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If you wanted some further visual evidence that we’re getting close to our first 787 Dreamliner, you need only take a look at some remarkable photos out of Italy. Alenia Aeronautica delivered the first fuselage sections of the Dreamliner at the end of last week. These two composite center sections (known as sections 44 and 46) were manufactured at Alenia’s 787 facility in Grottaglie.

EVERETT, Wash, Oct. 23, 2006 -- Boeing (NYSE: BA) opened and closed the swing tail for the 747-400 Large Cargo Freighter for the first time Oct. 10. The 747 LCF is currently at the Boeing Everett factory for tests on the swing tail, a major modification to the airplane that allows large pieces to be loaded and unloaded from the back of the airplane. These tests are the first time the LCF swing tail has opened. Since its first flight, the 747 LCF has accomplished 55 flight-test hours and 270 hours of ground tests. The 747 LCF will transport major...

SEATTLE, Sept. 16, 2006 -- Boeing (NYSE: BA) today celebrated the arrival of the first of three specially modified 747-400 passenger jets that will be used to transport the large composite sections and wings of the all-new Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The 747-400 Large Cargo Freighter (LCF) touched down at Seattle's Boeing Field at 8:08 a.m. PDT, ending a non-stop, 13-hour, 17-minute flight from Taipei, Taiwan. The LCF's arrival in Seattle signals a new phase of the airplane's flight test program, which began when the airplane made its first flight in Taipei on Sept. 9, 2006. Since then, the LCF successfully...

Boeing [NYSE: BA] has rolled the first 747-400 Large Cargo Freighter (LCF) out of the hangar at Taipei's Chiang Kai-Shek International Airport. The enormous airplane is the first of three specially modified jets that will be used to transport major assemblies for the all-new Boeing 787 Dreamliner. "This is one of the most unusual modifications Boeing has ever done," said Scott Strode, 787 vice president of Airplane Development and Production. "We've relied on the world's best talent to design and build the LCF and we can all be proud today to see it standing on the tarmac." Ground testing is...

NAGOYA, Japan -- For Boeing's Everett engineers working on the company's first all-new commercial jetliner in more than a decade, the dream begins here.s In this Japanese industrial city far from The Boeing Co.'s Puget Sound roots, in a factory built just for the 787 Dreamliner, Fuji Heavy Industries has completed the first large composite section that will go on the first 787 to fly next year. Measuring 17.4 feet long by 19 feet wide, the composite structure is the lower skin of the center wing box, a critical section of the jet where the 787 wings will be attached....

***********BOEING REVEALS ITS CARGO LOADER ******************** Boeing has unveiled the first cargo loader to be used to transport large 787 Dreamliner assemblies. The loader, the longest in the world at 118 ft., 1 inch, was designed and built by TLD at its facility in Sherbrooke, Quebec. Boeing will use the equipment to load three specially modified 747-400s that will allow Boeing to transport major Dreamliner components by air. "Designing and building a cargo loader of this magnitude is a unique proposition," said Scott Strode, 787 vice president of Airplane Development and Production. "A robust transportation system is essential to meeting...