by a glass surface that would seat perhaps a dozen people. It’s for display only, but similar tables will cost $35,000. However, a nearby coffee table created from a 727 fuselage section with American flag livery is available for $15,000. A blade-like stator from a jet engine, with a clock or mirror attached, is priced around $1,900. Flight-deck instruments cost from $1,500 to $1,800. A 737 rudder pedal pushes the $1,500 mark. A B-29 artificial horizon indicator is valued at $950. Passenger windows removed from 727, 737, 747 and 767 airliners are Boeing’s best-selling vintage items. They cost $595 each. The Boeing Store keeps hundreds of windows stored in a warehouse in Tukwila, Wash. Newer military aircraft parts are the most difficult to find. Since the terror attacks of 9/11, U.S. service branches have been under orders to destroy retired aviation equipment and components to keep them from making their way into the wrong hands, Mores said. Of the older stuff, Boeing still can provide a jet-fighter ejection seat, a P-51 control stick or even one of those B-17 prop blades uncovered in Florida. All told, the store’s vintage aircraft parts line has become so popular the company intends to keep mining them, and investigating new markets to tap, well after the centennial celebration has come and gone, according to Newcomb. Emotional connection is durable. “This is Boeing, beginning to end,” Mores said. “We produce the plane and even in its afterlife there’s still value to its parts. It doesn’t go away.” daniel.w.raley@boeing.com To see the collection of centennial-related merchandise available from The Boeing Store, visit boeingstore.com. Photo: From left, Heather MacCoy, Kevin Debell, Jody Callan, Trent Henderson and Gerardo Mores of The Boeing Store are seated at a table made from a 747 wing, surrounded by other unique commemorative gifts. JuLy 2015 31
Frontiers July 2015 Issue
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