In 1999, the former electrical engineer had a vision: To save retired jetliners from becoming scrap metal by reusing them. Campbell, 64, is one of a small number of people worldwide who have transformed retired aircraft into a living space.
Bruce Campbell is an inventive engineer who bought a retired Boeing 727 aircraft fuselage and upcycled it into an unusual and innovative home. The huge 3-engine commercial airliner is propped up on concrete pillars in a suburban wooded area outside of Portland, Oregon, and has its own driveway.
The aircraft features a makeshift shower, but he is still working to install a working lavatory and to restore some of the plane’s original interior elements, like seating and lights. Campbell lives in this plane 6 months every year, and spends the other part of the year in Japan, where he is also looking to buy and similarly re-use a retired Boeing 747 fuselage. The 10 acres where he’s building his Oregon home cost $23,000 when he bought them in his 20s, and the plane set him back $220,000.
Bizzare!