When I visited a year ago, I watched literally dozens of tourists rub their hands across Flak Bait's paint (counting the mission marks by tapping them with their fingers seemed to be the favorite activity..see example below.) The NASM has put some plexiglas barriers around the nose in recent years, but you can see a bare spot at the edge of the glazing where countless nitwits placed their hands while peering through the glazing. Much of the port side is still in easy reach. The sooner they get FB out of there and out to Udvar-Hazy the better.
It's not limited to FB either. Pretty much every wingtip or prop blade within reach throughout the museum has been grunged up or rubbed bare by years of grubby-handed idiots. The only thing Security seemed concerned with was threatening to throw me out if I dared to use my monopod to take pictures.
I've been to countless museums of all types over the years, and I've never seen the kind of utter disregard for the artifacts/exhibits that I saw in the various facilities on the National Mall. I think it's partly the type of visitor those facilities attract. Visitors to U-H, NMUSAF and NMNA seem to be much more respectful of the aircraft and artifacts, but those museums tend to be visited mostly by aircraft enthusiasts. Most of those visiting the downtown NASM facility are just tourists hitting one more museum on the Mall.
Sorry for the rant, but this thread touched on one of my hot buttons.
SN
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