Wrecking ball looms for historic Boeing Plant 2

[snj-5]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/boeingaerospace/2010787200_boeingplant14.html

Bela P. Havasreti

[Pat Carry]

More history falls by the wayside but time does march on. I found it interesting that the Museum of Flight hopes to have both the B-17 and the Connie on display by June. I wonder where? Outside someplace? Also the B-29 will need to have inside storage.

[Holedigger]

Outside would NOT be a good option up there. It is a bit of a shame to loose historical places like that, but the pollution on the site must be addressed as well. Hard to imagine, 16 forts a day out of there at peak!

[B-17 Buff]

This is really sad news. Plant 2 is a mecca for B-17 fans and a pilgrimage for many I am sure. I finally made the trip back in April 08 on my way back to the UK after being away for some time. I was in ore of the site where they made so many of my favourite airplane and humbled by such a historic place steeped in history. Although it looked a shadow of its former self I still stood looking over the fence imagining what a place it must of been during those dark days of the war... dreaming of the rows of forts coming out of those big doors.

A funny side note; as I was taking pictures of the old building that nobody took a second look at, a Boeing security guard started marching towards me and demanded an explanation of why I was taking pictures. I dared not tell him I was an aircraft technical engineer for fear of being arrested as a spy when he asked what I did! He didn't seem to understand why I would want to take pictures as an enthusiast and I had to explain what a B-17 was as he had no idea!! He finally let me go after I showed him the pictures I had taken!

What a shame I probably won't get to stand in front of it again....

[tom d. friedman]

i own a 3 story tall 160 year old building that was used to shape the lap strakes for 19th century great lakes schooners. when my dad bought it in 1973 he was intent on demolishing the building. he even began the process. when the ceiling was revealed with the hemlock wood beams my dad backed up. over the course of a year my family restored the building. it is now on the ohio historic register & can never be torn down even by me!! i suggest that somebody gets the wheels turning to register the boeing plant as same. a footnote...... my building was moved an estimated 2000 feet from it's original location to my property in 1909 via logs & mules!!

[Cubs]

So whats the problem? It is only used to store "three old airplanes" Don't you just love the media?

[The Inspector]

It's like that other historic property owned by the Lazy B, Long Beach where the dirt is worth more than the physical plant is, along with the 'in the future' selloff of the Renton Plant (condo-condo- condominium). In Boeings end game that they call 'Vision 2016' Boeing will reduce to 1 person and a board of directors, EVERYTHING will be built somewhere else (and that's working well on the 787 isn't it?) and the one individual will affix a decal stating 'completed by Boeing'.

I would have told the Security guy 'I'm standing on the public sidewalk side of the fence and there's not much you can do about it, call SPD (Seattle Police Dept) and we'll have a three way conversation about public vs. private property vs. citizens rights'. And I seriously doubt there are any 'national security' issues involving the outside of a 70 year old abandoned wooden building, that would be like a Park Ranger @ Ft. Sumter telling you you can't take pictures there due to 'national security issues' 'Oh, are we going back to brick forts as a plan of action?'

[mustangdriver]

I wonder if there is any chance of the museum of Flight buying the facility.

[spookythecat]

I wonder if there is any chance of the museum of Flight buying the facility.

I know the curator was hoping to somehow get the building as he wanted to aquire it and rebuild the fake city on top of it. I guess Boeing just doesn't want them to have it. Besides, after the money spent on getting the Connie and their hopes of getting a Space Shuttle I don't know if they'd have had the money to do it. I'm glad I get the chance to go in there at least one last time tommorrow to see the Connie.

[sdennison]

Anybody else look at the nine pictures associated with the story? How cool wsa that? The last shot #9 shows a whole ramp filled with shiny B-17's.

As a restorer of historical buildings myself, it would really be cool to return it to its former self with the camo roof & all and make an amazing museum out of it. However, I think the "brown site" issue with hazmats would prevent that from ever happening even if someone came up with the necessary money to purchase the site. Sadly, they will probably demolish it and then find they can't clean up the site and it will be fenced off as toxic wasteland.

[Django]

9 pics? I only see 3.

Nevermind, I found the link. That last photo is awesome. So shiny!

[sdennison]

Gotta click on the "gallery" below the image. There's nine images there.

[Pat Carry]

i own a 3 story tall 160 year old building that was used to shape the lap strakes for 19th century great lakes schooners. when my dad bought it in 1973 he was intent on demolishing the building. he even began the process. when the ceiling was revealed with the hemlock wood beams my dad backed up. over the course of a year my family restored the building. it is now on the ohio historic register & can never be torn down even by me!! i suggest that somebody gets the wheels turning to register the boeing plant as same. a footnote...... my building was moved an estimated 2000 feet from it's original location to my property in 1909 via logs & mules!!

There is definately something to be said about restoring old buildings. On a recent trip to Omaha my wife and I hung around an area called the Old Market. Block after block of warehouses turned into shops and some very nice restaurants many containing the massive wood beams and pillars Tom mentioned. Now when one of these old buildings is demolished all the wood is recycled into new construction. The grains represented in the old wood can not be found in today's wood.

[flyboyj]

I was at Lockheed when plant B-1 was closed down as well as most of the Burbank facility. That's where the P-38, Ventura and later F-104 were built. It was sad as you look back at old photos of buildings like this and see the hundreds if not thousands of people who once worked there.

1992



today

[B-17 Buff]

Can someone local start a petition or something? Spooky that would be a great way to use the buildings AS part of the museum as they did with the original wooden plant. It would look fantastic and make a great attraction with the town on the roof! I wonder what happened to the original 'props'? Scrapped re-used id guess like the airplanes built below them were...