Boeing Donates $15 Million to Expand Smithsonian Aviation Annex at Dulles

The Boeing Co. and the Smithsonian Institution announced yesterday that the aviation giant is giving $15 million to the National Air and Space Museum.

The gift, the largest corporate gift in Smithsonian history, will go to the planned expansion of the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, the Virginia annex of the main museum on the Mall. The center, which opened in December 2003, cost $311 million -- including the cost of the new hangar. Even with the Boeing money, Museum Director Gen. J.R. Dailey said, about $25 million remains to be raised.

"The gift positions us with about two-thirds of the money we need for Phase 2 and gives us the ability to talk to people seriously about getting started with the remainder of the fundraising," Dailey said.

The entire Udvar-Hazy complex is an enormous project with the main structure large enough to fit the ill-fated Titanic inside the open space. Eventually it will hold 220 airplanes, and its adjoining hangar has giant spacecraft, such as the shuttle Enterprise.

The center's price tag scared off some donors. "One of the things that has been a drawback is we needed so much money that people staggered when they heard the amount. Now we can talk about $25 million," said Dailey.

Since the Air and Space Museum opened in 1976, Boeing has been closely associated with the collection and restoration of artifacts. There are 43 Boeing-built aircraft at the entire museum, with about 17 at Udvar-Hazy. In recognition of yesterday's gift, the center hall at Udvar-Hazy will be named the Boeing Aviation Hangar.

In addition to yesterday's gift, Boeing gave $5 million for the construction of the Udvar-Hazy Center in 1998. The company also gave $1.4 million for the Mall museum's first interactive gallery, "How Things Fly," in 1996. The restoration of the Dash 80, the original prototype of the Boeing 707, and the only remaining Boeing S-307 Stratoliner -- the world's first pressurized passenger airplane -- were done at the company's headquarters in Washington state. They are now at the Virginia annex.

"As a vital center for the preservation and growth of aviation history, science and technology, the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum is one of America's great institutions, and we are honored to support it," Jim McNerney, chairman of Boeing, said in a statement.

The Udvar-Hazy Center has been a success on several fronts, Dailey said. It is now a prime location for special events for aviation businesses and associations. Besides paying for parking, visitors are spending money in the cafeteria, gift shop and to ride flight simulators. "In profit per visitor, it makes more than any other Smithsonian facility," Dailey said. Last year, its second full year of operation, the museum had 1.3 million visitors, lower than expected even for a facility 28 miles from the Mall.

When fundraising stalled, Dailey said, the museum borrowed $60 million from Smithsonian private funds to cover the costs of the first phase of Udvar-Hazy and scaled back plans for the second phase. In the next expansion, the public will be able to watch the restoration work.

"Of the money owed to the Smithsonian, $20 million is covered by existing pledges and $40 million is being paid by retail profits," said the director. The architects are updating the plans and revising the costs, which Dailey said are expected in June. "We have gone to paint instead of wood in some places and that gave us some pretty dramatic savings. This is a restoration hangar, not the lounge at the Ritz. We are dealing with the reality of what we are trying to do."

The Udvar-Hazy Center, at Dulles International Airport, was sponsored by a $65 million donation from airline entrepreneur Steven F. Udvar-Hazy. The trust of James S. McDonnell III and John F. McDonnell gave $10 million to the museum. The space hangar at Udvar-Hazy is named for James McDonnell, the aerospace pioneer.

Until now, the largest corporate donations to the Smithsonian came from Lockheed Martin, with its $12.8 million gift to Air and Space; Polo Ralph Lauren, with more than $10 million to the National Museum of American History; and General Motors, with $10 million to the American History museum.