtually commute between Chicago and South America and I always made a point to take Flight 1 ORD-MIA and Flight 2 MIA-ORD and when my incoming flight from say Bogotá to Miami was a bit late, the personnel at the Delta counter (way way south in the old terminal) were extremely nice to call the gate to hold the flight for me for a few minutes since they got to know me well. And service on board was simply superb. I rise my glass of vintage French wine to those really AWFULLY GOOD DAYS.

It is too bad that Delta is phasing out the Queen of the Skies, but they don't want to refurbish these 747-400s to meet the requirement for comfort in today's marketplace. But, Delta does like the other side of the coin in the Boeing 717. Delta is weird about aircraft and what they like, and don't like. Also it seems that never ask the people who fly with them, about their opinions of the aircraft. One of my complaints about Delta's first class seating on the Airbus 320 is the amount of noise at the window seat. It is almost impossible to hear the person next to your seat. The wine of the engine never stops. -Nowadays, I shop for aircraft as mutes I do for time slots.

The DAL B744 seen above is mentioned in a paragraph of an article that appeared yesterday (August 4, 2016) in the Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal ...
"Among Delta's remaining fleet is the oldest Boeing 747-400 that's still in the air. Built in 1988, that former NWA jet (tail No. N662US) flies to and from Detroit, Manila, Honolulu, the Japanese cities of Tokyo and Osaka and Incheon, South Korea." - Jim Hammerand
Mr. Hammerand's article described how the nine remaining B747s in Delta's fleet will all be retired by the end of next year.
Link >>>
http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/news/2016/08/04/delta-cuts-boeing-747-fleet-retirement-northwest.html

slow to get the gear up