Restorations at the USAF Museum.
Sat Jul 23, 2005 9:49 am
In the latest issue of the Friend's Journal from the USAF Museum they have a run down on current restoration projects. The Avro CF-100 Canuck has been finished and is now on display in the Cold War Gallery. The 2 Thor missiles are nearing completion and will be on display in the Missile Gallery in the near future. Plans are to have the Beaufighter on display in the early fall. The George is progressing slowly but surely. The horizontal stabilizer was recently attached but there is still much work to be done with no timetable mentioned. Finally, Mike Rawson's A-25 restoration is nearing completion as has been mentioned here on the WIX before by Mike. I personally cant wait to see this one on display. Any further updates Mike?
Sat Jul 23, 2005 7:10 pm
I toured the USAFM restoration area last weekend while in Dayton. The Beaufighter is looking good. They just got the X-32. The XC-99 wings are in there. The George doesn't look like any progress has been made since last year. They are also working on a new Mig 21, Mig 23, XF-90, T-64 Eglet, O-46A, YF-23. I'll post pics later.
Sat Jul 23, 2005 7:37 pm
Hey
Any word on the RF-84K ThunderFlash that is being worked on? I'm assuming that the 2 possibly 3 RF-84 hulks on the other side of the base were cannaballized for parts to restore the "K". It's sad as i noticed the other week that the RF-84s were gone. Scrapped I fear. They were in pretty bad shape. More and more getting pushed around with forklifts. I hope I'm mistaken and that they have moved on to possibly better futures.
Shay
_____________
Semper Fortis
Any word on the RF-84K ThunderFlash that is being worked on? I'm assuming that the 2 possibly 3 RF-84 hulks on the other side of the base were cannaballized for parts to restore the "K". It's sad as i noticed the other week that the RF-84s were gone. Scrapped I fear. They were in pretty bad shape. More and more getting pushed around with forklifts. I hope I'm mistaken and that they have moved on to possibly better futures.
Shay
_____________
Semper Fortis
Sat Jul 23, 2005 9:44 pm
The YF-23.....there's one that would be neat to have in the real world. What a waste !
Sat Jul 23, 2005 10:39 pm
I noticed the other week, when I drove by the restoration facility (because the doors were open), that they were working on a F-35 mock-up. Looked like it was getting some bodywork done. Also the B-47 was parked outside along with the heavily sunfaded F-4 that used to be parked out at the end of the runway. Seems like a lot is underway.
Shay
_____________
Semper Fortis
Shay
_____________
Semper Fortis
Sun Jul 24, 2005 12:45 am
I was told during my last visit that they had an HE 111 under restoration. Does anyone have any updates on its progress?
Sun Jul 24, 2005 7:49 am
Shay wrote:I noticed the other week, when I drove by the restoration facility (because the doors were open), that they were working on a F-35 mock-up. Looked like it was getting some bodywork done. Also the B-47 was parked outside along with the heavily sunfaded F-4 that used to be parked out at the end of the runway. Seems like a lot is underway.
Shay
_____________
Semper Fortis
Are you sure it wasn't the X-32? They said they wern't getting the F-35 for a few months.
Also I inquired about the He-111 buit no one knew about it.
I believe the RF-84 is now on display. It looked really nice.
Sun Jul 24, 2005 9:37 am
Corsairfreak
It is possible that it was the X-32. I only caught a small glimpse from a moving vehicle. All I was able to see was cockpit and massive air intake. But I did in fact also see the RF-84K still in the Restoration center but that was 2 weeks ago. Did they just put it on display?
For many years the Museum has a He 111 tucked away in the back of the annex. As a kid I saw the distinctive green house canopy structure sticking up from behind the display wall and always wonder what it was. At one point I guess they were cleaning things up and the wheeled out the wingless wonder onto the ramp. By this time I knew what a HE 111 was and was in awe of such a rare beast. A great aircraft and i can't wait to see her get some well deserved attention, but infact she is not a HE 111. She is the CASA 2/111(not positive on the designation) variant. I was shocked to realize this after all these years but the none the less I still appreciate the aircraft just the same.
Shay
_____________
Semper Fortis
It is possible that it was the X-32. I only caught a small glimpse from a moving vehicle. All I was able to see was cockpit and massive air intake. But I did in fact also see the RF-84K still in the Restoration center but that was 2 weeks ago. Did they just put it on display?
For many years the Museum has a He 111 tucked away in the back of the annex. As a kid I saw the distinctive green house canopy structure sticking up from behind the display wall and always wonder what it was. At one point I guess they were cleaning things up and the wheeled out the wingless wonder onto the ramp. By this time I knew what a HE 111 was and was in awe of such a rare beast. A great aircraft and i can't wait to see her get some well deserved attention, but infact she is not a HE 111. She is the CASA 2/111(not positive on the designation) variant. I was shocked to realize this after all these years but the none the less I still appreciate the aircraft just the same.
Shay
_____________
Semper Fortis
Sun Jul 24, 2005 10:17 am
My bad on the RF-84. I was thinking of the RF-86 that they just finnished. At least i think thats what it was. They just put it on display. Where is the annex?
Sun Jul 24, 2005 11:16 am
I was a volunteer at the museum for a while in 2003 and 4 until my work schedule kinda screwed things up. I learned pretty quickly that a lot of them don't know much about what goes on in there, and frequently give out false info. That is probably why Corsairfreak didn't get any answers on the He-111. And to be honest, I didn't know much about it,either. But I do have two short stories that are rather humorous.
I was down there one day just walking around with my wife when I happened to overhear one of the volunteers explaining to a visitor how the YF-22 flew to the museum. He gave a pretty good performance. Except he was totally wrong. This particular 22 had been brought to the Dayton Air Show (not flown) after having crashed and been rebuilt to static (I forget which year....98 maybe?). After the show it was towed via US Route 40 and State Route 4 to permanent residency at the museum. The Raptor that DID fly to the base a couple of years later was to be used for live-fire testing and is not the one on display.
One day last year when I was volunteering in the Cold War Gallery, a visitor asked me why the B-1B had two different serial numbers on it. I looked , and sure enough the number stenciled under the pilot's window (which matched the tail) was different from the one under the co-pilot's window. Not just by a single digit, totally different. I asked the guy at the desk and he had no idea. He asked someone else, and pretty soon we heard others on the radio asking about it. Apparently no one knew or ever found out. Less than two weeks later the numbers on the co-pilot's side were gone. If you check it out now and look from the right angle, you can see how the grey is slightly lighter where the numbers used to be.
A great lesson in life.....if you can't come up with the correct answer, remove the question
I was down there one day just walking around with my wife when I happened to overhear one of the volunteers explaining to a visitor how the YF-22 flew to the museum. He gave a pretty good performance. Except he was totally wrong. This particular 22 had been brought to the Dayton Air Show (not flown) after having crashed and been rebuilt to static (I forget which year....98 maybe?). After the show it was towed via US Route 40 and State Route 4 to permanent residency at the museum. The Raptor that DID fly to the base a couple of years later was to be used for live-fire testing and is not the one on display.
One day last year when I was volunteering in the Cold War Gallery, a visitor asked me why the B-1B had two different serial numbers on it. I looked , and sure enough the number stenciled under the pilot's window (which matched the tail) was different from the one under the co-pilot's window. Not just by a single digit, totally different. I asked the guy at the desk and he had no idea. He asked someone else, and pretty soon we heard others on the radio asking about it. Apparently no one knew or ever found out. Less than two weeks later the numbers on the co-pilot's side were gone. If you check it out now and look from the right angle, you can see how the grey is slightly lighter where the numbers used to be.
A great lesson in life.....if you can't come up with the correct answer, remove the question
Sun Jul 24, 2005 2:21 pm
Brian
If I recall correctly. I remember back when I worked at the museum. Around the '94 to '95 time frame that the B-1's tail assembly was swapped out. The museum's B-1 tail unit went back to active duty while a unserviceable unit was installed in it's place. But I think the difference in serial numbers might have been a snafu on the painting crews part or whome ever gave the directions. Mainly because the new tail would of needed to be repainted to match the museum's B-1's all white paint scheme. Perhaps for ease of painting they just masked off the existing tail number and then shot the white. Oh well who knows.
Shay
_____________
Semper Fortis
If I recall correctly. I remember back when I worked at the museum. Around the '94 to '95 time frame that the B-1's tail assembly was swapped out. The museum's B-1 tail unit went back to active duty while a unserviceable unit was installed in it's place. But I think the difference in serial numbers might have been a snafu on the painting crews part or whome ever gave the directions. Mainly because the new tail would of needed to be repainted to match the museum's B-1's all white paint scheme. Perhaps for ease of painting they just masked off the existing tail number and then shot the white. Oh well who knows.
Shay
_____________
Semper Fortis
Sun Jul 24, 2005 4:24 pm
Shay, actually you're referring to the museum's B-1A. I'm referring to the B-1B they got a few years ago 
Sun Jul 24, 2005 9:02 pm
brian
Yes i'm referring to the A model. I'vr been away for awhile. I was unaware of another Bone at the museum. The last I saw of another Bone was a foward fuselage in front of the restoration facility with the nose art of knight riding horse back. Many years ago of course. I've got some really nice photos. If I get time i'll post. I'm in the middle of moving back to Dayton now.
Shay
____________
Semper Fortis
Yes i'm referring to the A model. I'vr been away for awhile. I was unaware of another Bone at the museum. The last I saw of another Bone was a foward fuselage in front of the restoration facility with the nose art of knight riding horse back. Many years ago of course. I've got some really nice photos. If I get time i'll post. I'm in the middle of moving back to Dayton now.
Shay
____________
Semper Fortis
Mon Jul 25, 2005 9:48 pm
are we talking about the japanese george?? that was on display a while back when i was their a few years ago. what did they do?? give it another face lift??
Tue Jul 26, 2005 6:42 am
Ya know,Tom...you're right. It didn't hit me right away but the George HAS been on display for several years. Hmmmmm.quite confusing. I know they had another Japanese fighter in restoration,but the type slips my mind at the moment. (NOT referring to the Zero that went on display recently). Possibly another George? The museum will often switch one plane for another of the same type if the second one has a better history. They did that a few years ago with the FB-111 because the "newer" one had been seen combat.