Boeing Plant 2 Boeing Plant 2 ( also known as Air Force Plant 17 ) was a factory building which was built in 1936 by the Boeing Corporation in King County , Washington in the United States . By the time production ceased in the building , the plant had built half of the Boeing B - 17 Flying Fortress es , the Boeing 307 s , the Boeing 377 s , some of the Boeing B - 29 Superfortress es , Boeing B - 50 Superfortress es , B - 47 Stratojet s , B - 52 Stratofortress es , and the initial Boeing 737s . It was located between the Duwamish River and Boeing Field . History . In the 1930s , it became apparent that Boeing Plant 1 , located right down the river , was obsolete for aircraft production as it focused on stitching , gluing , and nailing biplanes together . Plant 2 was built as a modern assembly line where metal would be stamped and placed onto the planes in the same facility . In 1936 , the plant was finished with a goal to build early prototypes of the B - 17 Flying Fortress and the Boeing 307 s . At this time the floor was . was added to the plant in May 1940 to support Boeing production of 380 Douglas DB - 7 light bombers . By the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor , the plant had been expanded to . In total , 6 , 981 B - 17s were produced in Plant 2 . To hide the factory from possible aerial attack , the U . S . Army Corps of Engineers built houses of plywood and fabric and installed fake streets to camouflage the roof . The idea was to blend the facility into the surrounding neighborhood across the river . Later in the war , the first three B - 29 Superfortress were built in the facility . While B - 29s were built by Boeing in Renton , Washington , and Wichita , Kansas , a Bell plant at Marietta , Georgia , and a Martin plant at Omaha , Nebraska , sub assemblies were produced in Plant 2 and shipped to the Renton plant . All 370 of the follow - on aircraft , the Boeing B - 50 Superfortress , were built in Plant 2 . In the late 1940s , the first two B - 47 Stratojet s , the first swept - wing bomber was built at the plant . After this , 278 B - 52 Stratofortress es were also built in the facility . Due to the roof being thirty - five feet high , early jets had a hinge on their tail to fit inside the building since their tails were high . B - 52 production later moved to Wichita Kansas . In addition , 58 Boeing 377 airliners were built in the plant . In the 1960s the first three Boeing 737s were assembled in Plant 2 , but finished in the neighboring Thompson Site . The Thompson Site was then used to produce another 268 737s . Production of the 737 was moved to the Boeing Renton Factory in 1970 , where production continues to this day . In the 1980s , the plant was used as a machine shop but that discontinued as work shifted to more modern facilities . The National Air and Space Museum ' s Boeing 367 - 80 and the museum ' s Boeing 307 were restored in the facility in 1990 - 2002 . The Museum of Flight ' s Boeing B - 17F and Boeing B - 29 were restored in Plant 2 and the museum ' s Lockheed Super Constellation was stored in the facility . A Douglas World Cruiser reproduction project was also underway in the plant . All remaining aircraft were removed from Plant 2 on September 18 , 2010 . Eventually the building fell into decay due to lack of adequate maintenance and earthquakes . Broken water mains sometimes flood the tunnels which lead to other buildings on the site . In 2010 , plans were announced by Boeing to demolish the plant . Under an agreement with both state and federal governments as well as local Native American tribes , the company will tear down the factory and restore more than five acres of wetlands along the Duwamish River . Demolition began in late 2010 . Notable workers . In 1940 , Joe Sutter took a summer job at the plant while studying aeronautical engineering at the University of Washington . He eventually ended up becoming the " father of the 747 " .