Seattle's grand aircraft showcase

Sunset, August, 1987

Seattle's grand aircraft showcase

Six stories tall, the new glass-sheathedGreat Gallery at Seattle's Museum of Flight is a bold example of contemporary architecture. Designed by Seattle architect Ibsen Nelsen, it sits at the edge of a legendary airstrip, busy Boeing Field.

Inside is a collection of aircraft worthy ofthe building's daring design. Sponsors say you won't see anything like it outside the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. In a single, sweeping exhibit in one grand space, the history of flight can be reviewed at a glance. Of 30 mostly vintage aircraft, 19 are suspended from the sloping ceiling, seeming to fly in formation above you.

The museum is privately funded, not asubsidiary of The Boeing Company. But the collection reflects Boeing's and the West's preeminence in passenger aircraft: Boeing is the world's top producer, McDonnell Douglas in Los Angeles the third. You'll see a replica of Boeing's first airplane (the 1916 B & W), a 1928 P-12 biplane fighter, and a 1929 80A-1 passenger model. But aircraft from Beech, Douglas, Fairchild, Grumman, Northrop, Stearman, and smaller designers make up the bulk of the collection.

Pioneer flying machines and experimentaldesigns are very much in evidence. Look for a 1926 Swallow Mailplane, a replica of the 1902 Wright Glider, a 1962 Bowers Fly Baby towable home-built, a Kasperwing ultralight, a 1953 Benson Gyrocopter, a Fournier RF-4D powered glider, a Czech-built Lunak unpowered glider.

Two more planes are displayed outsideand another pair inside the Red Barn, Boeing's original 1916 manufacturing plant, restored and opened in 1983 as the museum's first facility. Here, exhibits chronicle the earliest years of flying.

The new Great Gallery takes you throughthe history of passenger and military aviation, with a look at home-built aircraft. In the 268-seat William Allen Theater, you can attend lectures and see films, from historic air combat movies to Top Gun; pick up a schedule at the information desk.

This summer's opening is just a beginning.More planes will be acquired, exhibits added, a restaurant built overlooking Boeing Field.

This museum is one of the few in theworld at an active airfield. If you own a plane, you can arrange a fly-in visit; call (206) 764-5700. If you're coming by car, there's parking for more than a thousand automobiles on weekends, some 200 on weekdays.

Hours are 10 to 5 daily, till 9 Thursdays;admission is $4 for adults, $3 for teens, $2 for ages 6 through 12. To get to the museum, 5 miles south of downtown Seattle, take exit 158 (E. Marginal Way) from 1-5 and follow signs.

Photo: Cluster of vintage aircraft in this overheadview occupies just one corner of Museum of Flight's new glass-and-steel Great Gallery

Photo: Enclosing exhibit spacelarger than a football field, Great Gallery has 90,000 square feet of glass. Its sloping roof weighs 360 tons

Photo: Curtiss Robin in Red Barn is similarto plane piloted across Atlantic by Douglas "Wrong Way' Corrigan on July 17, 1938

Photo: Intricacies of 1917 eight-cylinderwater-cooled Curtiss VA-C-10 engine in Red Barn intrigue pair of visitors