WIX Archives

Re: NASM Policy Debate for the Weekend

Posted by Richard Allnutt on Tue Oct 16, 2001 06:04:43 PM

In reply top Re: NASM Policy Debate for the Weekend posted by Jim on Tue Oct 16, 2001 05:01:41 PM

The new center at Dulles is going to cost well over a hundred million when everything is sorted out... it is HUGE. The $60M donated by Udvar-Harzi will cover only about half of the complete cost of setting the place up.... and no it's not going to marble floors, it really will be a state of the art facility with the long term aim of preserving these aircraft for hundreds of years to come. Buildings of this scale are not cheap... it's not just a hangar and a parking lot, but a huge complex structure in keeping with the extremely high standards of the Smithsonian's other facilities.
It would be nice if all of the aircraft in the collection could be restored to the same degree of detail that the Seiran and Hurricane and quite a number of other aircraft have been restored to. However, it just will take too long to accomplish this aim with the current facilities/staffing. There are many aircraft in the collection which desperately need attention. Therefore, it seems wize to me that the process of conservation is being accelerated in the practical and pragmatic manner in which they are moving. Also, the majority of the aircraft have to be ready for display in 2003 when the new museum opens. The way to accomplish this, while still maintaining historical authenticity, is to go through the airframes, and clean and treat the interior and exterior. Some of the aircraft, like the P-38 and P-63, are essentially time capsules from when they were in service, and these aircraft will keep their original, authentic paint schemes.... which is really important if you want to have a true historical reference. They will look a little less shiny than the overly-perfect stuff on the airshow flightline, but they will be true representations of an original aircraft.

In the case of aircraft such as the He-219, the aircraft's paint scheme is buried under layers of paint from its days in airforce evaluation. Therefore they will carefully sand through the layers to find the true Luftwaffe paint scheme and repaint the aircraft in these colours. From what I understand they have two schemes to choose from.

Yes, this will be an intermediate term fix, because the aircraft will need further attention later on, but they all do. There isn't an aircraft in the collection that won't, at some point, require some additional maintenance. This is the best way to get as many of the aircraft "conserved", so that they can eventually be "preserved". However, those opposing this scheme seem to missing the overwhelimingly obvious point. It will be great to finally see these truly rare aircraft come out of hybernation in their complete form for the first time in more than a generation. They will be on display in a building which will be, without doubt, the finest aviation museum in the world. I find it very hard to argue the case in any other way.

Richard

:
: Somehow the argument that this is cost-saving measure does
: not sit well with me. Did they not receive a $60+ million
: donation from a wealthy businessman just a couple of year
: s ago? Where are they spending the money--marble floors in
: the restrooms at the new Dulles facility? (Also, didn't t
: he Smithsonian get a new "business-oriented" chairman rece
: ntly who has not been well received by the historians work
: ing there?)
:
: I think the restos should be of the same quality as previo
: us aircraft. I also thought that the policy was to pick th
: e aircraft for rebuild according to the ones that are in t
: he worst shape. They shouldn't lose too much with that app
: roach. If they are truly overwhelmed by the amount of work
: to do, I would support farming out some of the aircraft t
: o qualified independent restorers who could perhaps get a
: tax credit or funding for their help.

Follow Ups: