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| English: MD-21 Blackbird with mounted D-21B Drone Displayed in Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
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| English: Williams X-Jet Displayed in Museum of Flight in Seattle. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Long Beach, CA – September 20, 2013 – Having spent weeks
researching her books on Long Beach aviation in the archives stored at Boeing,
Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske is convinced that they need to stay in Long Beach,
“preferably in an aviation museum that could be established with a building
donated by Boeing before it closes its C-17 plant in 2015.”
“While
the announced closure of the C-17 plant in 2015 by Boeing will end this era of
Long Beach history, it presents an excellent opportunity for the City to
partner with Boeing to create a lasting legacy to commemorate our aviation
history and to preserve thousands of archives, photographs and memorabilia that
are specific to the history and residents of Long Beach and which are now in
storage at a Boeing facility,” says Schipske, who represents the area in which
Boeing is located.
Schipske
notes that the Boeing archives and photographs not only chronicle the history
of Douglas Aircraft, McDonnell-Douglas and Boeing operations in Long Beach, but
provide a unique look at our local history during all of those periods in time.
“They
have the rosters of employees from the 1940s. The newsletters feature photos
and information on the people who worked in the plant – many of whom lived in
Long Beach. Other photographs document
how Long Beach workers produced the more than 15,000 planes made at the site.
It is an incredible wealth of historical documentation and it should remain in
Long Beach,” emphasizes Schipske.
Schipske
believes that Boeing should be asked by the City to not only donate the
archives specific to Long Beach, but should also be urged to donate a building
that could be used as a Long Beach Aviation Museum that could house the
archives and more.
“The
City of Long Beach has spent considerable time, money and energy in support of
Boeing’s efforts to maintain funding of its C-17 by the U.S. Air Force, but
unfortunately production will cease in 2015. So now is the time to ask Boeing
to help establish a Long Beach Aviation Museum.”
Schipske
says there are thousands of retirees from Douglas, McDonnell-Douglas and Boeing
who would welcome the opportunity to help establish and docent such a museum. “This
could become a major tourist attraction for Long Beach,” pointing to the
Seattle Museum of Flight (http://www.museumofflight.org/), where the Boeing Company
was started, as an excellent example of what an aviation museum can do for a
city. “More than 500,000 people visit this Smithsonian affiliate each year.”
