Boeing BBJ ‘Freedom Plane’ Now a Flying Archives Exhibit

A Boeing BBJ painted in patriotic “Freedom Plane” livery and carrying original founding-era U.S. documents will be visiting museums across the country this year to celebrate the 250th anniversary, or semiquincentennial, of the nation’s founding. The Boeing Company, which owns the aircraft, is providing the BBJ for the traveling exhibition and offering operational support. 

The traveling exhibition—dubbed “Freedom Plane National Tour: Documents That Forged a Nation”—will stop at eight U.S. cities from March to August, and it will be open to the public with free admission at all venues. The National Archives and Records Administration is organizing the tour in partnership with the National Archives Foundation, with support from Boeing, Comcast, Microsoft, and Procter & Gamble. 

Artifacts on board the Freedom Plane include an original engraving of the Declaration of Independence, an original copy of the 1774 Articles of Association, the 1783 Treaty of Paris, an early draft and voting records of the U.S. Constitution, and oaths of allegiance signed during the Revolutionary War by George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Aaron Burr.

“At Boeing, we’re honored to help bring these foundational documents directly to communities across the country,” said Jeff Shockey, Boeing’s v-p of government operations, global public policy, and corporate strategy. “Just as flight connects people and places, this tour will connect Americans to the ideas and sacrifices that forged our nation, and make history accessible to people from coast to coast.”

The tour will kick off on March 6 in Kansas City, Missouri, at the National WWI Museum and Memorial. It will subsequently make stops at the Atlanta History Center (March 27 to April 12); the University of Southern California’s Fisher Museum of Art in Los Angeles (April 17 to May 3); the Houston Museum of Natural Science (May 8 to 25); the History Colorado Center in Denver (May 28 to June 14); the HistoryMiami Museum in Miami (June 20 to July 5); the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation in Dearborn, Michigan (July 9 to 26); and Seattle’s Museum of History & Industry (July 30 to August 16).

A digital rendering of Boeing’s 737 Freedom Plane released by the National Archives shows that the aircraft’s tail number is N836BA. FAA records show this is a 26-year-old 737-7BC, a designation indicating it’s a 737-700 Boeing Business Jet (BBJ1) originally built for Boeing Capital, a subsidiary of Boeing Commercial Airplanes that provides leasing and lending services. It was delivered to NetJets Aviation in 2001, then Boeing bought it back in 2006, according to Planespotters.net. Boeing subsidiary Red Barn Operations now operates the aircraft for Boeing’s Executive Flight Operations division.

N836BA sustained some ground damage as a result of Hurricane Laura in August 2020, according to the Aviation Safety Network. It was reportedly parked in a hangar at Chennault International Airport (KCWF) in Lake Charles, Louisiana, for maintenance when its wing punctured the fuselage of a Boeing 747SP. The BBJ returned to service in January 2021, but the 747SP—originally delivered to Pan Am in 1979 and converted to a VIP configuration in the early 2000s—was declared a total loss.