Boeing 8 BB-L6

Original photo caption:

THE BOEING BB-L6 OF 1920
This airplane, a three-seat open cockpit sports biplane built for Herbert Munter, a pioneer Northwest aviator, was a wood and fabric construction with demountable dual controls. Hunter, now vice president of West Coast Airlines, used it in making the first flight over 14,408-foot Mount Rainier. Boeing in 1920 also built 111 DH-4B two-seat open-cockpit observation biplanes for the US Army.

BB-L6 SPECIFICATIONS
Wing span 44' 9"; length 29' 3"; weight 2,632 lbs; speed 100 mph; ceiling 15,000 ft.; range 450 mi.; power, Hall-Scott L-6 (214 hp).

03/31/2024. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "The BB-L6 was built to the order of Herb Munter, Boeing's first test pilot, and the fuselage design was inspired by the wartime Italian Ansaldo Ballila, one of which was in Seattle at the time. The fuselage cross-section changed from the traditional four longeron rectangle in the engine-cockpit area to a three longeron inverted triangle aft of the rear cockpit. The entire fuselage was covered with mahogany plywood. The wing configuration and power plant were similar to the BB-1 flying-boat, and the L6 in the designation identified the 200 hp Hall-Scott L-6 engine. Two passengers were carried side-by-side in the front cockpit and the pilot was in the single rear cockpit, a configuration that was to remain standard for all subsequent American three-seat open-cockpit biplanes.

The BB-L6, which first flew on May 24, 1920, is credited with making the first flight over Mount Rainier, a 14,400 ft (4,389 m) peak that was to become virtually a Boeing trademark when used as a background for photographs of later Boeing aircraft. The single BB-L6 was destroyed in a hangar fire at Kent, Washington, in 1923."