On April 26, 2016, an aircraft tug begins to pull a blue-and-white United Airlines airplane out of the Museum of Flight Restoration Center hangar at Paine Field. The rubber tires of the tug slip briefly, creating a small puff of smoke, until the tug gains traction and the 83-year-old Boeing 247D airliner NC13347 begins to slowly move out of the hangar onto the apron and then to the north end of the runway. After photos are taken and the preflight checklist is complete, the pilots wait for takeoff clearance from the tower. At 11:50 a.m., the airplane begins takeoff roll and lifts into the clear blue skies. Along the west edge of the runway near the Future of Flight Museum, a small group of aviation enthusiasts watches the takeoff. The flight will end 24 miles to the south at Boeing Field in Seattle, where the airplane will go on permanent display in the Museum of Flight.
Significant Design Highlights
The 10-passenger Boeing 247, introduced in 1933, was the first "modern" all-metal airplane designed for passenger service. The twin engine, low-wing monoplane superseded the slow, noisy, and uncomfortable Ford Trimotor and Boeing 80A passenger planes then in service. With a top speed of 200 mph, it could fly coast to coast in 20 hours, which was about 8 hours less than previous airliners. The 247 incorporated many advanced features for the first time that would be used in newer airplanes for decades. These include a streamlined shape, variable pitch propellers, pneumatic wing deicing, and retractable landing gear.
The Boeing 247 airliner number NC13347 was the 48th airplane off the production line, serial number 1729. It was delivered to Pacific Air Transport (later United Airlines) on July 26, 1933. It was upgraded to the 247D configuration on August 27, 1935. Since it was not originally built as a D model, it retains the unique forward-sloping windshield of the original design. United sold the airplane to Pennsylvania Central Airlines in February 1937, where it remained until 1940. During the 1940s, the airplane was owned by the government of Canada and by various small airlines in the U.S., Canada, and Costa Rica. In the 1950s other owners used it for crop dusting in Arizona and cloud seeding in Taft, California, where it was damaged in 1961 and left to decay at the desert airport.
Acquisition for the Museum of Flight
In 1966, the airplane was found and purchased for $10,000 by two original members of the Pacific Northwest Historical Aviation Foundation, forerunner of the Museum of Flight. After doing repairs necessary to make it safe to fly home from California, the new owners, United Airlines Captain Jack Leffler (1922-1990) and Renton Aviation executive Ray Pepka (1914-1991) flew it carefully back to Renton. Since it had not been operated for six years, they did not retract the landing gear during the trip to ensure it would be down when they landed. They also limited their speed to 120 mph on the 1,000-mile flight and arrived home at Renton Municipal Airport on March 2, 1966.
Volunteers worked on repairs and clean-up of the airplane in a hangar at Renton airport donated for the project by West Coast Airlines. Four months later, the completed airliner was christened "The City of Renton" at the Renton Aviation Days celebration on July 16, 1966, by Evelyn Egtvedt (1901-2002), wife of retired engineer and Boeing Chairman Claire Egtvedt (1892-1975). The airliner was flown and displayed at many celebrations and airshows throughout the area until September 1976. On June 26, 1970, the 247D flew over ceremonies at Paine Field honoring the dedication of United Airlines’ first 747. In 1976 it was repainted in Western Airlines colors to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the airline. Later that year it was grounded again for repairs and parked behind a Boeing shed near the Museum of Flight Restoration Center at Paine Field.
Restoration by Volunteers
The Restoration Center is located on the east side of Paine Field airport between the main airport entrance on Airport Road and the commercial passenger terminal. It occupies two hangars and an apron area. There is always a variety of historic aircraft, both commercial and military, being restored and prepared for display at the Museum of Flight in Seattle. The work is done by skilled volunteers, mostly retired from Boeing, whose interest in historic aircraft drives them to donate their time to the work. Before the Covid pandemic in 2020, the center was open for public tours and may reopen sometime in the future. The Restoration Center at Paine Field was home to this Boeing 247D airplane for many years.
Finally in 1979, under sponsorship of the Boeing Management Association, complete restoration was begun at the Museum of Flight Restoration Center. For more than 14 years, volunteers spent thousands of hours taking the old airplane apart, removing corrosion, refinishing parts, and replacing parts and wiring when needed. They replaced major structural pieces such as the fuselage keel and floor beams. Capt. George Juneau (1919-1999), a retired Boeing tool and die maker and WWII U.S. Army Air Force troop glider pilot, led the operation. Unlike the three other surviving Boeing 247D airliners on static display in museums in Canada, Washington, D.C., and Great Britain, this airplane would be restored to airworthy condition and fly again. In a 1988 interview with The Seattle Times, Juneau said that he had logged over 12,000 volunteer hours working on the project. On June 29, 1994, the airliner took to the air again. In his honor, it carried the name "Capt. George Juneau" on flights in the 1990s. It was flown frequently at air shows and flight demonstrations throughout Washington and beyond to venues including Reno, San Francisco, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and Abbotsford, B.C. In 2005 this exact airplane, NC13347, was pictured on a 37-cent United States postage stamp from the "Advances in Aviation" series.
During those years of frequent flights, the airplane was maintained by qualified volunteer mechanics and given annual FAA inspections to ensure safety and airworthiness. In 2010, inspections revealed cracks in the main landing gear that grounded the airliner again. Unfortunately, parts and materials to repair the landing gear were obsolete and unavailable. The airplane returned to the Restoration Center at Paine Field where new and better landing gear were designed, built, and installed. This project took over five years to complete. Finally in early 2016, the airliner was airworthy and ready for the final flight to Boeing Field and the Museum of Flight for permanent display. Of the original 75 airplanes built in the 1930s, this is the only flyable one remaining.
The Final Flight Crew and Final Flight
Two experienced senior Boeing test pilots were entrusted to fly the aircraft on its final flight from the Restoration Center to the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field. In addition to their expertise with modern aircraft, they both had several years of experience with this vintage 247D airplane. The flight captain was Mike Carriker and first officer was Chad Lundy. Both men had grown up with a deep love of aviation.
Boeing Chief Test Pilot Mike Carriker (b. 1955) joined Boeing in 1990. He was chief project pilot for the 737, 777, and 787 programs. On the 787 development program, Carriker worked closely with engineering teams during design to ensure that the pilot’s view was reflected in the design. This collaboration is documented in the 2011 iMax film Legends of Flight, in which he appears and narrates. Carriker was flight captain on the first flight of the 787. Prior to Boeing he was a U.S. Navy test pilot and instructor. He has logged more than 10,000 flight hours in more than 170 airplane types. Carriker started flying the Boeing 247D in 1996.
Capt. Chad Lundy (b. 1969), Boeing Assistant Chief Pilot, Production Flight Test at the Everett Delivery Center, joined Boeing in 1996. He is qualified on Boeing 737, 747, 757, 777, and 787 airplanes and worked on the certification programs for the 787-8 and 747-8. Lundy served four years in the U.S. Navy and graduated from the University of Washington in mechanical engineering. While studying at the university, he worked at Kenmore Air Harbor servicing airplanes and at the Museum of Flight in guest services. After graduation and prior to Boeing, Lundy was a full-time pilot and instructor at Kenmore Air.
With new landing gear, the airplane was complete and ready for flight. A Museum of Flight news release published on April 13, 2016, set the date of the flight to the museum for Tuesday, April 26, weather permitting. Saturday, April 23 was damp and overcast and the runway was wet, but the airplane limbered up with a taxi test to prepare it for the flight. All went well. Now the schedule depended on the weather forecast.
April 26 turned out to be great weather for the flight, sunny blue skies with a few light clouds. Although many wanted to go along, the FAA certificate did not allow for passengers. Gross weight was kept low by carrying no unneeded items and only an hour’s worth of fuel. This allowed reduced power settings and less work for the engines. The flight took off to the south at 11:50 a.m. A photo/safety chase airplane accompanied the flight. As a safety precaution, the pilots chose not to retract the landing gear. About 20 minutes later, the airliner landed at Boeing Field, greeted by press and a big crowd of aviation enthusiasts and onlookers who cheered as the airplane taxied to parking area in front of the Museum of Flight. As is tradition, at the conclusion of the final flight of an airplane, the pilots signed the wheel well and added the message "Goodbye to an old friend" above their signatures.
This short flight was an important historic milestone. It was the final flight of the last airworthy Boeing 247D, an airplane that changed passenger travel for the future. The airplane is on permanent display in the Aviation Gallery at the Museum of Flight surrounded by other significant Boeing airplanes that followed. Some enthusiasts would like to see flights continue, but that could result in damage that would deprive thousands of future museum visitors of the opportunity to observe, study, and enjoy this most significant piece of aviation history. It is a tribute to the original designers and builders back in the 1930s and to the volunteers who donated thousands of hours of restoration work since 1966 to return the airplane to life.
