World’s largest collection of Boeing offers new experiences every month
The Museum of Flight draws upon its unrivaled collection of Boeing aircraft, artifacts, images and documents to present The Boeing Company story during the year of its centennial, 2016. Beginning Jan. 23, the Museum-wide Boeing recognition will be enhanced with public lectures, films and other presentations that focus on Seattle and popular culture during the past century. Boeing aircraft and artifacts will be highlighted throughout the Museum campus, and most galleries will offer a fun new exhibit focusing on the Company.
Boeing Centennial Exhibits
The Centennial Hub
The Centennial Hub, located in the Museum’s main lobby allows visitors to share their connection with the Boeing Company, strike a pose in front of a mock-up of the posh 1960’s 747-100 “Tiger Lounge,” and watch videos of Boeing’s most influential innovators. It is a new, temporary exhibit.
Boeing History Timeline
The Boeing History Timeline exhibit in the T. A. Wilson Great Gallery highlighting Boeing’s major milestones. Artifacts on display include the vintage, official employee clock from The Boeing Airplane Company’s main office in the first manufacturing plant. The centerpiece of the exhibit is a Boeing P-26 Peashooter fighter aircraft on loan from the San Diego Air and Space Museum. It is a new, temporary exhibit.
The Red Barn
The Museum’s largest artifact is the original Boeing airplane factory, Plant One, affectionately called The Red Barn. The Red Barn’s Boeing history exhibits will be enhanced for 2016, with new exhibits emphasizing the employees’ stories.
Above and Beyond
“Above and Beyond,” is a new touring, interactive science exhibit exploring transformative innovations in aerospace, that will be on temporary exhibit at the Museum from May 28 to Sept. 12. The 5,000-square-foot exhibit will offer an unprecedented interactive demonstration of advances in aviation and aerospace, from the first powered flights to the newest innovations on Earth and in space. After entering an immersive wraparound theater, visitors can venture into five galleries comprising dozens of interactive displays. Exhibit-goers can ride to the edge of space in a simulated space elevator or test their own supersonic fighter-jet design in a virtual high-speed flying competition. A group flying experience with motion-sensing image capture helps visitors sense what it’s like to fly like a bird in a flock, while exploring the forces of flight.
Seattle is the third stop on a five-year tour of the U.S. and abroad. “Above and Beyond” is produced by Evergreen Exhibitions in association with Boeing, in collaboration with NASA and the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, and in educational collaboration with The Museum of Flight. For more info, see: AboveandBeyondExhibition.com.
The Aviation Pavilion
Sometimes bigger is better. The Museum’s largest aircraft will be displayed together for the first time under a single roof when the 3-acre, $23 million Aviation Pavilion opens to the public in late June. Nowhere else in the world will people be able to see the prototypes of Boeing’s 727, 737 and 747 airliners. Other significant Boeings on display in the exhibit will be the Model 247 from 1932–the first modern, all metal airliner; while at the other end of the spectrum is the first all-composite airliner–today’s 787 Dreamliner (Number 3, unique test flight version of the airliner). Among other historic planes in the Aviation Pavilion will be the World War II-era B-17 and B-29, and a B-47 Stratojet from the 1950s. The Pavilion will also offer playgrounds for children and a café.
Centennial Weekends
Beginning in January with programs reflecting the times during Boeing’s founding in 1916, each second weekend of the month the Museum will look back an another subsequent decade in aviation, popular ideas, and the evolution of Seattle culture. The programs will offer an eclectic blend of lectures, film screenings, music, dance, tastings, and airplane fly-ins.
The Museum and Boeing
The Museum of Flight is a private, non-profit foundation. We grew up in Seattle, just like The Boeing Company. While we are proud of our unique collection of Boeing aircraft and artifacts, and our strong support from The Boeing Company and its employees since our foundation 50 years ago, we enjoy and rely upon the support of many sponsors, customers, ticket-buyers and volunteers to maintain our independence and existence.
For general Museum information, please call 206-764-5720 or visit www.museumofflight.org