You’re sitting on a flight, in a long queue of airplanes, waiting to take off. You were supposed to have left 30 minutes ago. The pilot comes on the loudspeaker to say your plane is next in line for takeoff, and tells you not to worry, because the plane can make up the lost time in the air.

Continental Airlines’ first Boeing 727-224, serial number 19510, made its maiden flight on May 11, 1968. It was registered N88701 and delivered to the airline on May 21, 1968.

Jerrie Mock was a 38-year-old Ohio housewife from Columbus, Ohio, when, 50 years ago this week, she accomplished what Amelia Earhart is famous for having failed to do.