The world's only surviving Boeing 307 Stratoliner arrives at
Washington's Dulles International Airport after its final flight ever,
August 6, 2003. The aircraft, the world's first pressurized airliner,
capable of flying at altitudes of around 20,000 feet, will join the
Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum's collection at the
Udvar-Hazy Center, where artifacts that cannot fit in the main museum
in downtown Washington will be housed. This particular aircraft, built
in the late 1930s, was originally delivered to Pan American Airways,
where it was christened "Clipper Flying Cloud." It then had a colorful
career, flying for the U.S. Army Air Forces in WWII, returning to
airline service in 1946, then passing through the hands of several
owners, including infamous Haitian leader "Papa Doc" Duvalier. After
its eventual restoration, lasting six years, the airliner made an
emergency landing in the water near Seattle; it was restored yet again
for its final flight to the museum.