HYDE PARK — Visitors to the Museum of Science and Industry can mark the 100th year of Boeing by building and flying their own virtual jet fighter at a new exhibit.
The museum, 5700 S. Lake Shore Drive, on Tuesday opened “Above and Beyond,” a new traveling exhibit by Boeing about the company’s history and also heavy on its path into the future.
The centerpiece of the exhibit is a series of large touchscreens where visitors can adjust the fuselage shape, wing size and tail fin position to create their own fighter jet. They can then step over to one of three cockpits and actually virtually try out their design.
John Blazey, vice president of global corporate citizenship for Boeing, said he recommended a swept wing design, an innovation Boeing popularized.
He said a Boeing engineer exploring a captured German research facility in World War II discovered experiments using airplane wings with a swept back design to improve speed and maneuverability, a breakthrough at the time.
“We hope the next major breakthrough will be found by the students visiting the exhibit,” Blazey said.
Speed is only one of the ideas Boeing is highlighting. There are a whole host of models of futuristic planes designed by Boeing’s engineers that can convert from cars into planes or jump into a low Earth orbit flight path without a creating a deafening sonic boom, an idea that could revolutionize international travel.
Blazey said being able to fly planes closer to that boundary of the atmosphere could cut travel times from Los Angeles to Australia to an hour.
The history is there too and Boeing has brought in a scale model of its first ever commercial plane, a 1916 seaplane.
The exhibit is included in museum admission and runs through Jan. 8.
Among the futuristic designs from Boeing is this model of a flying car.
The "Above and Beyond" exhibit is full of models of futuristic designs from Boeing's 100-year history.
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