The world's No. 1 jumbo jet languishes, looking for a savior

Who actually owns the airplane? I thought that the museum did. Or does Boeing still have title to it?

 

I always admire and feel sorry for that great plane every time I'm at the
museum (I live in the area and visit the Museum of Flight 2-3 times a year).
It's never, to my knowledge, been open to the public like the Concorde
and Air Force One. I've always wished it would get cleaned up and opened.

747 has always been my favorite plane - since I was a kid when it was announced.
To this day I have a cockpit poster of a 1st gen 747 over my desk in my office.

Jedi

 

Jedi, I spent hundreds of hours working overtime (some of it unpaid) helping to get that airplane out of the door. It was a back breaker of a program and wasn't much fun but we were pretty proud of what was produced. They called the original gang " The Incredibles". I don't know how many are left, and it can't be many, but the airplane and it's derivatives (on which I also worked) have made and will continue to make history and I find it hard to believe that RA001 is being treated like an unwanted old shoe. Thanks for posting this.

 

It's disgusting and despicable that the original manufacturer up the road can't cough up some cash to restore it to its original glory. Boeing needs to get off its collective ******* ass and put some money up to keep its history alive and well. The 747 saved the company at a critical time.

I do agree that it along with Concorde belong in a building and not rotting under the rain and sun in Seattle.

What I find conflicting is there are two major aviation museums within an 45 minute drive of each other (Everett and Museum of Flight).

Doesn't even factor the nice facility 3 hours south in Oregon Evergreen built with a 747 and the Spruce Goose.

Always wondered and thought the original 747 belonged in the Smithsonian back east.

 

The 747 has always been my favorite, it's the true Grande Dame of the air. I am at loss for words regarding this very first one...

To think that the Museum of Flight in Seattle was vying for one of the Space Shuttles is, now, appalling to say the least.

When I was at the Evergreen Aviation Museum just a few years ago they were constructing the Space facility for the purpose of housing one of the Orbiters. A perfect place for 747 RA001, it would seem.

 

Lew Wallick told me once that his name or his brother's was on it as the test pilot. I can't remember which. Lew, you may know, died a few years ago; we had breakfast every Monday morning back when I lived there with a bunch of other pilot types at the Krain restaurant. Remarkable man!

 

I've said it before, I'll proudly say it again... Bob Parks you are an aviation legend! I love all
things Boeing and it's just an honor to me to have you be part of this forum in this context.



Jedi

 

+737 +747 +777...

Remember the billboards in that era? "Last person to leave Seattle please turn out the lights"?

The 747 program SAVED BOEING, SAVED the Northwest.

I also wonder why in the hell they don't do something with old No. 1 - right across the
street from the "Red Barn" that Bill Boeing built his dream.

Sad....

Jedi

 

I knew Lew Wallick and worked with him on the restoration of his P-12, I did all the decorative art and lettering on the sides of the airplane. His brother, Jess Wallick, was flight engineer on the first flight of RA001 and was with Jack Waddell, and Brian Wygle. We listened to them after the take off discussing how the airplane was acting when the transmission stopped briefly and Jess said there was a loud bump. After checking everything he announced that the right inboard trailing edge flap had jumped its track and was jammed back into the trailing edge. " Nothing serious, we'll keep going with the tests." It turned out that the flap had assumed a bend from air loads and it departed from the flap carriage. A redesign of the system re-positioned the the flap carriages to a point more outboard from where they were. After landing, Jack Waddell said that it was the easiest flying airplane he ever flew. Shortly after that, I was one of thousands who were laid off. A weird time.

 

I'll bet it could get support from a fund-raising effort like this one:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19503846

 

Memories flood back in. last year I attended a dinner where Joe Sutter was speaker. After his talk I chatted with him about being an " Incredible" and we had quite a visit. I asked, " Where you there the day the airplane fell off the jacks?" I answered , " Of course, a Saturday morning." He smiled and said, " I was too!" That was a near miss and the damage was quickly repaired to keep the airplane moving down the line. There were thousands of problems that were corrected by constant work, sometimes into the night. There were War Rooms where teams that were identified by numbers and colors had to report not only the problems but how they were going to fix them by the next meeting. I was in one near midnight when the VP in charge, Jim Blue, wanted to know what happened in one particular case and wanted to talk to the supervisor. "He just went home after being here for 14 hours." Blue. " What's his home phone number, I want him here to tell us what he's going to do." That's the way it went for months. Years later when I was in preliminary design I worked on many improvements on the -200 -400, and in the 2000's I worked on the -500X, -600X, some of the design details ending up on the 747-8 that is turning out to be a great airplane. Enough rambling.

 

The whole thing is despicable. So much history especially to the area. The Museum of Flight got way too focused on space instead of commercial travel which was a lucrative business for Seattles history.

It really angers me to see such historical and influential relics left to wither on the vine. There is that nice museum at Everett why they couldn't build a structure and mve RA001 and other Boeing models up there I don't know why.

The original 737 when launched nearly sank the company, more so than the 747. Thankfully it has become a huge success. In fact Boeings only commercial "failures" of the last 40 years were all derivatives, not sole original aircraft: 767-400, 747SP, 757-300. Great aircraft but commercially failures.

I'll be back up visiting with my children this November to all three museums educating the, on aviation history.

 

Good for you! Work the Evergreen Flight Museum (Spruce Goose) into your trip if you can...

Jedi

 

I remember seeing that airplane when it used to sit in Las Vegas, before they brought it back up to Seattle.

I don't see it as a big deal-- it's a piece of history, sure, and it needs a building around it, but they should be able to pull that off, especially in Seattle of all places.

 

It's our first stop

Then museum of flight 2 days later followed by the Boeing tour. This all coming from a father who named his son after an airline (and a 747 launch customer, whose logo was on RA001).

And still a Boeing fan!

 

Good for you Brian! If you've not done it before, pay the extra at Evergreen for
the "personal tour" of the Spruce Goose - TOTALLY worth it. I've done it twice.
Once with my son who will never forget sitting in the Howard Hughes Captain Chair



Jedi

 

Oh I plan too! I'll let him watch the Aviator before our trip so he understands the significance of the aircraft.

The irony is I've never been to the Goose, but I watched it sit on a dock in Long Beach under a net for years until they built the enclosure at the Queen Mary. Now I'll finally get to see it up close and personal. Very excited to see it.

 

Just a few teasers.....
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Jesse Wallick's name is on the plane...

Also Jack Waddell and Brien Wygle...

Look here:

http://boeingblogs.com/randy/archives/2009/02/first_flight_40.html



Oops, Bob beat me to it... (and Bob, you're not rambling... good stuff.)

 

+1

Bob, your "ramblings" are *always* welcome and enjoyed - Long may they continue!

Mind me asking how long you were laid off for? Did you then rejoin them, or go somewhere else?

Cheers,
Ian

 

Thanks, I was let go in 1970 and couldn't find much work so I started painting pictures for 7 years and then returned to Boeing in 1977 put in 19 more years in engineering. Went back twice after retirement. A long time.

 

4.5 years later, here's an update on RA001... Instead of creating a new thread or posting all these pics in the Museum thread, here are the pics I took on 3/3 of the plane.

In its restored condition!

The plane looked great. It was fun to see the curated examples of the ballast tanks, data recording racks, the aft midair refueling operator position, etc. I didn't realize it had undergone restoration until I watched some online videos after I visited the museum. I only spent a few minutes on board, because I was in a hurry as the museum was closing, but here are a few pics.
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Looks like a row of beer kegs, you sure it wasn't Iron Maiden's 747?

 

As I understand it, the Museum owns it, however, Boeing leased it back to test the new GE engine during the 777 design process in the early 1990s.