Warbirds and wonderbirds

Go back to the future in a patch of the Northwest at a museum of vintage elite warplanes and on an assembly line for the new Boeing blockbuster

December 07, 2008

EVERETT - Up north of Seattle, in the world's largest building, people work around the clock assembling Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner, one of the most high-tech airliners ever made. This jumbo jet has everything from lighting that simulates the time of day at your destination to oversized windows big enough for all passengers to have a view.

A mile away, in a modest, white-domed hangar, Paul Allen, the investor and philanthropist who cofounded Microsoft with Bill Gates, recently unveiled a collection of planes that were the most advanced in their day: vintage "warbirds" from the 1930s and '40s.

Allen's Flying Heritage Collection, which opened in June, and Boeing's Future of Flight Aviation Center and factory tour provide a fascinating look at the past, present, and future of aviation. Visitors can see a converted crop duster that was flown by 17-year-old female pilots during World War II, sit inside a prototype of the Dreamliner's swanky cabin, and take a tour of the Boeing factory, where they can watch as airliners are assembled on a production line.

Although planes have been built at the Everett factory for 40 years - the first 747 was rolled out in 1968 - Boeing, in conjunction with Snohomish County and the local nonprofit Future of Flight foundation, opened its Future of Flight Aviation Center just three years ago this month and expanded its factory tour this year. The center and tour have become two of the Seattle area's top attractions, along with the Space Needle, Pike Place Market, REI's mother ship, and the headquarters for Starbucks and Microsoft.

A visitor can take a 90-minute, look-but-don't-touch tour of the Boeing factory and then explore the aviation center, where you can touch, knock on, sit in, and otherwise play with airplane parts. After a short film on aviation's impact on society, a bus transports visitors to the factory five minutes away. Here's where it really gets interesting. En route, you may pass the Dreamlifter, a whale-shaped plane that flies around the world - from Kansas to Korea, South Carolina to Sweden - to collect parts for the Dreamliner such as wings, tails, and sections of fuselage. Even more impressive are the three hangars next to the factory, where planes are painted and beautified.

"Paint has been known to add more than 1,200 pounds of weight to a 747," says Melodie Hawkinson, a Boeing tour guide. "Darker colors have more pigments so they weigh more. A lot of people don't realize that that's why some airlines don't paint their entire airplanes."