Love the column, and I have to say that the Air ans Space museum's Udvar-Hazy center on the outskirts of Dulles airport is one of the neatest museums I've ever seen. With only a slight interest in airplanes, having lived beneath the O'Hare incoming flight path in Chicago, I was capitvated there for hours.

One tiny quibble, though: the star attraction of the museum is the Space Shuttle Enterprise, the test model that was used for landing simulations after being dropped off a 747 (I think). Second place is a competition between the Concorde, the SR-71 Blackbird (it is indescribably cool standing 10 feet from it), and the Enola Gay.

Again, thanks for writing what might be my favorite column on Salon.

Cheers,

Josh Faber

Uh, isn't the Dash-80 (the Boeing 707 prototype) now based at Boeing's museum in Everett? I recall seeing it there in the late 1990s. The Smithsonian had it for eighteen years in the 70s and 80s before the plane returned to Washington state. Has it gone back to Virginia?

The Museum of Flight at Seattle's Boeing Field (BFI) has the 747-121 prototype (serial number 1, N747001) and a Concord. Also parked there is a Boeing VC-137B (a modified 707-120) that served presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon as Air Force One. Another plane is the first production 737 which went on to become NASA 515.

Here is the full Boeing collection at MoF:

Boeing 100/P-12

Boeing 247D

Boeing 727-022

Boeing 727-223

Boeing 737-130

Boeing 747-121

Boeing 80A-1

Boeing AGM-86B ALCM

Boeing B&W

Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress

Boeing B-29 Superfortress

Boeing B-52G Stratofortress

Boeing Inertial Upper Stage

Boeing Lunar Roving Vehicle

Boeing VC-137B

Boeing WB-47E Stratojet

See http://www.museumofflight.org for more wonderful flight history. I don't think that I've ever see Mr. Smith mention the Museum of Flight or the new Future of Flight at Paine Field (PAE) where the 747, et al are made. And I've even read his book ;)

-Joe Hamelin

Tulalip, WA

There are many parts of the world begging for homes -- New Orleans, for instance. Why not recycle the planes for low-cost housing? You could fly them there, then strip the rest!

The Auto+Technik Museum in Sinsheim is excellent, not just for the planes, but cars and other vehicles, and trains, all very well displayed. I visited there years ago and would like to get back there someday for the supersonics added since I was there.

Another example of the reuse of old planes is El Avion, an old Fairchild C-123 that's been turned into a bar in Costa Rica. This particular specimen has its own story to tell. It's pictured at http://www.costaverde.com/avion01.htm. I've visited this also; it's now under a roof to protect it from the elements (astill t the same location, but no longer out in the open as pictured on the website).

In early June of this year I went to an open house at UCLA where the architect of this house was one of the speakers. He discussed his philosophies of building along with presenting slides of the plans, renderings of what he expects the finished house to look like, and tales of the planning process. For instance, the Ventura County building and planning department wanted to be sure the wing would survive a 30mph wind on the ridge. Then they wanted to know if it would get airborne in that wind. (The answers are yes and no.) The talk was fascinating, and this was an architect who wasn't full of himself and his "design philosophy".

If you ever get out to LA you might make a stop in his office and do a journalistic interview for more info. It's worth the time.

You got a ride in an F-4? There's the basis for a column or three. How? When? What was it like? How fast? How high? How many Gs, positive and negative? How close to getting sick did you get? Get to fly it any? Prep, ride itself, after?

C'mon, spill the beans!

Give the 747's to John Travolta to build a global fleet of anti Xenu aircraft.

I thought the airplane-as-restaurant was a joke from The Simpsons, but now I have a reason to visit Charleroi, Belgium. This column always expands my world.

$10,000, $15,000 (just a guess: $5K + another? $5 - $10K for salvage? maybe more) doesn't seem all that much in the grand scheme of things for an airline to absorb. It's too bad there isn't more of an incentive to sink a few extra planes. Since it's unlikely the federal government would chip in on this one, perhaps an airline could raise money by selling some old seats on EBay and then, to transport and sink the cabin, partner with a freight company looking to score some environmental goodwill points. Promote the initiative to passengers -- particularly those traveling to the Caribbean -- and ask for donations. Give the project to a college intern, or non-profit org!

But what am I thinking, it's all about peanuts, half cans of soda, frequent flier miles, and "security measures." No, wait...you don't get peanuts anymore.

Digging back in my rapidly fading memory, but didn't the original 747 (now called the Classic) win numerous design and artistic awards after it was rolled out? I think there was fairly universal acknowledgement at the time (early 1970s) that it was at least a classic of industrial design approaching (and IMHO achieving) work-of-art status.

sPh

Retired 747's as homes may fly in the face of conventional housing, but I think their practicality as aerodynamic living spaces could become a port in the storm in hurricane country. Mount the body (sans the wings) of old jumbo jets on some type of apparatus that would face it into the wind as the storms approach. Let the wind howl away. These streamline flying hulks make a lot more sense than square stick built boxes!

On the subject of preserved military aircraft, the Yankee Air Museum at Willow Run Airport in Belleville, Michigan (not far from DTW) has a good collection:

http://www.yankeeairmuseum.org

A few years ago, the Smithsonian Air & Space Magazine did an article about sinking obsolete A-6 planes as artificial reefs. Something about fatigue cracks in the wings.