Vintage airliner lifted from sea

Damage to the plane has yet to be assessed

An historic passenger plane that crashed into the sea off the coast of Seattle has been hoisted from the water.

The 1940s Boeing 307 Stratoliner was loaded on to a barge and taken to a riverside terminal.

Only 10 Boeing 307s were ever built

A Boeing spokesman said it was too early to tell if the plane - the only one of its kind in existence - would ever fly again.

The pilot of the Stratoliner was forced to ditch in Puget Sound on Thursday when the plane developed engine trouble.

No one was injured and the pilot and three passengers were standing on the plane's wings when rescuers arrived.

The Stratoliner was once the presidential plane of Haitian dictator Papa Doc Duvalier.

Debra Eckrote, of the National Transportation Safety Board, said that the pilot set the plane down in the water because he decided it was the safest place to land.

Restoration project

"Ditching is not an easy thing to do, and they did an excellent job," she said.

The four-engine plane was being flown by veteran Boeing test pilot Richard "Buzz" Nelson, 60, of Seattle.

Also on board were Boeing test pilot Mike Carriker, Boeing mechanic Nathan Scott Andrews and flight test manager Mark Kempton, who was leading the plane's restoration project.

Boeing 307

First flight: 1938

First commercial plane with pressurised cabin

Space for 5 crew and 33 passengers

Could fly at 20,000 feet

The plane will be washed down before being taken to a hangar at nearby Boeing Field where the damage can be assessed.

"Hopefully one day it can be back flying," said Boeing spokesman Tom Ryan.

A group of Boeing enthusiasts had spent six years restoring the plane and it was to be the centrepiece of the new Smithsonian Institution's Air Museum at Dulles International Airport.

The 33-passenger Stratoliner was the first commercial plane to have a pressurised cabin.

Only 10 were made. Five were used for military transport during World War II, others flew routes between the US and Latin America and between New York and Los Angeles.

The silver-bodied plane drew the attention of celebrities including the reclusive millionaire Howard Hughes, who bought one for himself and transformed it into a "flying penthouse".