A 1935 Lockheed Electra is scheduled to fly into Seattle early Saturday afternoon. The plane, one of only two that are still around, is identical to the one Amelia Earhart flew during her ill-fated around-the-world flight in 1937.
The plane will anchor a new permanent exhibit on Earhart that opens next month at the Museum of Flight in Seattle.
And she’s a beauty, says Dan Hagedorn, curator and director of collections at the museum.
"It will catch your eye. It's highly polished, gleams in the sun with those wonderful round engine cowlings, its glistening propellers. It's just the epitome of 1930s engineering."
Only 15 of these planes were ever made – and only two are still around. This one was fabricated in 1935 for Northwest Airlines and it likely flew in and out of Seattle more than half-a-century ago.
It's been both an U.S. as well as a Brazilian airliner. It also served as a military transport plane during World War II.
In 1997, the Electra was flown around the world by Linda Finch, who wanted to replicate what Earhart had sought to complete.
It's scheduled to circle and land at Boeing Field at 1:45 p.m. Saturday. It will remain on view in the museum parking lot for one day, before moving into the exhibit in October.
