ww2John wrote:
Enough money to get the process started, but not enough to complete construction.
Not an unusual state of affairs, in these cases, but try it with your bank manager when talking about extending your house!
IIRC, the AirSpace and American Air Museum (at IWM Duxford) were not fully funded when the earth was first turned.
To see the article, you have to register (free) but it's quite interesting - an extract:
Quote:
Udvar-Hazy Center Lands $15 Million for New Wing
Travis Engen says the passion of his late parents, Mary and Donald, above, for aviation and the Air and Space Museum inspired his $15 million gift.
By Jacqueline Trescott
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 31, 2008; Page C01
A surprise $15 million gift will enable the National Air and Space Museum to add a new wing where visitors can watch the delicate process of bringing historic airplanes back to life.
...
Donald Engen died in 1999 in a glider crash near Lake Tahoe, Nev. He was 75. The hangar will be named for his wife, Mary Baker Engen, who died in 2006. A tower at the Udvar-Hazy Center already carries the aviator's name.
As director of Air and Space, Engen worked to restore stability after a debacle over the display of the Enola Gay, the B-29 that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima at the end of World War II. Veterans' groups were outraged over what they saw as a negative interpretation of the bombing mission in early versions of the exhibit's script.
Travis Engen said that last fall he was checking on the restoration of a Helldiver, a plane his father flew in World War II, and learned of the hardships with fundraising.
Gen. John R. "Jack" Dailey, the current Air and Space director, said Engen was told the plane couldn't be restored until the hangar was completed. "He called back and said: We are interested. This was almost like a bolt out of the blue," Dailey said.
With this gift, the museum has now raised $54.5 million for the expansion that includes the hangar. The total price tag is $74 million, but the Engen gift allows the construction planning to begin. Air and Space hopes to start work in the fall.
The restoration hangar will be connected to the main building at the Udvar-Hazy Center. It will be part of a wing that will include archives, a conservation laboratory and a storage facility. Previous donations for the project include $15 million from Boeing in 2006, $3 million from John and Adrienne Mars in 2003 and $3 million from the Daniels Fund in 2005.
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