B-52 Bomber Takes to the Freeways From Everett to Museum in Seattle June 2-3

[jcf]

B-52 Bomber Takes to the Freeways From Everett to Museum in Seattle June 2-3



170-foot fuselage will arrive at welcoming ceremony Sunday, June 3 at 8 a.m.

SEATTLE, May 23, 2018--After 26 years of open storage at Paine Field, Everett, the Museum's 1959
Boeing B-52 bomber will be moved to the Museum's West Campus at Boeing Field in Seattle. Not flight worthy,
the plane was disassembled for shipment and most of the parts were recently delivered to the Museum. The
project's grand finale will be June 2-3, when the final sections (two 100-foot wings and the 170-foot-long fuselage)
will be trucked on separate flatbeds to Boeing Field. The plane will be restored and put on permanent display
in a new exhibit, the  Vietnam Veterans Memorial Park, opening this fall.



To minimize traffic congestion during their 40-mile journeys on I-405 and I-5 freeways, the large, rare and
eye-catching cargo will make the 2-hour trip between midnight and 4 a.m. The wings arrive first. The fuselage
will be trucked on June 3, and will be staged near its destination so the public can join in a welcoming celebration
in the Museum's Aviation Pavilion at 8 a.m., when its drive will be completed in view of fans, veterans and
City of Tukwila officials. The outdoor welcoming is free, and the Museum will open for business an hour
early-9 a.m. with free admission to U.S. veterans.

MEDIA ALERT

Media are welcome to visit the B-52 on May 29-30 as it is being prepared at Paine Field, Everett,
for shipment. Please contact Museum PR Manager Ted Huetter to make arrangements. Media are
also invited to cover the events surrounding the fuselage's arrival on Sunday morning June 3..
Participants will include officials from the Museum, the City of Tukwila, Vietnam War veterans
and the volunteers who have spearheaded the restoration of the plane and the campaign for
its permanent outdoor exhibit (see Project Welcome Home).

[PR19_Kit]

'Excuse me sir, do you realise how slow you were driving along the freeway?' 

[NARSES2]

Brilliant 

Can you just imagine the "fun" that would cause here in the U.K. ? 

[jcf]

Photos of the move:
http://www.rbogash.com/B-52/B-52_Transport.html

[Steel Penguin]

wow!
and a testament to forethought and planning  with how smoothly it went.
well done to all involved, they made it look easy   

[NARSES2]

wow!
and a testament to forethought and planning  with how smoothly it went.
well done to all involved, they made it look easy   

Absolutely 

Can you imagine trying to do that on the British road net ? Interesting to say the least 

[scooter]

wow!
and a testament to forethought and planning  with how smoothly it went.
well done to all involved, they made it look easy   

Absolutely 

Can you imagine trying to do that on the British road net ? Interesting to say the least 

That's probably why they flew it into Duxford 

[loupgarou]

wow!
and a testament to forethought and planning  with how smoothly it went.
well done to all involved, they made it look easy   

Absolutely 

Can you imagine trying to do that on the British road net ? Interesting to say the least 

I remember having read of the "problems" in the thirties when an oversize transport with a Short Class-C flying boat fuselage had to cross another with a Queen Mary propeller... 

[PR19_Kit]

Can you imagine trying to do that on the British road net ? Interesting to say the least 

The RAF Museum people tried to wreck the British road system when they took their VC`10 to Cosford.

Logic would have said to fly in in there directly with a minimal fuel load, or fly it into Shawbury and truck it from there, about 15 miles at most.

But no, they flew it into KEMBLE in Gloucestershire and trucked it up the M5 and M6 to Cosford, around 100 miles!! How stupid is that! 

[NARSES2]

I have a distant memory of how long it took to transport a ship's propeller from the foundry on the Clyde to the yard that was making the ship on the Wear. I was there during school holidays (Easter I think) and my grandfather took me to the yard to see it arrive. Huge thing on one of those massive Pickford's flatbeds with, I think, a motor unit at each end and police escort. It had taken a good few days and a lot of disruption.

To cap it all over the holiday weekend some of the locals managed to get into the closed yard, break the thing up and get it out all in a couple of days ! Make a good film - Mackem's 11 ? 

[kitnut617]

Come on Jon, spill the beans here ---- Everett to Seattle is a straight shot drive, the road is six to eight lanes wide ----  (how do I know -- driven it  )

[jcf]

Come on Jon, spill the beans here ---- Everett to Seattle is a straight shot drive, the road is six to eight lanes wide ----  (how do I know -- driven it  )

My understanding is that they didn't go I5 South from Everett to Seattle, they went south on
Mukilteo Speedway (Hwy 525) to I-405 South (through Kirkland/Redmond/Bellevue/Renton)
all the way down the east side and around the bottom of Lake Washington to Tukwila and then
onto I-5 North to 599 North exiting onto northbound Interurban Ave South which becomes E
Marginal Way and then to the museum location.

The exit ramps to Boeing Field area on a straight run down 5 aren't conducive to a load like
the B-52.

[Rheged]

wow!
and a testament to forethought and planning  with how smoothly it went.
well done to all involved, they made it look easy   

Absolutely 

Can you imagine trying to do that on the British road net ? Interesting to say the least 

Here's a near equivalent. A 747 being taken to the SAS regiment  "adventure playground" at Pontrilas.

https://www.herefordtimes.com/news/11795049.VIDEO___PICTURES__Boeing_747_travels_through_Herefordshire/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2967028/SAS-install-Boeing-747-secret-special-forces-base-practise-rescuing-hostages-terrorists.html

The Mail going for exaggeration again!  Everyone locally has known about this place for years. As far as I know, the Pontrilas training area is shown on Google earth and similar sites. https://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/pontrilas-sas-training-base/view/google/

[scooter]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2967028/SAS-install-Boeing-747-secret-special-forces-base-practise-rescuing-hostages-terrorists.html

The Mail going for exaggeration again!  Everyone locally has known about this place for years. As far as I know, the Pontrilas training area is shown on Google earth and similar sites. https://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/pontrilas-sas-training-base/view/google/

Would you expect any less from the Fail?  Its much like Faux (Fox) News Channel here, ramping up the exaggerations.  (Oh, how I miss the days when the President's only faux pas was to either eat Dijon mustard or wear a tan suit).

[NARSES2]

The Mail going for exaggeration again!  Everyone locally has known about this place for years. As far as I know, the Pontrilas training area is shown on Google earth and similar sites.

Yup. When I was a nipper one of the Government's "secret" underground local government facilities in case of a nuclear attack was constructed under a nearby block of flats. As far as I know everyone and his dog knew it was there. Probably the number of suspicious looking blokes and cars that would occasionally turn up, mind you it could ail have been a "blind" ?