aviation mechanic’s coveralls, preserved from the 1920s; a Charles Lindbergh autograph from 1927, written shortly after his landmark trans-Atlantic flight; Rosie the Riveter patches and badges, awarded during World War II; Boeing CEO William Allen’s personal 747 hard hat; groundbreaking engineer Ed Wells’ slide rule; a 1969 program signed by Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins, within a month of the moon landing; and the first Boeing novelty item sold, a 1933 lamp featuring a mini-replica of the first modern airliner, model 247. All are part of the Boeing Archives, kept in a huge basement in Bellevue, Wash. Rows and rows of manuscripts, contracts, artifacts, engineering drawings, models, photographs, motion-picture films and more are spread across multiple rooms. Together, these items tell the century-old story of Boeing and its heritage companies in every manner—creatively, visually, legally, chronologically. Experts come from all over the world to visit a place that is temperature-controlled and secure as a bank vault. Boeing engineers regularly comb through documents to learn what their predecessors knew. Airlines can see their histories and tradition unwind, some dating back to the 1930s. These visitors can sit in William Allen’s leather office chair. “Our main competitor doesn’t have this,” said Mike Lombardi, Boeing senior historian and archivist since 1994. Boeing also maintains sizable archive collections in Huntington Beach, Calif., and in St. Louis, housing materials from heritage companies Douglas, Hughes and North American at the former and McDonnell, McDonnell Douglas and Hughes at the latter. The Bellevue site, however, is by far the largest and most unusual. Covering 17,000 square feet (1,600 square meters), the archive occupies a space originally constructed by Boeing to hold computer servers and test labs. The floor sits on a foundation separate from the rest of the building, resting on springs, to reduce vibration. It held up well during a powerful 2000 earthquake that struck the Seattle area. “We felt the floor bounce, but not shake,” Lombardi said. “Nothing fell. It was amazing.” There is much to protect and preserve. Records involving Boeing and heritage company mergers, acquisitions and divestitures are among the most valuable and sensitive materials filed away. The law department is a frequent archive user, relying on these past records to settle disputes, and save the company considerable cost, Lombardi said. Twenty aisles fill the main Bellevue archive area, including a couple of rows set aside for aircraft models. Among them are countless replicas of planes that were designed but never came to fruition, among them a 737 with engines on the back, similar to a DC-9; a double-decker 747; and an Internal Husky, a unique-looking cargo 34 Boein g Frontie rs
Frontiers September 2015 Issue
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