Boeing 727 and Hillsboro, Oregon (Illustration by The Real Deal with Getty, National Air and Space Museum)
Fear of flying is relatively common. Less common, but the desire to live in an airplane that can no longer fly is where Oregon electricians roar.
Bruce Campbell, 73, lives in the shell of a salvaged Boeing 727 jetliner, CNBC Make It reports. The plane sits on his 10-acre property in Hillsboro, a suburb of Portland.
Decades after Campbell bought the land for $26,000 in the 1970s, he began pursuing his childhood dream of living on an airplane. In 1999, he hired a salvage company to find the plane. He calls it a “debacle.”
In any case, the company found him a 200-seat plane in Greece after months of searching. Campbell paid his $100,000 for the 1,066-square-foot, 70,000-pound plane, and he spent another $20,000 to remove the engine and render the plane inoperable.
After the plane was sent to the United States and towed through downtown Hillsboro, Campbell began renovations to make it more owner-friendly. The two-year process cost him $15,000, as Campbell installed a makeshift shower, temporary sink, portable washing machine, refrigerator, and food service cart (the latter acting as a pantry).
Other “amenities” include a microwave, toaster oven, workbench, and a futon sofa on which Campbell sleeps.
If aesthetics don’t motivate you to pursue life on an airplane, perhaps the price tag will. Campbell’s costs are only $320 a month, split between property taxes and electricity bills.
“I have no regrets in pursuing this vision,” Campbell told the publication.
Not only does Campbell live in one of the country’s rarest properties, it also lives in a vessel of national history. In 1975, his plane was used to transport the remains of airline owner and shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis, who married Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
— Holden Walter Warner
