Boeing Renton Factory

The Boeing Company's Renton, Washington Factory is a facility where the Boeing 737 MAX airliner is built.[1] Current production includes the 737 MAX 7, 737 MAX 8, 737 MAX 9, and 737 MAX 10 models. The floor space covered is 1.1 million square feet (102,000 square meters).[2]

Boeing Renton Factory
Aerial view of Boeing Renton Factory adjacent to the Renton Municipal Airport in 2011
Built1916 (1916)
LocationRenton, Washington
Coordinates47.4993°N 122.209°W / 47.4993; -122.209
IndustryAerospace
Products737 MAX 7, 737 MAX 8, 737 MAX 9, 737 MAX 10
Owner(s)Boeing

The factory lies adjacent to Renton Municipal Airport.

History

The Boeing Renton Factory is built on land reclaimed by the lowering of the level of Lake Washington in 1916. From 1916 until 1936 it belonged to the family of Pioneer Washington Coal Industrialist Charles H. Burnett for whom Burnett Avenue and Burnett Park in Renton are named. Burnett acquired the land intending to use it for coal storage and shipment. Amy Louise Burnett Bond, Charles Burnett's daughter, whose mother died young, was raised by Mr. and Mrs. Howard Cranston Potter as the foster sister and godmother of Bertha Potter (Mrs William Boeing). The Burnett family operated the land as a hay farm. In 1936 Amy Burnett Bond transferred the property back to the state government. It was still mostly semi swamp economically marginal and would cost millions to improve.

The property was then transferred by the State of Washington to the federal government at the start of World War II. The Navy Department established an aircraft factory there for production of the Boeing PBB Sea Ranger flying boat. This order was cancelled, however, to free the factory for production of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, the factory being transferred to the Army in exchange for use of the North American Aviation Kansas City factory for production of land based North American B-25 Mitchells for the US Marine Corps as PBJ-1s.[3]

Aircraft production

Boeing B-29

1,119 B-29s were built in the Renton plant.[4]

Boeing C-97

At the end of World War II, the plant was closed but by 1948 it was re-opened by Boeing to build the Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter for the United States Air Force. In all, 943 C-97s were built in the Renton plant.[4]

Boeing 707/KC-135

In May 1954 the prototype of what would become the Boeing 707, the Boeing 367-80, was rolled out at the Renton plant starting a long association with the production of the Boeing 707 line. When the first production Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker first flew in August 1956 from Renton it was named City of Renton. The first production Boeing 707 was rolled out at Renton on 28 October 1957 and production continued to the last 707.

Boeing 727

The Boeing 707 final assembly building was also used to produce the Boeing 727 three-engined airliner from 1963 To 1984.

Boeing 737
Assembly of a 737 in the Renton Factory

In order to produce the twin-engined Boeing 737 a new assembly line was built in 1966 at Renton and the plant is still building the Boeing 737 family. The 737 final assembly building when built was at the time the largest building in the world by volume. New aircraft perform their first flight from the adjacent Renton Municipal Airport and are then flown to Boeing Field for customer preparation. In 2011 after a lengthy negotiation, Boeing and the Machinist Union have agreed to produce the 737 MAX, a redesign, at the existing facility in Renton.[5]

Boeing opened a completion center in Zhoushan, China, to install interiors for planes built in Renton and delivered to Chinese airlines.[6]

The Renton factory also produces the P-8 Poseidon, a maritime patrol aircraft for the United States Navy.

Boeing 747

The first four 747s built were refurbished in the Boeing Renton Factory.[7]

Boeing 757

The plant also built all 1,049 Boeing 757s.

See also

References
  1. New Boeing 737 MAX takes first flight in Renton By KOMO Staff; Friday, January 29th 2016 KOMO.com
  2. http://www.boeing.com/company/about-bca/renton-production-facility.page
  3. Bowers 1989, pp.248–249.
  4. B-29 Superfortress Archived 2010-05-15 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  5. "Boeing to build 737 Max in Renton". www.bizjournals.com.
  6. Wattles, Jackie (December 15, 2018). "Boeing delivers first 737 from new Chinese factory". CNN. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  7. Boeing Commercial Airplanes 737 Manufacturing Site Archived August 4, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  • Bowers, Peter M. Boeing Aircraft since 1916. London:Putnam, Third edition, 1989. ISBN 0-85177-804-6.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.