Re-post: On Silvered Wings: Touring Seattle's Museum of Flight
Apr 26 '02
The Bottom Line Rapidly becoming one of the best aviation museums in America.
Note: This Epinion is re-posted because it was originally posted in the wrong category.
Seattle grew up around Boeing. It always has been (and still is) the area’s largest employer, providing paychecks to over 70,000 families (including my own) in the greater Puget Sound basin. Notwithstanding the well-publicized recent move of the company’s corporate headquarters to Chicago, this will likely remain the case for quite some time to come. This is where most Boeing jets are built. If you’ve ever flown on a 707, 727, 737, or 757 – you’ve flown on a plane constructed in the cavernous buildings of Boeing’s Renton plant, located on the shores of Lake Washington, just south of Seattle proper. If you ever crossed the seas on a 767, 777, or mammoth 747 – you've ridden a plane built in the largest building in the world at the immense Everett plant, just north of the Seattle.
Nowadays, Seattle is likely to be associated with Microsoft, Starbucks and the WTO – but the fact remains that The Boeing Company still is (in many ways) the heart and soul of this city, so it should come as no surprise that Seattle offers one of the finest aerospace museums in the country. While not quite on a par with the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. or the Air & Space Museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, the museum is quite substantial and a terrific place for aviation buffs (and their kids - for what child (boy or girl), is not excited by airplanes) to spend an afternoon. Here, the past and the future come together, providing hours of informative (and fun) entertainment and enlightenment.
Among the attractions:
The Red Barn – This place is an historical treasure – the original building where Boeing was born. Bought by Bill Boeing more than 90 years ago for $10 “and other considerations”, this structure began life as a shipbuilding plant. Later, Boeing and his small staff built the tiny, fragile precursors of today’s modern jet aircraft in this very place. Shipped by barge a mile or so from it’s original location on the muddy shores of the Duwammish River, the building was saved from demolition by a last-minute donation by both the Port of Seattle and Boeing – just one of many generous grants the airplane giant has made to this wonderful museum. Within the Red Barns’ humble walls, engineers working at wooden drafting tables sketched out designs that would make history, carpenters, seamstresses (early planes were made of cloth, let us not forget), and metalsmiths built them, and secretaries and clerical workers kept the whole thing humming along.
These people (and others like them working at upstart airplane companies around the globe) truly changed the world. Think for moment of how the world has been drawn together by aviation in the last 100 years – these people helped do that. It is interesting to remember that in the early 1920’s and 1930’s this was an industry of choice for those with bold visions of the future. It was in fact, a business rather like the software business is today, the auto industry in the 1920’s, or the railroads in the 1860’s and 1870’s – a growth industry where fortunes were just waiting to be won and lost. Within the walls of the building exhibits recreate parts of the early factory environment while photographs and videos (such as the humorous short film “Aeronautical Oddities”) relate the history of early aviation. Also within the building are several early aircraft, including the 1914 Italian Caproni Ca 20, the world's very first fighter aircraft. Recently uncovered in an old storage shed in Italy, the plane was the only one of its kind, and its discovery was exciting news to aviation buffs. Still in its’ original paint scheme, and definitely showing its’ age, the plane is somehow all the more impressive for its’ condition, for this plane is almost 100% original.
The Great Gallery – At over 48,000 square feet, this enormous, glass-sheathed structure, fully 6 stories tall, houses the bulk of the museum’s airplane collection. Here, parked on the floor or hanging from the ceiling, are such classic aircraft as the M-21 - a variant of the famed SR-71 Blackbird (capable of speeds of over 2,000 mph and holder of the official world speed record), a Mig-21, an F-104 Starfighter, an F-4 Phantom, an F9-F8 Cougar, an A6-E Intruder, a beautiful Supermarine Spitfire once owned by actor Cliff Robertson, and a dark and deadly looking F6 Corsair (the gulled winged beauty made famous by the “Black Sheep Squadron”). For the airplane lovers among us, it is a truly spectacular display.
In addition to the main exhibit hall, the complex features five additional special focus galleries, a 268-seat 70 mm movie theater showing a battery of short 15 minutes films all afternoon, and the largest aviation library and archives facility on the West Coast. This archive contains (among other things), the holdings of the original Flying Tigers/American Volunteer Group and the American Fighter Aces association.
The Simulator – This hydraulically powered “ride” offers visitors a chance to ride along in virtual combat with “Desert Storm Strike” and other simulations. It seats 9 passengers at a time and costs $3.50/person (not included in the general admission price) and is pretty interesting if you’ve never gone on such a ride – though bare in mind that this is a fairly tame simulation, and not a thrill ride.
The Control Tower – This fairly recent addition, features a sophisticated mock-up control tower overlooking the King County International Airport (usually just called Boeing Field) runway, where adults and children can try their hand at make-believe air-traffic-control. A pretty interesting exhibit that older kids really seem to enjoy, it showcases live radio cross talk between the actual control tower and real airplanes, as well as behind-the-scenes displays of controller workstations, radar stations, and tower cab equipment.
Flight Zone – This is essentially an indoor aviation-oriented playground/learning center for kids both young and old. The exhibits’ purpose is to help students learn about designing, piloting, and maintaining aircraft, and it has received considerable acclaim from Washington State educators for the breadth of it’s activities and its’ innovative, hands-on teaching methods. Designed to inspire young people to choose careers in aviation and aerospace, it has hosted over one million children. Note however, that it is sometimes temporarily closed to the public when school programs are utilizing the facilities. If you can, be sure and try the hang-glider simulation.
Air Force One – Siting just outside the museum is one of the original Boeing-built 707’s that served as a flying White House during the Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations. Visitors may tour the interior during public hours until dusk. (weather permitting). This particular aircraft (there were several*) took President Dwight D. Eisenhower on his first jet flight in 1959 - a trip where he met with Chancellor Konrad Adenauer in Germany, conferred with Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and the Queen of England in London, and finally with President Charles de Gaulle in Paris. It is also the same plane President Kennedy used to attend a conference with Macmillan on the crisis in Laos and to meet for the first time with Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev. – in fact, Kennedy loaned this very plane to the Russian Premier for his famous tour of the United States in the early 1960s. On a much sadder note, Vice-President Johnson flew to Love Field in Dallas on the plane on the day that President Kennedy was assassinated, and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger used the same aircraft for his famous "shuttle diplomacy" flights to Viet Nam during the Nixon administration. You tour the plane from one end to the other, passing through all the sections, including the President’s conference room and private office (complete with “doggy door” put in for LBJ’s beagles). In a side note, this plane is decked out in the famous Air Force One paint scheme, first chosen by Jackie Kennedy, and still used on the current Air Force One aircraft to this very day. It is a true piece of history folks, and you have a chance to walk aboard it and see how the “other half” traveled. It has been painstakingly restored and is in beautiful condition. Like its’ modern-day counterpart, it is not particularly opulent – a stark reminder that we live in a democracy and that the President is, after all, a servant of the people.
Also on site are several other large planes sitting on the tarmac, including a B-29, B-47, and B-52 bomber – and in addition to these permanent displays, there are usually a number of museum attractions that vary according to the season (and other factors). Currently the following is being offered:
A Space Station Mock-up – This is a full size reproduction of the laboratory and habitation modules of the new International Space Station currently being built (under Boeing’s overall direction) well over 100 miles up in earth orbit. The 32 foot long cylindrical module (complete with video and audio interpretive presentation stations) offer visitors a close-up, firsthand glimpse of how astronauts from the U.S., Russia and more than a dozen other countries will (indeed already are) live and work in space. Here they can find sleeping bags on the walls, a suction toilet on the ceiling, and lights on the floor – remember, there is no up or down in space. Nearby sits one of the original Boeing mock-ups of the Lunar Rover, and an original Apollo capsule and other space hardware. Also on display is a moon rock brought back by the astronauts of Apollo 12
Without a doubt the museum’s biggest asset is it’s close relationship with Boeing and its employees. The company regularly donates funds and has offered up land for expansion and storage, and working space in quiet little corners of its factories so that museum employees and volunteers can painstakingly bring neglected acquisitions back to their prime. Many Boeing employees (myself included), have small amounts regularly deducted from their paychecks every week to help provide a steady income stream for the museum, and cadres of Boeing employees volunteer countless hours after work and on week-ends to restore aeronautical treasures that might otherwise be lost forever. Under Boeing’s protective wing, the establishment has grown year by year, constantly expanding and improving its collection and it is now grown into one of the premiere aviation museums in America.
But even greater things are soon to come, for the museum is about to get whole lot better. The recent acquisition of the Champlin fighter collection (currently in Mesa, Arizona) means a whole new wing will soon be added to the museum to house the 25 rare (in some cases absolutely unique) fighter planes the collection brings. Currently scheduled to open sometime in 2003, the addition (built on land donated by Boeing) will add many classic planes to the museums displays, including a Sopwith Camel, a Sopwith Snipe, a Pfalz D XII, a Fokker Dr, a Fokker D VII, a Bf 109, a Mig 17, and many other historic fighter aircraft, giving it (what I believe is) the largest privately owned fighter collection in the world.
Located on the west side of Boeing Field, the museum is open daily from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM (till 9:00 p.m. on Thursdays), every day of the year except Thanksgiving and Christmas, the museum is a great place for a family visit. Price is $9.50 for adults and $5.00 for kinds over 4 (under 4 is free). Groups of 10 or more get $1/person off. Adventurous kids of all ages tend to like airplanes, and although some of the more technical and historical oriented displays might not hold their interest, there are plenty of things that probably will. So if you like airplanes and happen to be in Seattle, stop by and take look. You’ll likely be glad you did.
Note: Below is the URL to the Museum of Flight web site where you may learn more:
http://www.museumofflight.org/
* You might want to take a look at my review entitled “My Personal Tour of Air Force One and other Washington D.C. Sights” for a full explanation of what the designation “Air Force One” really means. I was fortunate enough to be able to tour one of the current planes (the primary) in December of 1991 – the day after President Bush returned on it from the 50th anniversary ceremony at Pearl Harbor. It was quite an experience, and I am forever grateful for it – after all, it is not every day that one gets to sit (however briefly) at the President’s desk.
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LordBalfor
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Member: Ken Klein
Location: Seattle, Wa
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