Stratoliner regains its wings
The
historic 307 Stratoliner airplane that crashed into Elliott Bay in March
will fly again. Boeing recently announced it will repair the airplane
to the condition it was in when initial restoration was completed by company
employees and volunteers last year.
The repair team determined the airplane suffered only secondary structural
damage. The 1940-vintage Clipper Flying Cloud has been part of the Smithsonian
National Air and Space Museum collection since 1972 and is slated for
display at the museum's new northern Virginia companion facility, the
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. The repair effort involves cleaning, repairing
and reinstalling parts, and Boeing officials decided to repair it to flight-worthy
shape in Puget Sound during the summer of 2003, rather than transporting
it to the Washington, D.C., area.
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