ST. LOUIS, June 12, 2001 -- The Boeing Company has opened its renowned James S. McDonnell Prologue Room aerospace-history exhibit to the public for the 26th summer season, with a full-size passenger airplane cockpit highlighting a newly-expanded display of 80 years of aviation progress.
More than 300 models and 200 paintings and photographs provide a comprehensive timeline of the development of military and commercial aircraft. The displays represent the products of Boeing and its heritage companies: McDonnell Douglas, North American Aviation, Boeing Vertol and Hughes Helicopters.
The Prologue Room, open Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., is in the Boeing Military Aircraft and Missile Systems headquarters building, at the corner of McDonnell Boulevard and Airport Road near Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. Admission is free and the facility is wheelchair accessible.
The exhibit will be closed July 4 and closes for the season Sept. 1. Although reservations are not required, groups of 20 or more are asked to make arrangements one week in advance by calling (314) 232-6896.
The Prologue Room is an ideal field trip for children in summer school or camp. Special group tours are designed for children ages 5 through 12. Giveaways of Boeing memorabilia are offered throughout the summer.
In addition to the new commercial-airplane cockpit, visitors will see the full-size engineering models of the St. Louis-built Mercury and Gemini spacecraft, which carried America's first astronauts into space. Also on display are large-scale models of Air Force One, the F-15 Eagle and F/A-18 Hornet combat aircraft, AH-64 Apache helicopter and several commercial jetliners.
The Prologue Room's original aviation art collection features the works of Boeing artists, including several oil paintings by Chuck Wood and the late R.G. Smith, whose work is displayed in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
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