Reagan Library Will Host Machine Used To Train Pilots

If machinery could talk, we imagine the original Boeing 707 simulator -- used to train pilots to fly the first jet to carry the designation Air Force One -- would have some stories to tell. This week, workers at Exploration Place in Wichita, KS prepared the nearly five-ton contraption for its latest trip, to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in southern California.

The Wichita Eagle reports workers at Exploration Place labored to restore the vintage simulator for the past eight years. It took over three hours to move the heavy machine out of the museum.

"It was a pretty smooth transition," said one of those workers, Daron Clinesmith, after the simulator was safely outside. "Getting it in took us longer. We didn't know then how much we had to do or what obstacles we had to go through. This time we knew."

The simulator's odyssey began in 1998... when Steve Cannaby, owner of Nu-Tech Aircraft Instruments, found the simulator at an Augusta, KS surplus yard.

"I was intrigued by its size and thought it was pretty cool," Cannaby said of his discovery.

At first, Cannaby didn't realize the importance of the machine, which replicates the cockpit portion of the 707 fuselage. It was only after he, Clinesmith, and others began the restoration they realized they had found the original 707 simulator.

"We realized then it had historical significance," Cannaby said. His original plan to sell the Kennedy-era simulator was then placed on hold.

President Reagan was the last US president to use the original Air Force One 707 (shown above, and at right) throughout his entire term. His successor, President George H.W. Bush, used the 707 during the first two years of his term, before the current 747-derived plane came online in 1990.

Clinesmith served as a member of the security crew aboard Air Force One -- the real one -- during a portion of Reagan's term.

"I was proud to be part of securing Air Force One. It was one of those jobs that not many people can say they did," he told the Eagle. "He (Reagan) didn't like to talk with people by phone. He'd rather meet them firsthand. That's why he's the president that had the most flying hours."

The restoration cost over $108,000 to restore to its current condition, Clinesmith said.

After final prep work at Nu-Tech wraps up this month, the simulator will be airlifted to Simi Valley, CA aboard a C-17 Globemaster III cargo plane... named, appropriately enough, "Spirit of Ronald Reagan."

The simulator will join the original aircraft, SAM 27000, which was installed at the Reagan library in September 2004.

FMI: www.reaganfoundation.org