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Archives at The Museum of Flight


Meindert Pillie Boeing Collection

 Collection
Identifier: 2025-11-11-A

Contents of the Collection

The Meindert Pillie Boeing Collection is comprised of textual and visual materials collected and used by Meindert Pillie over the course of his 40-year career as a Mechanic and Hydraulic Mockup Technician with the Boeing Company. The collection has been divided into two series: Professional materials and Aircraft documentation. Both series have been arranged chronologically.

The first series, Professional materials, provides a glimpse into Pillie's work with primarily textual materials. Among the materials are an aircraft exam book, correspondence, and two notebooks that focus on the Boeing B-52.

Additional materials related to Pillie's time at Boeing pertain to his 25-year service award and include a certificate and related correspondence from the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers as well as six black-and-white photographs that depict Pillie and Boeing executives during his 25-year pin presentation. Two of the prints have accompanying negatives.

Also present are 17 8x10-inch photographs of Boeing employees, including Pillie, circa 1950s-1972. Nearly all of the prints depict a group of employees, likely part of a particular team and often in an office or conference room setting. Two prints depict Pillie in a cockpit with two other unidentified males. One image depicts a wall of a control room for the Boeing Model 767 project.

Additional photographs are present, but are likely personal. The prints depict a young boy and a young woman with a toddler, possibly Pillie's wife and his children. There is also a photographic postcard of Moses Lake, Washington and a print that depicts an aircraft crash in water. The prints are a mix of black-and-white and color. Some are vintage prints, although most appear to be modern reprints. Contextual information such as names, dates, or locations are not present on the vast majority of the photographs.

A small assortment of printed ephemera is also present in this series. Materials include Kolonel Keds and his exciting Bell rocket belt comic, clippings, and a November 1951 copy of Dutch-language magazine Panorama.

The second series, Aircraft documentation is focuses on specific aircraft technical information. The bulk of the series is a large number of assorted diagrams, notes, and technical drawings, several of which are noted as "Pillie's copy." Many of the technical diagrams and drawings relate to the Boeing Model 727 and 737. Examples include "Hydraulic diagram, cargo door system" and "Marking Installation - decorative, Exterior." Additional aircraft include, but are not limited to, the Boeing B-29 and B-50. A list of drawings is available upon request. Additional materials include forms, charts, lists, and tables for Boeing aircraft, including the B-47, B-52, and YC-97, among others.

Dates

  • Creation: 1934-1972

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research but has not been fully processed. Access to the collection may be limited or may require additional processing time. For more information contact us.

Conditions Governing Use

The Museum of Flight (TMOF) Archives is the owner of the physical materials in the archives and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from TMOF archives before any publication use. TMOF does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners. Consult repository for more details.

Biographical Note: Meindert Pillie

Meindert Pillie (1914-2010) worked for the Boeing Company for 40 years as a Mechanic and Hydraulic Mockup Technician.

Menidert Pillie was born on December 1, 1914 in Oudenhoorn, Netherlands to Arie and Jakoba Dekker Pillie. His family relocated to Washington state and he was raised in Renton and Issaquah. Pillie graduated from Issaquah High School in 1934. From late 1941 to late 1943 he served with United States Army Air Corps as a sergeant with the 349th Flexible Gunnery Training Squadron.

After his military service, Pillie joined the Boeing Company of Seattle, Washington. Initially he began on the flight line for the Boeing 314 Clipper but over the course of his career as a Mechanic and Hydraulic Mockup Technician he did development work on all Boeing planes up through the Model 767.

After his retirement in the early 1980s, he enjoyed traveling and photography. Pillie married June Aileen Langlie (-1993) on August 30, 1941. The couple had two daughters and two sons. Meindert Pillie died on March 10, 2010 in Issaquah, Washington.

Biography derived from collection materials, donor information, and records on Ancestry.com.

Full Extent

1.20 Cubic Feet (2 5-inch legal-size document boxes, 1 2-inch letter-size document box)

Language

English

Accruals

No further accruals are expected.

Related Materials at Other Institutions

The University of Washington Special Collections holds the Meindert Pillie Home Movie Films and Photographs Collection, PH Coll 2019-11, which includes seven films recorded by Pillie. Online access available at https://content.lib.washington.edu/.

Separated Materials

The following items were separated from the archival component and are kept in the Library:

  • The Knickerbocker, Vol. 17, no. 4, April 1955
  • Popular Mechanics, Vol. 69, no. 2, February 1938
  • Popular Science, Vol. 120, no. 3, March 1932


Additional materials have been separated and are kept in Trade Literature, the Philatelic Collection, the Decals Collection, the Aviation Art Collection, and Tech Files. Please inquire for details.

Title
Guide to the Meindert Pillie Boeing Collection
Status
Completed Level 2
Author
Jenn Parent
Date
2026 May
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Edition statement
1st Edition

Repository Details

Part of the The Museum of Flight Archives Repository

Contact:
9404 East Marginal Way South
Seattle Washington 98108-4097
206-764-5874


The Museum of Flight | 9404 E. Marginal Way South | Seattle WA 98108-4097 | 206-764-5874
Contact us with a research request
curator@museumofflight.org