IWM Duxford
Its American Air Museum holds Boeing bombers, and Duxford was a USAAF fighter base from 1943.
The types
Boeing aircraft you can see
| Type | First flew | Built | UK museums |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boeing-Stearman Kaydet | 1934 | ~10,600 | 2 |
| Boeing B-17 Flying FortressG | 1935 | 12,731 | 3 |
| Boeing B-29 Superfortress | 1942 | 3,970 | 2 |
| Boeing B-52 StratofortressB-52D | 1952 | 744 | 1 |
| Boeing 707, 737 & 747nose sections & 737-200 | 1957 | many, obviously | 3 |
| Boeing ChinookCH-47D | 1961 | ~1,200 | 3 |
| AH-64 Apache & AH-1 CobraApache AH.1, AH-1F Cobra | 1965 | c.3,800 | 1 |
The firm
Boeing in brief
Boeing built the B-17 and B-29 bombers in the Second World War. Its first jet, the XB-47, flew in 1947. The self-funded 367-80 prototype led to the KC-135 tanker and the 707, which entered airline service in 1958. Boeing bought Vertol, the helicopter maker, in 1960; the Chinook followed. The 737 came next, and the 747 first flew from Everett in 1969.
Boeing merged with McDonnell Douglas in August 1997. Its head office moved to Chicago in 2001 and to Arlington, Virginia, in 2022.
Where to go
Museums holding Boeing aircraft
| Museum | Boeing types | Adult entry | Airframes | Headline exhibit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IWM DuxfordCambridge, Cambridgeshire | 4 | £29 | 146 | Concorde 101 (G-AXDN), the pre-production development aircraft and the fastest Concorde of them all at Mach 2.23 — plus an SR-71A… |
| Royal Air Force Museum LondonLondon, Greater London | 2 | Free | 88 | Avro Lancaster R5868 'S-Sugar' — 137 operations, the RAF's highest-scoring surviving heavy — under the same roof as a Vulcan, a… |
| Army Flying MuseumStockbridge, Hampshire | 1 | £18 | 43 | Middle Wallop's Army Flying Museum covers everything the Army has flown from observation balloons to Apaches, with superb dioramas and a… |
| Bournemouth Aviation MuseumChristchurch, Dorset | 1 | £10 | 29 | The sit-anywhere policy itself — one entry fee, no per-cockpit charges, a full BAC 1-11 flight-deck sim in a shed, and thousands… |
| National Museum Of FlightNorth Berwick, East Lothian | 1 | £15 | 47 | Concorde G-BOAA, which flew British Airways' first commercial supersonic service in 1976 and arrived here by barge and giant road-crawl… |
| Newark Air MuseumNewark, Nottinghamshire | 1 | £12.50 | 95 | Vulcan XM594, with cockpit tours occasionally given by former Vulcan aircrew, which reviewers describe with the reverence normally… |
| Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation MuseumBungay, Suffolk | 1 | £10 | 65 | Depends who you ask — the joy is the oddities. Come for the Bloodhound missiles and decoy rarities; stay for volunteer flight-simulator… |
| Nuthampstead Airfield MuseumRoyston, Hertfordshire | 1 | Free | 1 | The 398th Bomb Group's Nuthampstead story — plus the 55th Fighter Group — in a smart little museum behind the Woodman Inn, which handles… |
| RAF Sculthorpe Heritage CentreFakenham, Norfolk | 1 | £2.50 | 2 | Sculthorpe: North Norfolk's atomic secret — 10,000 Americans and nuclear-alert B-45s in the 1950s — remembered in a heritage centre with… |
| Royal Air Force Museum MidlandsShifnal, Shropshire | 1 | Free | 78 | TSR-2 XR220, one of two survivors of the most gifted aircraft Britain ever cancelled, sharing floor space with the stainless-steel… |
| South Wales Aviation MuseumBarry, Vale of Glamorgan | 1 | £10 | 73 | The resident Harrier and a growing VC10/Tornado-era collection, most with steps and open canopies. Kids exit wearing thousand-yard grins. |
Questions
Frequently asked
Does the RAF fly Boeing aircraft?
Yes. The Chinook helicopter came from Vertol, which Boeing bought in 1960. The Compendium lists a preserved Chinook among its Boeing types.
When was Boeing founded?
On 15 July 1916 in Seattle, as Pacific Aero Products. It took the Boeing name in 1917.
Is McDonnell Douglas part of Boeing?
Yes. The two companies merged on 1 August 1997.