Warbird Information Exchange

I apologize if this is already discussed...

Will Sequestration effect the operation of military museums located on air bases such as Wright Pat Air Force Museum, Naval Museum Pensacola, Army Heritage Museum Ft. Rucker etc?

I guess I have to say I'm a little uncertain what sequestration is.

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From a purely readiness standpoint I would guess it would. Museums don't feed, move or fire so they get cut first when the axe falls, along with wood shops, auto repair bays, libraries, etc. I would be surprised if they weren't already feeling the pinch.

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"I knew the jig was up when I saw the P-51D-20-NA Mustang blue-nosed bastards from Bodney, and by the way the blue was more of a royal blue than an indigo and the inner landing gear interiors were NOT green, over Berlin."

I'm not sure how much of their funding comes from DoD funds, but they are also supported by outside foundations. These are 501(c)3 organizations and outside of any potential budget cuts.

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Many of those are operated (base auto & weood shops, Flying Clubs...I don't know about libraries) by MWR (Morale, Welfare and recreationorganizations...which are somewhat self supporting. Every base might be in a different situation.

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Note political free signature.
I figure if you wanted my opinion on items unrelated to this forum, you'd ask for it.

I'll ask next week when I meet with the Hill AFB museum folks. I would guess that any "reduced rate" or "freebie" work that the base does to help with restoration of aircraft has already been stopped.

Tom P.

The freebie work might not stop as much as you may think it does. It might actually go up.

What I mean is, you have a bunch of maintenance folks who are getting paid no matter what, in a hanger that is going to be heated and lit up, no matter what. And those folks might have everything, other than PMDs and necessary maintenance, curtailed. Which would mean time on their hands. If I was an NCOIC...and I am.....and I was in a position to do some freebie work, I would drag in one of the airframes we have selected for display and do some work. Prime and paint with time expired primer and paint. I mean you have to dispose of all that old POL somehow? Recover seats with serviceable seat covers that are out of spec/time. Rework gear boxes. Pull and inhibit Engines as a training exercise. Honestly you can get real creative and get some real training in this way.

where is the "like" button for jmkendall !! Good point - maybe the F-4s at Hill will get a little more attention!

Tom P.

I haven't seen museums specifically addressed (at least not in any of the CNO or USFFC sequester plans) but I suspect that they will stay open, but will go to reduced hours or days based on the furlough plans for the GS employees.

I wasn't trying to make it a "which side is at fault" discussion. I was trying to figure out if these budget cuts would effect the military museums on bases and the aircraft being currently restored would be abandonned and fall into disrepair as well as current aircraft on display. I was also planning a trip in May to Pennsacola, Ft. Walton Beach and Ft. Rucker for their museums and wondering if this will cause them to close.

Also would this effect the Smithsonian museums?

My personal take is that you won't see much long term effects for the museums, but as I mentioned above, you will probably see some immediate effects in the form of staffing due to furloughs.

I started a similar discussion on another site about this. Someone there said they talked to the museum staff and they are cutting staff at Warner Robbins museum. They are getting rid of several aircraft because of it (where they are going no one knows) - the English Electric Lightning is already gone when I was there in January. They also said they are getting rid of the EC-121 and the EC-135 and eventually going to try to keep it to just planes related to Georgia Aviation. One of the staff members was telling me that they were going to be getting rid of the B-57 soon (but didn't say why).

Maybe the Navy will start selling SBDs on eBay?

Not likely....seems for whatever reason, our policy is to let stuff rot/waste away before we give it up.