Boeing 787 prototype to Seattle museum

One of the prototype Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft has been donated to the Museum of Flight in Seattle.

The museum is situated at Boeing Field, close to the city, which today is used as a production facility for the 737 line.

Other notable aircraft at the museum include the first Boeing 737-100, 747-100, a 727-200, Concorde, and Lockheed Constellation, amongst many other historic aircraft.

The Dreamliner Boeing donated to the museum is known as ZA003 (N787BX), the third 787-8 produced. This particular example is the aircraft which took part in the Dream Tours in 2011 and 2012, and saw it visit many countries and airports on demonstration to airline customers and the aviation industry. I had the chance to visit it at London Heathrow, and you can read my report here.

The celebration at the Museum of Flight included several Boeing employees whose work over the years played a role in the design, build and test of the 787 Dreamliner. Each person disembarked the airplane and presented a special artifact tied to the history of the airplane to museum docents and students from local high schools.

The artifacts given by employees ranged from a commemorative cachet carried aboard the 787’s first flight, to early artist renderings of the 7E7. Those artifacts will now be housed at the Museum of Flight.

ZA003 is the first of three flight test 787-8s Boeing plans to share with museums around the world, the aviation community and future generations of employees and airplane enthusiasts.

Visit Museum of Flight here.