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By Lookout Staff
August 13 -- A major
aerospace company gave $100,000
to the Santa Monica Historical
Society Museum to celebrate
the beachside city’s deep
ties to the history of flight
during a ceremony at the Main
Public Library Friday.
The grant from the Employee
Community Fund of Boeing of
California will help fund the
hands-on interactive exhibit
chronicling the local history
of the Douglas Aircraft Company
founded in Santa Monica in July
1921.
"We greatly appreciate
Boeing's generosity for helping
with the museum's capital improvement
project,” said Louise
Gabriel, the museum’s
president and CEO. “We
are confident that this exhibit
will attract new potential contributors
and raise significant awareness
of the new museum."
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| Built
in 1924, the Douglas World
Cruiser was a two-place
biplane with a 50-foot wing
span, powered by a 420 horsepower
Liberty engine. (Photo Courtesy
of Boeing) |
The exhibit will feature a
portion of a C-47 -- widely
considered the most significant
transport aircraft ever made
-- as it would have been constructed
at the Douglas plant in Santa
Monica during World War II,
museum officials said.
Visitors will be able to walk
into the life-size structure
that will house the interactive
exhibit. -- WWII Douglas Aircraft
C-47/Dakota, Donald Douglas
and Douglas Workers -- that
will be in the permanent gallery
of the new state-of-the-art
museum to be built at the new
library campus, officials said.
Through a side window, visitors
can view a panorama of “Rosie
the Riveter” at work on
the outside of the plane.
The exhibit will also feature
a video chronicling the stories
of aviation pioneer, Donald
Douglas, his company and the
contribution of Douglas workers
on the home front during World
War II.
“The overall intent of
the interactive exhibit is to
immerse the visitors in the
Douglas history with a visual,
tactile and multi-layered experience,”
museum officials said in a statement.
The company -- whose early
claim to fame was the first
circumnavigation of the world
by air in Douglas planes in
1924 -- was a major employer
in Santa Monica, turning out
more than 100 aircraft annually.
The company’s complex
at Clover Field was so vast,
mail girls roller-skated through
the plant to deliver the intra-company
mail. By the end of World War
II, Douglas had seven facilities
nationwide, including the one
in Santa Monica.
After merging with the McDonnell
Aircraft Corporation to form
McDonnell Douglas in the late
1960s, the company merged with
Boeing -- the largest aircraft
manufacturer by revenue in the
world -- in 1997.
The Douglas exhibit is expected
to be a major feature of the
new museum, which will provide
naming opportunities for major
gift donations that will be
permanently recognized on the
Wall of Legacy and at the sponsoring
location.
Benefactors can choose to support
interactive exhibits and theme
areas in the permanent gallery,
the changing exhibit gallery,
the research library and the
lobby.
For more information about
becoming a supporter of the
museum, please call (310) 395-2290.
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