Alex Carson
Unconventional Homes
There are some people who dream of owning a nice, two-story home in a beautiful suburb with a carefully manicured yard. There are other people who prefer less conventional homes. Some people choose to live in motor homes so that they can travel the world. Others want to simplify their lives by having minimal possessions and living in “tiny houses.” Bruce Campbell is a man who also wanted an unconventional home.
Making a Home In Hillsboro
Bruce Campbell is a retired engineer from Hillsboro, Oregon. He loved planes his whole life and believes that planes can be useful for more than flying passengers from destination to destination. The 64-year-old plane enthusiast purchased a 10-acre piece of land when he was in his early 20’s. It cost him $23,000, and it is located deep in the forest of Hillsboro. He bought the land with a specific purpose in mind. He was going to build himself an unconventional home out there. At first, he was going to build himself a house out there using several freight trains. When he heard that someone else had done this, his plans changed.
Hearing About a Plane
Bruce heard about a woman named Joanne Ussery about 20-years after he purchased the land. She was a hairdresser from Mississippi who bought a Boeing 747 plane and turned it into her home. This is what led him to considered building his own airplane home. He had the land, but he needed to get the money to buy a plane and then get it out to his property. This man turns
Buying the Plane
In 1999, Bruce bought a Boeing 727 from Olympic Airways based at the Athens Airport. The plane cost him $100,000. After he bought the plane, he had to find a way to get it deep into the woods of Oregon. It was an expensive job, and it cost him $120,000 to get the plane to his land. It took several men to take the wings of the plane apart. This was the only way to get it to the secluded piece of land. They had to take the wings apart so that they could be reinstalled when the plane was placed in the forest.
Working On the Plane
Bruce worked for years in the fuselage. He wanted to make it his permanent home. While he was working on the plane, he lived in freight vans that he had nearby. The project wasn’t as easy as Bruce thought. While he was doing work on the plane, the van where he was living became infested with mice. This meant that he was forced to move into the plane without a building permit. When he moved into the plane, he got an idea of how much space he would have in his plane.
A Clear Vision
Bruce never drew up any plans for his Boeing 727. When he moved in, he got a clear vision of his dream home. He knew that removing the seats would give him more than enough room to live.
Cleaning Up the Plane
Bruce didn’t want just the inside of the plane to look amazing; he wanted the outside to look great as well. This meant that he would need to pressure wash the exterior of the plane. This might sound easy, but it took him a full four days to get the whole exterior clean. This wasn’t just a one time job. He says that he needs to wash the plane every two years and he needs ladders to get to the engines at the top of the plane. It was a dangerous job, but for him, it was well worth the risk.
Creating His Vision
Bruce was sure that he could make a palace out of the plane. He wanted to make use of the plane’s equipment which meant that he kept the cockpit intact along with the instruments and the controls. He also wanted to keep the flight stairs, the airplane’s bathroom, the LED lighting, and the original seating.
Bruce’s New Home
To get on the plane, you would use the airplane’s original folding stairwell the same way the passengers did when the plane was still in use. To Bruce, details were important. In
A Work In Progress
Bruce converted the cockpit to a reading and entertainment area. He is still working on the rest of the plane. He spends his days on the plane working or at his computer where he creates designs for his new home. His home has everything that he could ever need, and you should see what it looks like at night. When all of the windows are lit up, Bruce’s home looks amazing. He might not be able to cook gourmet meals in his plane, but he is doing just fine. He loves his plane in the forest.
