WIX Archives

Re: NASM Policy Debate for the Weekend

Posted by William Reese on Thu Oct 18, 2001 11:59:36 AM

In reply top Re: NASM Policy Debate for the Weekend posted by Richard Allnutt on Tue Oct 16, 2001 06:04:43 PM

Richard,

Thank you for the sane commentary. Having worked at the Paul E. Garber facility for the past 25 years and being the shop foreman for ten of those years it is a pleasure to see someone who understands our mission and goals here at the Garber Facility. The P-38 which was just completed in our shop was referred to as the jewel of the collection. This aircraft is probably more representative of aircraft that were flown in WWll that a lot of the warbirds you see on the airshow circuit. This same treatment and logic will be applied to the HE-219 with the same results.

Bill Reese
Chief of Restoration



: The new center at Dulles is going to cost well over a hund
: red million when everything is sorted out... it is HUGE. T
: he $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 o
: f the art facility with the long term aim of preserving t
: hese aircraft for hundreds of years to come. Buildings of
: this scale are not cheap... it's not just a hangar and a p
: arking lot, but a huge complex structure in keeping with t
: he extremely high standards of the Smithsonian's other fac
: ilities.
: It would be nice if all of the aircraft in the coll
: ection could be restored to the same degree of detail that
: the Seiran and Hurricane and quite a number of other airc
: raft have been restored to. However, it just will take too
: long to accomplish this aim with the current facilities/s
: taffing. There are many aircraft in the collection which d
: esperately need attention. Therefore, it seems wize to me
: that the process of conservation is being accelerated in t
: he 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 acco
: mplish this, while still maintaining historical authentici
: ty, is to go through the airframes, and clean and treat th
: e 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 origin
: al, 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 representat
: ions 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 day
: s in airforce evaluation. Therefore they will carefully sa
: nd through the layers to find the true Luftwaffe paint sch
: eme 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 ai
: rcraft 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 i
: s the best way to get as many of the aircraft "conserved",
: so that they can eventually be "preserved". However, thos
: e opposing this scheme seem to missing the overwhelimingly
: obvious point. It will be great to finally see these trul
: y rare aircraft come out of hybernation in their complete
: form for the first time in more than a generation. They wi
: ll be on display in a building which will be, without doub
: t, 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 do
: es
: : not sit well with me. Did they not receive a $60+ milli
: on
: : donation from a wealthy businessman just a couple of ye
: ar
: : 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 re
: ce
: : ntly who has not been well received by the historians wo
: rk
: : ing there?)
: :
: : I think the restos should be of the same quality as prev
: io
: : 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 a
: pp
: : roach. If they are truly overwhelmed by the amount of wo
: rk
: : 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.

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