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Another flight on the horizon for historic Boeing 307

Posted by bdk on Wed Mar 19, 2003 03:29:30 PM

Sky's the limit for Stratoliner: Another flight on the horizon for historic Boeing 307
King County Journal 03/19/03
author: Chris Genna

TUKWILA -- The last known Boeing 307 Stratoliner sits propped up on jackstands in Boeing's Plant 2 as dozens of people work on its wings and undersides.

Mark Kempton, in charge of the re-restoration of the four-prop 1940-vintage airliner, supervises about two dozen people. Half are volunteers and half are Boeing employees loaned to the project when the company decided last June to return the plane to flying condition after it ran out of fuel and was ditched in Elliott Bay on March 28, 2002.

``The challenge is way worse than we dealt with before,'' Kempton said, referring to the earlier, six-year restoration of the plane.

Much of the first effort was cosmetic -- new carpet, new cabin liner, period radios and equipment. This time, there is much structural damage to be repaired.

Both left and right landing gear broke away in the ditching, Kempton said, and the right wheel did so much damage to the right wing aft of the spar that a huge section is being rebuilt by Boeing Aircraft on the Ground (AOG) teams -- guys who often are sent to remote locations around the world to repair damaged Boeing jetliners.

The engine cowlings and motor mounts were squashed back by the impact with the water, Kempton said. New cowls are being built at Boeing's parts fabrication plant in Auburn.

Angel Rodriguez, who is overseeing the structural repairs on the historic airliner, said he has until April 30 to get that work completed, so that engines can be replaced and other finishing touches done for a rollout ceremony in mid-June at the Museum of Flight.

``That's the plan, anyway,'' he said with a laugh before hurrying off to consult with workers.

Kempton is confident the deadline will be met. He points out the four massive radial engines -- all completely rebuilt and ``ready to hang,'' wrapped in plastic near the plane.

There are rows of polished propeller blades awaiting assembly in the ``prop shop.'' Boeing retirees Richard Hummel, Emery Eckert and Dean Quigley ? all from Mercer Island -- stuff seat cushions into rejuvenated seat upholstery.

Ancient low-frequency radios have been disassembled, cleaned of corrosion -- including the pin sockets for old vacuum tubes -- and reassembled. New and modern VHF radios have been donated by Honeywell-Bendix-King.

About three-fourths of the polished Philippine mahogany cabin floor panels have been reinstalled; the rest are awaiting final fuselage structure repairs.

The original cabin headliner, with maps of the world woven in at repeating intervals, has been replaced -- panels that were permanently stained by their immersion were replaced with extra material Boeing had ordered for the first restoration.

But if pros make it look easy, Kempton doesn't want anyone to think this job was a simple one: Aluminum box beams that were standard stock in 1940 ``are unobtainium now,'' he said. Lengths of the structural pieces 1 inch by 1? inches had to be extruded especially for the project by Boeing machinists.

The entire plane had to be rewired. ``So instead of old black wire we now have new white wire,'' Kempton said, pointing out new terminal blocks behind the flight engineers instrument panel.

The Stratoliner is headed for the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, the new companion facility of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum that is being built at Washington Dulles International Airport, outside Washington, D.C. -- due to open in December.

The Stratoliner will be a centerpiece of the exhibit when it is flown to Dulles, Va., in July.

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