Retired Engineer Transforms Boeing 727 Into His Dream Home
Picture it: you’re walking through the woods, enjoying a pleasant hike. The sun is shining, birds are chirping, and you’re enjoying the peaceful tranquility. Then, all of a sudden, you stumble upon an airplane! Thoughts race through your head—is it a plane crash? a junkyard? It could be anything. But if you happen to find yourself in Hillsboro, Oregon, then it could only be one thing: Bruce Campbell’s one of a kind home.
Bruce Campbell certainly was not the first person to ever dream up a unique house. From boats to cars to even school buses, people have repurposed all sorts of things to turn them into homes. But while other oddball houses have become more common of late, Campbell’s home definitely stands out from the rest.
For ages, people have built their homes in trees as well as on the ground. Houses have been made of bricks and stones, wood, mud, leaves, even vines. But an airplane?
There were more than a few obstacles standing in Bruce Campbell’s way when he decided to convert a Boeing 727 into a livable home. First, plenty of laws surrounding zoning and construction had to be tackled. Not to mention the Herculean task of dragging the gigantic aircraft onto his property. Then came the actual task of converting a commercial jet into living spaces. For anyone who has ever ridden in a plane, it’s not hard to imagine that turning those cramped cabins into a living room, kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom is easier said than done! Lucky for Bruce, he is one handy fellow!
Before retiring, Bruce Campbell worked as an electrical engineer. Always having had a knack for invention, Bruce started to collect old planes so he could up-cycle them into mind-blowing masterpieces, believing that they had potential beyond their original purpose. Thanks to his amazing imagination, he was able to transform a Boeing 727 into the most unique home on earth! Let’s go have a look inside!
Creative Vision
At the age of 64, Bruce Campbell is retired after having worked as an electrical engineer. However, throughout the years he has managed to hold onto his creative vision. Back in his twenties, Campbell bought 10 acres of land in Hillsboro, Oregon. Located deep in the forest, the land, which cost Campbell $23,000, might not seem like much to most, but Campbell had a vision for what to do with it.
Creative Vision
From A Young Age
Even as a child, Bruce Campbell loved to tinker and invent. He played with recycled materials, turning them into entirely new creations. When he first bought the land, Bruce initially wanted to build himself a home out of freight vans. However, his dream fell about when he got word of someone else’s home.
From A Young Age
A More Interesting Idea
Almost twenty years after he first purchased the land, Campbell heard about a woman in Mississippi named Joanne Ussery. Ussery once lived in a normal home before it tragically burned down. When she was rebuilding her life, Ussery decided to buy a Boeing 727 and convert it into a home, where she currently lives, next to a beautiful lakeside.
A More Interesting Idea
Starting Small
Even though Bruce Campbell’s plane-for-a-freight-van home was already underway, he scrapped the idea in favor of living inside a jet plane. He believed that decommissioned planes—which are normally just turned into scrap metal—could serve a higher purpose than they currently do. And size was no issue, since he had 10 acres to play with. The problem, however, was how to get a plane to Oregon, and how to pay for it.
Starting Small
Purchasing An Airliner
In 1999, Campbell bought a Boeing 727 from Olympic Airways. The airline, located in Athens, sold him the plane for $100,000. The question now was how to get the plane to Oregon.
Purchasing An Airliner
Moving The Plane
The hardest part of the whole idea would inevitably turn out to be transporting a jet plane from Athens, Greece to the woods of Oregon. Arrangements for the move, including some other necessary details, cost Campbell $120,000, bringing the total of his venture so far to a whopping $220,000. Nevertheless, Bruce never lost sight of his goal, which would pay off in the end, more than he could have ever imagined.
Moving The Plane
Massive Relocation
The size of the task before him—instead of intimidating Bruce Campbell—only made him more excited. It wasn’t just the amount of work involved , but the giant nature of the plane. Moving a Boeing 727 into the woods of Oregon is no easy job. A team of workers had to take the wings apart so the plane could be transported to Campbell’s property.
Massive Relocation
His Own Land
While some might wonder how Campbell was able to plop a giant jet plane down in the middle of the woods, the answer is actually quite simple: Because he owned the land, there really was not anything the authorities could do about it. Campbell thought of everything.
His Own Land
Building Wings
The wings had to be disassembled for easier transport to Oregon. Once they arrived, Bruce was able to put them back together and reinstall them onto the plane. For a long while, the plane remained a work in progress, but over the years, it transformed into something else entirely, thanks to lots of hard work and inventive thinking.
Building Wings
New Insight
While the project might have started off as just something fun for him to do, it quickly took on greater meaning for Bruce Campbell. His passion for upcycling—turning recycled materials into art or useful objects—motivated him to transform the jet plane into a beautiful home, thus saving it from being scrapped for parts.
New Insight
Living On The Side
While he worked on the jet plane—the fuselage alone took years to get right—Bruce lived in his old freight vans. While it took time and plenty of hard work, Campbell never lost sight of his vision. However, more trouble lay ahead.
Living On The Side
Unexpected Trouble
While working on the jet plane, mice took over the freight vans where Campbell had made his home. Now he had no other option—he moved into the Boeing, even though he still did not have a building permit. However, this set back allowed him to fully grasp the grandeur of the space he was working with. Hard to believe this used to be a fully-operational aircraft!
Unexpected Trouble
Converging Of Two Worlds
During an interview for Mirror, Campbell talked at length about his passion for upcycling, saying that, “shredding a beautiful and scintillating jetliner is a tragedy in waste, and a profound failure of human imagination.” While the idea of living alone in the middle of the woods might seem lonely to most, Campbell does not see it that way, instead believing that planes have an “engineering grace unmatched by any other structures people can live within.”
Converging Of Two Worlds
Envisioning
While his ideas were more preliminary, as soon as Bruce Campbell moved into the Boeing 727, everything fell into place and became crystal clear. He told Business Insider, “Next time you’re in a jetliner, close your eyes for a moment and remove all the seats, all the other people from your mind.” He added, “Then open your eyes with that vision and consider the expanse of the living room. It’s a good environment; it really is.”
Envisioning
The Debut
Before he could debut his magnificent new home, he needed to clean it up first. Bruce Campbell used a pressure washer to clean up the fuselage exterior. While this might sound like child’s play, Campbell told the Daily Mail that in fact it took up to four days to finish!
The Debut
Maintenance And All That Jazz
The wash job was not a simple one and done. In fact, the jet plane needs to be pressure washed every two years. This is no easy task, since Campbell must climb tall ladders to be able to reach every part of the plane. This is also dangerous, since the risk of falling due to a misstep or a problem with the hose, are very real. While Campbell is cautious while working, he says that the end result is worth the danger.
Maintenance And All That Jazz
Unconventional Home
Campbell’s idea of turning a Boeing into his dream home did not come out of nowhere. In fact, he believes that every decommissioned plane’s destiny is to become an “aerospace class castle. He told the Daily Mail, “If a conventional home is a legacy age family Chevy or Ford, an airliner is a fresh new Tesla or Porsche Carrera.”
Unconventional Home
Living In A Castle
It’s fitting to describe Campbell’s dream home as a castle. The Boeing 727 is propped up by concrete pillars, and he even installed a driveway. For anyone stumbling upon the bizarre home outside Hillsboro, Oregon, it becomes readily apparent that this aircraft did not simply fall out of the sky, but that a massive amount of work was put in to get it there.
Living In A Castle
Toss Or Keep
Campbell, not one to waste things, tried to keep as much of the aircraft’s equipment in place as possible. The cockpit still has all of its controls and instruments. However, he updated the interior to make it comfortable for daily living.
Toss Or Keep
Work In Progress
Some say that art is never finished, only abandoned, and Campbell surely takes this to heart. His home in a constant work in progress, and while he might have added some features—like a makeshift shower—other parts are original to the aircraft. He renovated the stairs, lighting, even the lavatory and seats! Want to see what the insides look like today?
Work In Progress
Opening His Home To Others
To get inside Bruce Campbell’s home, guests walk up the jetliner’s original stairwell, just like passengers on the tarmac would do to board their flight.
Opening His Home To Others
Fine Details
Campbell has thought of everything, even down to the very last detail. When guests first walk inside, they are greeted by a shoe rack filled with slippers for visitors to wear. Campbell asks his guests to swap out their shoes for shippers since, as you can imagine, housekeeping is no easy task!
Fine Details
Number 1 Rule
The glass floor can get pretty dirty pretty quickly—all just part of living in the woods—so Campbell only wears socks or slippers inside. Even though he lives alone, Campbell likes to keep his home in pristine condition.
Number 1 Rule
Feeling At Home
The Plexiglas floor is one of Campbell’s favorite features of his aircraft-turned-home. Standing there, he imagines all the possibilities.
Feeling At Home
What He Needs
While the Boeing 727 certainly offers a lot of space, Campbell prefers to live a Spartan lifestyle. With only a futon to sleep on, Campbell cooks with a toaster and microwave, preferring to eat canned foods and cereal. He spends his time constructing equipment out of recycled materials.
What He Needs
Living Modestly
Here, Bruce is seen relaxing on his futon, with some of his inventions gathered around. When not relaxing, Campbell is usually hard at work. His home needs constant renovations, like the work he did in the bathroom. Read on to find out how.
Living Modestly
Cool Shower
The aircraft still has its original two lavatories, both of which are in working condition, but those are nothing compared to the shower Bruce Campbell built himself. Located near the plane’s tail, the shower gets power from an underground power line, which Campbell rerouted himself in addition to digging the trench it’s housed in. The supplied electricity heats up the water for a steamy shower.
Cool Shower
Getting Connected
Getting hooked up to electricity was easier said than done. First, Bruce Campbell had to connect a power cable to an old meter base, then he installed a circuit breaker inside a cabinet in the aircraft. PVC pipes pumped water into the plane. Altogether, this allowed him to shave and brush his teeth with fresh, clean water. He also installed a telecom cable.
Getting Connected
Still Intact
Though the cockpit of the Boeing 727 still had all its original equipment, it is obviously no longer operational. Instead, Campbell transformed it into an entertainment space, where he loves to come lounge and do some reading. Due to the interesting nature of the space, Bruce enjoys constantly tinkering and renovating it.
Still Intact
House Of Toys
Campbell loves living inside what he thinks of as a giant play space. There’s always something fun and exciting to fiddle with. He told Business Insider, “It’s a great toy. Trick doors, trick floors. Hatches here, hatches there. Star Trek movies in a Star-Trek like setting. Having lots of little toys enclosed in a very big toy is nirvana.” A tech nerd’s heaven it seems!
House Of Toys
The Engineer
Campbell loves to stay busy, and most days he can be found hard at work on his computer, drawing up designs for his one-of-a-kind home. While this might seem tedious to some, Campbell loves it! He told Daily Mail, “I think most people are nerds in their hearts in some measure. The point is to have fun.”
The Engineer
It Makes Sense
For someone with such a passion for design and engineering, living in a space you crafted for yourself makes perfect sense. Living inside his very own airplane must be a dream come true for Bruce Campbell!
It Makes Sense
Fully Operational
Before moving deep into the middle of the woods all by himself, Bruce Campbell wanted to make sure that he would be comfortable and have access to all the basic amenities. That’s why in addition to hooking up running water, he also repaired the lighting systems inside and outside the plane.
Fully Operational
Even At Night
Thanks to his work on the lighting system and his electrical rewiring, Campbell can rest easy knowing that his home is fully operational, even at night. He never has to worry about blackouts, and can relax and enjoy his work into the wee hours. He replaced the original lights with LED’s to make them more environmentally friendly.
Tending The Environment
Living in the middle of the woods inside a jet plane takes more work than you’d think. Instead of only caring for the plane’s insides, Campbell is also concerned with the surrounding forest. Just like anyone with a yard, Campbell tends to the grass and weeds growing around his home.
Tending The Environment
No Easy Job
Once a week, Campbell mows the lawn, and he also manages the weeds sprouting up beneath the jet plane. While this might seem like a lot of work, it is nothing for a man who built a home inside of a Boeing 727.
No Easy Job
Upcycling Is The Way
Many people have wondered about Bruce Campbell’s passion for upcycling. During an interview with the Daily Mail, Campbell talked about his passion for the environment, which upcycling naturally plays into. He also mentioned the structural integrity of airplanes. His home could most likely survive many harsh storms, and even earthquakes!
Upcycling Is The Way
Air-Tight
In addition to their hardiness and ability to survive harsh conditions, Campbell says his home is easy to care for and maintain. The interior is easy to keep immaculately clean because they are sealed pressure canisters. They could last for centuries,” Campbell said. He hopes that as word spreads of his unusual home, more people will sign on and seek the environmental benefits of an alternative home.
Air Tight
Close Enough
Many people would be put off by the idea of living inside a jet plane, worried they would lack the comfort and amenities they had grown used to. But Bruce Campbell is living proof that this just is not the case. Lucky for him, town is not too far away, so he can always make a trip in to gather any supplies he is missing.
Close Enough
Not Going Hungry
As you can see, Campbell’s kitchen is equipped with everything he might need. He can grab canned goods, condiments, and produce from town. While this might not be the fanciest kitchen in the world, anyone but the strictest foodie would be able to make due just fine. Campbell prefers to feed his mind rather than his stomach anyway. With a microwave, toaster, and running water, a basic meal is a snap! And who said airplane food wasn’t good?
Not Going Hungry
Authentic Feel
While Campbell’s home will never be airborne again, the preserved rows of original seating still give it that classic airplane feel. Take a seat, close your eyes, and you’ll feel like you’re soaring at 10,000 feet in the air!
Authentic Feel
A Select Few
While most seats have been removed to provide ample living space for Campbell to enjoy, the select few that remain give that classic airplane feel. Guests can lounge at their leisure and pretend they’re flying to Paris or Shanghai!
A Select Few
His Office
The cockpit might just be Campbell’s favorite spot in the plane. There, he lets his creativity run wild, as well as using the space to work, read, relax, and even play games!
His Office
Imagining Flying
All the preserved knobs and switches and lights let Campbell imagine what it would be like to be a pilot. For a technophile like him, this must be a dream come true!
Imagining Flying
Keeping Clean
You’d think living in the forest would pose a hygiene problem, but that isn’t the case for Bruce Campbell. He installed running water and even has a top-loading washing machine, so he’s always looking and smelling fresh and clean!
Keeping Clean
Imagination Is Key
Campbell is living proof that imagination is everything. With a little creativity, hard work, and perseverance, anything is possible! If Bruce can do it, so can you!
Imagination Is Key
Not Different
Campbell takes care of his appearance with the same attention to detail that he brings to taking care of his home. His home is definitely a reflection of how much Campbell cares.
Not Different
Not Isolated
Bruce Campbell might live in the middle of the woods, but he does not live the life of a castaway. He showers, shaves, and brushes his teeth every day. His home might be unique, but it has everything he could possibly need!
Not Isolated
Built To Last
One of the benefits of living in an airplane is the sturdiness of the material. While most homes are made of brick or wood, which can degrade over time, airplanes are made of metal. Campbell told Business Insider, that “wood is, in my view, a terrible building material. It biodegrades – it’s termite chow and microbe chow. Or it’s firewood; depends upon which happens first.”
Built To Last
Strength Or Ergonomics?
One of the benefits Bruce Campbell finds in airplanes is their shape. He believes that the rectangular shape of traditional homes is one of their downfalls, noting that they are built for ergonomics instead of strength. “To me it makes no sense at all to destroy the finest structures available and then turn around and build homes out of materials which are fundamentally little better than pressed cardboard, using ancient and inferior design and building methods,” Campbell said.
Strength Or Ergonomics
What’s Possible
Campbell is no stranger to questions about his home. Many people wonder if the plane crash landed in the woods, or if he built the plane on sight from scratch. Campbell finds most of these questions to be silly or downright illogical, so mostly he pays them no mind.
What’s Possible
Sharing Is Caring
One of his goals in constructing his jet plane home is to educate people about the possibilities that exist in the world. The average person has no idea the amount of time and hard work that goes into building a home like Campbell’s, but he does not hold it against them, since society has taught us to only think inside the box.
Sharing Is Caring
Pride In His Work
After all the hard work he has put into his home, Bruce Campbell has every right to feel proud in what he has accomplished. Posing for pictures inside the Boeing 727, you can see how happy he is with what he has done. With plenty of gadgets to play with, there truly is no place like home for someone like Bruce Campbell.
This is far from being Campbell’s only or last project. The man has big plans and even bigger ideas for the future. Keep reading to see what is on the horizon for the unlikely inventor.
Pride In His Work
Here And There
After all the time he put into his home, you would think that Bruce Campbell would never want to leave his aircraft abode. However, he only spends about half of the year there! The other six months he prefers to travel, and most often spends his time in Japan. Quite the change of scenery from the woods of Hillsboro, Oregon!
While in Japan, Bruce Campbell likes to keep busy by working on all sorts of different projects. One in particular has captured his imagination. While it might be a little hard to imagine, some of you have probably already guessed what it is.
Here And There
Another Project
You guessed it! Bruce Campbell wants to build ANOTHER airplane home in Japan! But this project is a little different, since this time he wants to go even bigger, using a Boeing 747 instead of a Boeing 727. He plans to buy a decommissioned plane and start on his new jet plane home for when he is in Japan.
Maybe it is not that surprising that, after building one eco-friendly home in America, he would want to do the same in Japan. After constructing the first out of this world home, the second one should be a breeze! But perhaps the larger size will pose some unexpected problems.
Another Project
Opening Minds
Campbell’s calling in life is to have a positive and lasting impact on the world, not just for the environment, but for humanity as well. Innovation is his passion, due most likely to his previous career as an electrical engineer.
Nothing excites him more than upcycling decommissioned airplanes. Just the thought gets him giddy and excited. Standing next to the home he built himself, he said, “My goal is to change humanity’s behavior in this little niche.”
Opening Minds
Part Of A Small Group
Campbell is not the only person to have built a home out of a retired jet plane. In fact, all over the world, from America to Europe and South America, people have converted aircrafts into livable and functional spaces. Martin Todd, an Aircraft Fleet Recycling Association spokesman, said that the group “is happy to see aircraft fuselages re-purposed in a range of creative ways. We would want them to be recovered and to be re-used in an environmentally sustainable fashion.”
Part Of A Small Group
The Organization
The AFRA works hard to promote the practice of reusing and recycling retired aircrafts and engines. A spokesperson estimated that between 1,200 and 1,800 planes will be decommissioned over the next three years, with approximately five to six hundred will be retired annually over the next twenty years. This could translate into many, many homes for individuals like Bruce Campbell or anyone with the patience and passion to learn from them.
The Organization
The Woods Of Hillsboro
Bruce Campbell did not pick the woods of Hillsboro, Oregon at random when deciding where to build his Boeing 727 home. Firstly, he was offered a job in the area after he graduated from college in the 1970’s. Secondly, he fell in love with the area for its luscious greenery. He wrote on his website that, “I like the area and it’s very green, and Oregon is a little independent minded which appealed to me. It’s a country setting, it’s very nice. It’s more than enough for the aircraft.”
The Woods Of Hillsboro
A Normal House
It was fairly late in life that Bruce Campbell finally became a homeowner. He told the Daily Mail that he did not want to get tied down by a hefty mortgage. When it was finally time to settle down, he had something entirely unique in mind. “I had stopped thinking in provincial terms and I had thought like a free bird engineer,” he said.
A Normal House
The Curious Are Welcome
Bruce Campbell loves to show off his amazing home to interested visitors. Tourists and locals alike can set up appointments through his website whenever they’re in the area to come take a look at life inside a Boeing 727.
The Curious Are Welcome
His Words
Campbell told the Daily Mail that he is happy to have so many people interested in what he has built. “It happens frequently; it happens almost every day now and I encourage it.” He hopes to inspire other people with his passion for upcycling.
His Words
Going About His Business
With so many people coming and going for a tour of the house, the occasional awkward moment does arise. Once, while he was taking a shower, a group of people walked in hoping for a tour. Talk about awkward!
Going About His Business
Meeting New People
While about seventy five percent of visitors schedule a tour first through his website, the rest tend to just show up unexpected. “I live in a pretty transparent environment. I go about living while people are touring my aircraft and sometimes it’s very intimate,” he explained to Daily Mail. Despite the embarrassing run ins, he is happy to see so many people interested in his work.
Meeting New People
A Special Kind Of Concert
Campbell opens his home for more than just visitors. He also hosts unique and one of a kind events throughout the year. For example, in 2018, he hosted Tokyo vocalist Pomily from June 30th to July 3rd. The concert took place by the plane’s right win, where guests could lounge in a nearby grassy area.
He advertised the event on his website, saying it would be a “new concert option: Superb music rendered from a wing of a scintillating aerospace home” with few instructions and guidelines. Guests were told to wear comfortable shoes and clothes, and those who wanted to, could take a peek inside the aircraft before or after the concert.
A Special Kind Of Concert
A Boeing 727 Kind Of Party
If you missed the unique concert, do not fret! You have another chance to experience a one of a kind party. From September 7th to September 9th, 2018, Campbell will be throwing a massive DJ dance party with the help of some friends, who own the party promotion company, Murderboat Productions, in Portland, Oregon.
Over 14,000 people on Facebook have expressed interest in attending Turbulence: A Dance Party at a 727 in the Woods. The party will take place on the wing, with guests being able to tour the ground and aircraft if they’d like. This promises to be an amazing party, with food, beer, and art, and of course, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission’s permission.
A Boeing-727 Kind Of Party
Living The Bachelor Life
With his home and bachelor style life, Bruce Campbell is as happy as could be. He says he has no desire to pursue love or a relationship, happy to live by himself in his one of a kind home. “I will not marry and will not generate kids. I’m 68, so it’s too late anyway, but I simply never desired to be married or have kids. I enjoy romance and love and I indulge in it as much as civilization will allow,” he told Daily Mail.
It comes as no surprise that for someone like Bruce Campbell, the idea of marriage can seem as constricting as a mortgage. However, he is quite close to his neighbors, who support his vision and various projects, so he certainly is not lonely. Besides, he stays plenty busy, which brings us to what Campbell is working on next.
Living The Bachelor Life
Boeing 747
When not residing in Hillsboro, Oregon in his Boeing 727, Bruce Campbell lives in Japan, where he hopes to soon buy land in order to create a second, larger aircraft abode, this time using a Boeing 747.
Campbell’s passion for upcycling pushes him to promote his modest lifestyle to others. He hopes that visitors and those who learn about his home will be inspired and that one day he will “spark a renaissance of thought about how to utilize this remarkable resource.”
Boeing 747
Helping The Community
Bruce Campbell plans to start work on his second airliner home in 2018. He plans to build his home on the coast of Kyushu Island. He hopes that his home will serve as a safe haven, not just for himself, but for the local community as well.
Campbell’s goal is for this second home to serve as a lifeboat in case of a tsunami, which poses regular threats to areas such as Kyushu. Due to their durable build and pressure sealed technology, they can last for hundreds of years and could save countless lives from even the harshest of conditions.
Helping The Community
Boeing 727-400
Bruce Campbell’s first home is constructed from a Boeing 727, which Boeing made from 1960 to 1984. The smaller plane was used mainly for shorter flights, since its smaller body required less runway length, and was thus optimal for use in smaller airports.
The Boeing 727 was the only airline that Boeing Commercial Airplanes produced that was constructed with three engines. It could seat anywhere from 149 to 189 passengers. While it was once used by many major airlines, Delta Air Lines was the last to do so. They retired their last Boeing 727 in April of 2003, while Northwest Airlines retired their last Boeing 727 in June of the same year. The only airline to still use the Boeing 727, with three planes still in operation, is Iran Aseman Airlines.
Boeing 727-400
A Bleak Past
Before it became Campbell’s unique home, the Boeing 727 was obviously used as a passenger jet. However, it turns out that it had some very famous passengers, including a dead body!
Campbell’s home once housed the body of deceased Greek tycoon Aristotle Onassis after he died on March 15, 1975 in France due to respiratory failure. His wife, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, a former first lady of the United States of America, accompanied the body.
A Bleak Past