During the late 1960s, some 50,000 Boeing people belonged to a group called "The Incredibles." These were the construction workers, mechanics, engineers, secretaries and administrators who made aviation history by building the 747 -- the largest civilian airplane in the world -- in less than 16 months. The incentive for creating the giant 747 came from reductions in air fares, a surge in air-passenger traffic and increasingly crowded skies.