AF museum expansion plan

[hahnej]

Thought this was kind of neat - has the tentative plan for the next building expansion:

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/expansion/index.asp

[Pat Carry]

This has been in the planning stage for quite awhile now. I think they are just waiting on some additional fund raising which I'm sure is quite a challenge in these recessionary times. It will be awesome when it does happen however.

[daveymac82c]

Wow.... looking at the airplanes in that hangar, it's going to be FREAKING HUGE!!!

My museum is also in the fundraising mode to build our new planned hangar, and it's been really hard so far to get the funds needed to get anywhere on it.

Cheers,

David

[APG85]

They'll have to get going on this soon. The Shuttles are going to be retired within the next two years and their display requirements are strict to say the least. The NMUSAF is a prime candidate for one of the Shuttles - probably Atlantis...

Last edited by APG85 on Sat Oct 03, 2009 1:45 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Steve Nelson]

Actually, I heard a report the other day that the Russkies are pressuring NASA to not be so hasty about retiring the shuttles. Personally, I think we should be using the second or even third generation re-usable spacecraft and have boots on Mars by now, but there's no public interest in funding the manned space program these days.

As for the NMUSAF, I'm looking forward to the expansion..it'll be great to not have to go through all that hassle to visit the Presidential/Flight Test hangars. Before 9/11, you could just drive over and stay as long as you wanted..now you have to sit through a security breifing, be checked on and off the bus, and you only get to spend maybe 45 minutes over there (after taking about an hour and a half from your total visit time.)

SN

[mustangdriver]

I heard at one point that the museum was to break ground in the spring now. It was going to be the fall, but never heard a reason for the puchback, could be contractor time, or funding. WIth this new building, there will be no aircraft left outside at the NMUSAF.

[Steve Nelson]

WIth this new building, there will be no aircraft left outside at the NMUSAF.

This is a good thing!

Do you know if there will be space in the new building for the XC-99? I know her completion is likely decades down the road, but they'll eventually need to house the beast somewhere.

I remember some of the early architects' renderings of the Cold War Gallery showed a Tu-95..it'd be cool if the museum could get one, but I don't know where they'd put it!

SN

[mustangdriver]

Yes, this includes getting the C-99 indoors. As well as a C-5! By the way the Boeing 707 Air Force one is being refinished in it's JFK era markings.

[APG85]

By the way the Boeing 707 Air Force one is being refinished in it's JFK era markings.

Pictures please!

[Misterg97]

It's not being moved from Presidential to Restoration until the 5th of December and then should be back at Presidential in February.

[Steve Nelson]

Hey, Chris,

I remember back in the '90s I toured the NMUSAF storage buildings, and they had what the tour guide told us were the original seats that Jackie and LBJ sat in when they flew back from Dallas. The guide said that when the museum got the airplane (it was still in service then) the interior would be reconfigured the way it was during the Kennedy years..any word on that? Personally, I think the interior should probably be left as-is.

SN

[P51Mstg]

Interesting....... The proposed hangar has the Presidential airplanes in it and a C-5...... Looks like the B-70 is staying across the field........ What crap..... That is probably the most interesting airplane at the museum......

Mark H

[Rauhbatz]

My brother-in-law flew that bird while he was in the 89th SAM at Andrews. He got to see it again a few years back and had his pic taken in the cockpit with his son.

My wife and I took a tour of the a/c before they retired it and it does now look different than back when it was in service at KADW.

He said that the interior was re-done and the original furniture in the back from LBJ days was gone; he stripped the plane when he took it back home.

[Misterg97]

Mark,

One might think that the XB-70 is the most interesting. Would you believe that in my time of volunteering, since Oct of '06, the most sought after is the "Blackbird" ... Also surprising is when mention of the XB-70 being in the R&D, many visitors have no idea or never heard of it.

[mustangdriver]

My brother-in-law flew that bird while he was in the 89th SAM at Andrews. He got to see it again a few years back and had his pic taken in the cockpit with his son.

My wife and I took a tour of the a/c before they retired it and it does now look different than back when it was in service at KADW.

He said that the interior was re-done and the original furniture in the back from LBJ days was gone; he stripped the plane when he took it back home.

I think I was there the day he got his pictures!! I have no idea what the plans are for the interior, but there are many things very historic in that aircraft. When the president was shot, they were going to load his body into the cargo compartment. The first lady highly objected and demanded that he ride in the cabin. Secret service had to find a saw an dcut the galley bulkhead to get the casket in. This crude cut interior bulkhead is still in the aircraft.