The Freedom Plane National Tour
In 2026, America is celebrating its 250th birthday. The Semiquincentennial will certainly not go uncelebrated. Philadelphia, Boston, New York City, and Washington, D.C. are the centers of the festivities, but it’s taking place from coast to coast with thousands of events over the course of about a year. It culminates in a Great American State Fair, which will take place in Late June in Washington, D.C. on the National Mall.
What is the “Freedom Plane” Doing?
The Freedom Plane launched it’s national tour yesterday at Washington, D.C.'s Reagan National AIrport. It’s traveling exhibit will visit Kansas City (National WWI Museum), Atlanta (Atlanta History Center) Los Angeles (University of Southern California Fisher Museum of Art), Houston (Houston Museum of Natural Science), Denver (History Colorado Center), Miami (History Miami Museum), Dearborn (Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation), and Seattle (Museum of History & Industry).
The tour has been organized by the National Archives, with support from Boeing, Comcast, P&G, Microsoft, and FedEx.
Onboard are:
- An original copy of the Declaration of Independence
- Articles of Association (a decree by the Continental Congress in 1774 to boycott British goods)
- George Washington’s, Alexander Hamilton’s, and Aaron Burr’s Oaths of Allegiance to the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War
- Treaty of Paris (which formally recognized the US as an independent nation)
- A rare draft form the Constitution
- A rare draft form of the Bill of Rights
- The voting record from the ratification of the Constitution
This is the first time these documents have left their homes all together like this.
The Plane Itself
Image Credit
The Freedom Plane is a Boeing 737-700 BBJ registered as N836BA. It was manufactured in 2000, and has flown a number of executive missions for Boeing, NetJets, and the Government of Kazakstan. In August 2020, it found itself in a bit of trouble at Chennault International Airport in Lake Charles, Louisiana during Hurricane Laura, when it’s wing was pushed into the fuselage of a Boeing 747SP (VQ-BMS of Sands Aviation). It was out of service until January of the following year undergoing repairs from the incident.
In early 2026, N836BA was painted into a pretty nice looking red, white, and blue livery with a “Celebrating America’s 250th” sticker.
This tour will be fully orchestrated by Boeing’s Executive Flight Operations and their crew.
