Planeboat: The Cosmic Muffin

August 2, 2007

Planeboat: The Cosmic Muffin

cosmicmuffin

The Boeing Model 307 Stratoliner - cockpit view - was the first fully pressurized airliner to enter service anywhere in the world. It carried five crew members and 33 passengers and had a nearly 12-foot wide cabin for overnight berths. The Stratoliner was also the first land-based airplane to have a flight engineer as a member of the crew. [Source: aviation-history]

The Boeing 307 first flew on December 31, 1938. But, in the wake of World War II, only a total of 10 Stratoliners were built. The only surviving model, the ex-Pan American Clipper Flying Cloud is on display at the Smithsonian Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. An other model, purchased by Howard Hughes in 1939, later stationed at Fort Lauderdale where it was damaged by a hurricane in 1964, was converted into a houseboat by pilot Dave Drimmer (in cooperation with Jeff Gibbs).

Distinctive and unique: The Cosmic Muffin - an historic one-of-a-kind amalgam of a rare aircraft and novel vessel.

Via The Presurfer - your daily dose of diversion