Everett man builds B-17 replica in his garage

EVERETT — Thatcher Johnson has spent years building stuff.

A former aerospace repair worker, Johnson had built replica airplane equipment, replica plane seats and a full 737 flight simulator in his garage. He even built a replica ejection seat as a gift for a former Navy pilot who had survived two ejections of his own. (No, Johnson’s seat did not actually eject.)

But Johnson’s biggest challenge has come in the form of his latest project: a life-size replica of a B-17 bomber cockpit, built entirely in his north Everett garage.

Since he started the project three years ago, he’s picked up building materials from local hardware stores and spent hours in the cramped space building the cockpit. His obsessive research sent him sourcing real B-17 plans from anonymous sources online and watching archival footage to get clues as to how workers assembled the planes in the 1940s.

https://www.heraldnet.com/news/everett-man-builds-b-17-replica-in-his-garage/