The history of this liner turned out to be unusual. It, in fact, did not end, but simply transformed, and in a very unexpected way. After all, it is quite difficult to imagine that an airplane, which at first was the property of the famous Howard Hughes, and then survived a hurricane, today, instead of the sky, plows the water in the form of a pleasure boat.
The Boeing 307 Stratoliner is in some way a unique aircraft of its time. From the moment of its first flight on December 31, 1938, he significantly stood out among his colleagues in civil aviation with characteristics. It is the first passenger liner in the world to have a pressurized cockpit, which allowed it to climb to great heights.
In addition, the Boeing 307 Stratoliner has not received serial production. In total, ten flying machines were produced, therefore, remaining in the status of an experimental model, they are considered very rare. And to this day, only one aircraft has survived in its original form, which today is part of the exposition of the National Museum of Aviation and Space at the Smithsonian Institution.
But one in ten airliners ended up in the fleet of aviation pioneer Howard Hughes. Moreover, he ordered the novelty earlier than others, so he received the aircraft number 1 already in 1939. This car was distinguished from the other nine by a modified interior, which was specially redesigned to suit Hughes' preferences - in an Art Deco style. The author of the design was Raymond Lowy, also known as the "father of industrial design".
However, Howard Hughes had the liner for only a decade. Initially, he was going to go on it on a round-the-world flight, but the Second World War prevented the implementation of these plans. Ultimately, Boeing was bought by oil tycoon Glenn McCarthy.
But even with the new owner, the liner did not have a “good life”. In 1964, a plane, at that time located at Fort Lauderdale Airport, collided with a hurricane raging there. The element literally threw him into the trees. After the car was towed to the hangar, where it got stuck for the next five years.
The situation changed in 1969, when a buyer was found for what was left of the plane. It was the realtor Kenneth London, the amount of the sale and purchase was only $ 62. It was he who came up with an unusual idea of how to give a rare liner a second life - to convert the fuselage into a floating vehicle. By 1974, the boat from the former plane was ready, and the owner tried to preserve as many elements of the "native" interior as possible. But he gave a new name - and the Boeing 307 Stratoliner became Cosmic Muffin.
Seven years later, in 1981, the former liner changed ownership again - from Kenneth London it was bought by David Dreammer. He decided to make a commercial profit from owning such an unusual floating craft, the Dreammer began to use it as a pleasure boat and an entertainment auction. In this form, the former rare plane and today plows the waters of Fort Lauderdale.
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