Last August, we reported that Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) had 11 pre-production 787 Dreamliners parked on the tarmac that had been for sale at substantial discounts but no potential customers to buy them. This past Saturday, Boeing donated one of the first three test planes to Seattle’s Museum of Flight.

The three planes have already been written off for more than $2 billion, according to industry watcher Leeham. The donation is unprecedented, says Leeham, which notes that aircraft makers aren’t in the habit of giving away modern planes to museums.

In this case, however, it was virtually certain that no buyer would appear who would be willing to bring the plane up to current standards, even after purchasing the plane at a very steep discount. The museum’s plane comes complete with twin Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines

The Dreamliner has been added to the Museum of Flight’s collection, which also includes a DC-3, a retired 707 decked out as Air Force One, a Boeing 727-200, a 737-200, a prototype 747-100 and a supersonic Concorde.

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