NASM Jenny

[mustangdriver]

Just got an e-mail update that the original Jenny on display at the mall building has been moved from the mall building to Udvar Hazy due to some of the fabric being damaged by the public throwing garbage at it. Even though I don't like it, I can understand the public trying to touch aircraft on display, but throwing garbage at one? My parents would have hit me so hard, I still wouldn't be able to sit down.

[N3Njeff]

Oh I can believe it!!! I dont know what parrents think sometimes but even under there supervision, I have watched a kid start to step outside the wing walk area of a fabric airplane. What they were doing up there in the first place was beyond me. To many finger nails down a chalk board raises the hair on peoples back.....for me its the sound of someone beating a wing bay of a fabric covered airplane..............heard it too many times at shows but yet parrents allow their kids to do it.

I give them hell each time I see it..............even if it is a Stearman

[Clifford Bossie]

Oh I can believe it!!! I dont know what parrents think sometimes but even under there supervision, I have watched a kid start to step outside the wing walk area of a fabric airplane. What they were doing up there in the first place was beyond me. To many finger nails down a chalk board raises the hair on peoples back.....for me its the sound of someone beating a wing bay of a fabric covered airplane..............heard it too many times at shows but yet parrents allow their kids to do it.

I give them heck each time I see it..............even if it is a Stearman

I'm convinced kids are no worse than many adults. To quote Lex Luthor,"People are stupid and they're no damned good!" At airshows, museums and at work I have seen some actions by adults that make me wonder why we don't bring back saber tooth tigers and let them increase the intelligence of the human species.

[ww2John]

Details of the damage with a photo of punctured fabric at: http://blog.nasm.si.edu/2009/11/06/saving-jenny/

It WAS on display downtown, displayed above hand height. They believe the damage was caused by people throwing objects from the balcony above the display. Now moved to NASM-UH, awaiting reassembly on the floor, out of harm's way.

In the words of Dorothy Parker: "You can lead a whore to culture, but you can't make her think!"

[mustangdriver]

John that is one of the most outstanding quotes of all time. I love it.

[shilo53]

Unfortunately you can't fix stupid

[TAdan]

That Jenny was one of my favorite aircraft on display at the NASM Mall building. I spent a good half hour gazing up at it on my last visit, and really loved seeing its well worn patina and layers of paint. It is a real time capsule.

Given the amount of general public traffic that the NASM mall building sees I am not surprised at all that some of the artifacts get damaged. People are idiots, and the more people you have in one spot the more likely you are to find one.

[Baldeagle]

I was at Udvar-Hazy yesterday and wondered why it was there. I had a chance to get personal with that airplane when I was working on another Jenny (now at the College Park Aviation Museum) and went to Silver Hill to measure and photograph thiers. In fact was looking through the fuel valve access door and spotted a War Bonds flier against the back of the firewall, which was removed and saved by one of the staff. What a neat plane, and what idiots people can be, as all of us seem to have witnessed at one time or another.




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[tom d. friedman]

that is plain criminal & beyond stupid to damage a rare beauty. maybe the museum should beef up the security cameras & hold the mental midgets accountable next time it happens, & sad to say, it will otherwise happen again for sure to the jenny or another artifact target.

[gary1954]

In the words of Dorothy Parker: "You can lead a whore to culture, but you can't make her think!"

that is an excellent "in the words of"

With regard to the little Jenny,
Why am I not Surprised.
If my child would have been caught by me or anyone else throwing something at a Display, all you liberals (if the shoe fits) would be happy to know that I would be in jail for rendering a prompt Butt Smacking to said delinquent.
Why?
Because I can.
I don’t have to worry about my children mucking up a display because they are grown now, but I can assure you, they have grown up to Respect the property of others.
Apparently the visitors in this case lack respect for the property of another, as well as lacking an education.
I am truly glad that I didn’t see this happen, because I would have went Ba-Frickin’-Listic on someones A double s

[APG85]

Interesting article...

http://blog.nasm.si.edu/2009/11/06/saving-jenny/

[warbird1]

Just look 4 lines below:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=33304

[APG85]

Oops...

[Pogo]

John that is one of the most outstanding quotes of all time. I love it.

This one gets my vote:

.....wonder why we don't bring back saber tooth tigers and let them increase the intelligence of the human species.

It's a very common problem, we State Parks volunteers really see a lot of it. To wit: Your primary reason for existing is the visitors, yet the visitors are often bent on destroying what you have offered them. Strange stuff; very, very strange stuff.

And that's one of the reasons I love aviation right there: real dumb clucks don't last long ..... one way or another they go away fairly quickly....

[JBoyle]

I'm not surprised.
I've been to the NASM enought to see the throngs of unruly school kids more interested in a day away from school that what they're looking at.
Their teachers were often off together chatting, usually not doing much supervising.
And a few of the NASM guards seemed to be semi-comatose...or sleeping standing up with their eyes open.