NASM RESTORATION SHOP OPEN HOUSE

[Marauderman26]

Went to Garber in the early 80's a couple of times. Unbelievable. Enola Gay sitting on mattresses, The Swoose in pieces, P-61 in a corner, Convair N240K, Betty nose section, Flak Bait wings, etc., etc...
Wasn't the plan to move everything to the Hazy Center and close Garber...?

The Museum needs to build more large storage at UHC...but yes that is still the plan, as storage is built the collection will move from Garber to UHC.

[Pat Carry]

How was the event? Any news to report?

[BK]

How was the event? Any news to report?

I've been impatiently waiting for reports. The only thing I've seen is this very brief video of pieces of the Horton H.IX that a friend of mine found. https://vine.co/v/MBLpZK9TVQE

[BK]

Photos from the open house: http://www.flickr.com/groups/2481466@N24/
more: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ddmcd/sets ... 166355176/

[Pat Carry]

Outstanding photos, thanks. The restoration area is huge with many projects in there now. A couple of questions, is there any active work currently taking place on the JRS-1 and on the Japanese plane? What exactly is going on with the Horten? Are they restoring it or just stablizing it? Any word on what project is next on the list after the Helldiver is complete? Thanks. If they do this again next year I will have to get out there for it. It seems like it was well attended.

[Pat Carry]

The wings with the german cross on them, are they for the Horten or a different aircraft?

[BK]

Outstanding photos, thanks. The restoration area is huge with many projects in there now. A couple of questions, is there any active work currently taking place on the JRS-1 and on the Japanese plane? What exactly is going on with the Horten? Are they restoring it or just stablizing it? Any word on what project is next on the list after the Helldiver is complete? Thanks. If they do this again next year I will have to get out there for it. It seems like it was well attended.

The wings with the german cross on them, are they for the Horten or a different aircraft?

I didn't attend, not my photos. Those are the wings of the Horton though.

[marine air]

When you say "THe Horten" please know there are multiple designs there. I was there two days ago and saw three Horten glider designs in the German WWII area. One was cockpit section only. I couldn't find the jet version except for that piece of exhaust pipe on a workbench. I think I saw bits of 4 Hortens. Is the white airframe in the restoration shop the jet?

[old iron]

The light-colored aircraft that you saw is a Lippisch DM-1 delta wing glider that was a prototype for a planned ramjet fighter. This had been in storage in its original crate for many years. The cockpit was heavily rebuilt after the war by the US and I think once NASM opened this up they found that the cockpit and vertical surface need to be essentially rebuilt, whihc appears to have stopped work for the present.

[marine air]

Thanks "Old Iron" for clarificaton. I saw something in the literature about the Lippisch but didn't know what or where it was. There was also a small Northrop flying wing in front of the P-61. Including the many hang gliders and utltralights, they easily have the best collection of flying wings I've ever seen.
The Northrop was very rudimentary, by comparison, IMHO.

[BK]

When you say "THe Horten" please know there are multiple designs there. I was there two days ago and saw three Horten glider designs in the German WWII area. One was cockpit section only. I couldn't find the jet version except for that piece of exhaust pipe on a workbench. I think I saw bits of 4 Hortens. Is the white airframe in the restoration shop the jet?

Horten H.IX V3 http://www.flickr.com/photos/ddmcd/1215 ... 166355176/

[Marauderman26]

Outstanding photos, thanks. The restoration area is huge with many projects in there now. A couple of questions, is there any active work currently taking place on the JRS-1 and on the Japanese plane? What exactly is going on with the Horten? Are they restoring it or just stablizing it? Any word on what project is next on the list after the Helldiver is complete? Thanks. If they do this again next year I will have to get out there for it. It seems like it was well attended.

The Sikorsky JRS-1 and Nakajima J9Y Kikka are in the restoration shop taking advantage it's massive space to display more of the collection from storage as possible. Their restorations are TBA.
The Horten H IX V3 (whose wings ARE in the shop) is a Massive Conservation Project with a dedicated full time team. A traditional restoration of the artifact would essentially destroy it so the Conservation is to study, research the airframe in depth, stabilize and save it as original as possible. The Teams Blog can be found here: http://blog.nasm.si.edu/uncategorized/h ... 13-update/
As can be seen in the photo links for the Open House, much of the aircraft is in the new Conservation Lab. The OPEN HOUSE was the opportunity to see them up close at this stage and speak to the Team. The 2015 Open House is already being planned.

BK...
The "white" airframe you saw is indeed the Lippish DM-1 identified by old iron. http://airandspace.si.edu/collections/a ... 9590098000
The airframe has indeed been stored at the Garber facility all these years still in the crate built for it at NACA Langley.

Interesting links: http://crgis.ndc.nasa.gov/historic/643_ ... estigation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zsZxaVP ... tube_gdata

The Shop continues an all hands effort on the Curtiss SB2C-5. Once completed the various Teams will return to complete the work on the DM-1, Heinkel 219, finish the fitting out of the new shop and prepare for the next major restoration.

Last edited by Marauderman26 on Mon Feb 03, 2014 9:16 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Pat Carry]

Thanks for the update.

[Pat Carry]

I know everyone here is looking forward to seeing the Helldiver when it is finished. It should be one fine looking aircraft.

[Taylor Stevenson]

It would be so awesome to work there! Went to the old Garber facility with my dad some years ago. Great experience and atmosphere. I felt as if I was opening a tomb and seeing previously undiscovered/unmolested artifacts...