The Museum of Flight's Lockheed Model 10-E Electra on
exhibit at the 2013 Reno National Championship Air Races heads to final
destination. After 78 years in service, this will be the plane's final
flight. The rare airliner is the same type as Amelia Earhart's famous plane,
and it will be the centerpiece of a permanent Earhart exhibit opening in
October.
-Lockheed Model 10-E Electra on exhibit at the 2013 Reno National Championship Air Races Heritage Invitational,
AlabamaAviator image--
The long-awaited fly-in arrival of the Museum of Flight's 1935 Lockheed Electra is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 21.
As the museum's airplane, the Electra made its first public appearance last week at the Reno National Championship Air Races. The vintage plane's retirement flight will be from Reno to Seattle on Saturday. En route, the Electra will fly over an Amelia Earhart event in Independence, Ore., and fly near iconic Northwest landmarks such as Mt. Rainier and the Seattle skyline.
After low passes over Boeing Field before landing, the Electra will taxi into the museum parking lot and parked next to cars of the 1920s and 1930s. The Electra will be on view in the parking lot for the rest of the day, and will not be displayed again until the indoor Earhart exhibit premiers on Oct. 12.
The museum's Electra was built for Northwest Airlines and began passenger service in 1935. It served in WWII and then went back to flying passengers for airlines in Brazil and the U.S. until it was restored to replicate Amelia Earhart's Electra in 1996. In 1997 Linda Finch flew it around the world, reenacting Earhart's ill-fated, 1937 last flight. Today there is only one other Lockheed Model 10-E Electra in existence. -B Meyer
The Museum of Flight is located at 9404 E. Marginal Way S., Seattle, Washington. For general museum information, visitwww.museumofflight.org.