Went to the Udvar-Hazy Center on Saturday...

[JohnS]

Brad,

Excellent shots, thanks for posting them

I was particularly interested to see the HE-219 fuselage fully restored and on display, the last time I saw her was on my visit to the Garber facility in 2002 when they were right in the middle of the restoration.




She looks wonderful, I just hope that at some point she is joined by her wings
I am assuming here that her wings survive, now who would know, ah yes, paging Kiwi Dave......

I will attempt to dig out my pictures of her during my visit and post them for comparison

[TAdan]

Brad great pictures! You took pictures of all the right stuff (I didnt see an X-plane in there...)

I am thrilled to see they have the HE 219 on display.

[Lynn Allen]

Brad, great photo's, thanks. We are in Atlanta and are going to have a overnight in Washington, so I'll get another chance to see them. Where in the P-61 parked?

Lynn

[ww2John]

Lynn,

The P61 is displayed at the bottom of the right hand ramp (North end of the building), across from a SAM and the jets.

Don't miss all the engines on display under the ramp.

[RMAllnutt]

Brad,

Excellent shots, thanks for posting them

I was particularly interested to see the HE-219 fuselage fully restored and on display, the last time I saw her was on my visit to the Garber facility in 2002 when they were right in the middle of the restoration.




She looks wonderful, I just hope that at some point she is joined by her wings
I am assuming here that her wings survive, now who would know, ah yes, paging Kiwi Dave......

I will attempt to dig out my pictures of her during my visit and post them for comparison

The wings are in the restoration shop at present. Not sure when they will join the rest of the 219, but I would imagine sometime in the next year. Sure will be great to see the old girl on her feet for the first time in many decades.

Cheers. R.

PS. You can take monopods into the museum, but not tripods, unless you make prior arrangements. The reason I was given was that it was a safety issue (ie. other people tripping over the legs).

[JohnS]

The wings are in the restoration shop at present. Not sure when they will join the rest of the 219, but I would imagine sometime in the next year. Sure will be great to see the old girl on her feet for the first time in many decades.

Richard,

Thanks for the info, I agree it would be wonderful to see her all in one piece

Regards,

John

[Pat Carry]

Does the NASM have the rest of the Kawasaki "Nick" at Garber as well?

[DaveM2]

Wings / engines of the He219 are not due to be finished until December 2007.

Dave

One thing I would say about the Udvar-Hazy facility - the lighting is outstanding compared to the Air Force Museum in Dayton (which I love).

The B-36 and other large aircraft in the buildings there are just so dimly lit compared to airplanes displayed at the Udvar-Hazy. It's too bad they couldn't have built the structures at Wright Patterson to take advantage of some natural outdoor light.

Jim C.

[RickH]

I just realized why it was so dark in the building when we were there with the TA-4. The ceiling dropped to about 100 ft that afternoon. Didn't catch the fact that they relied on skylights quite so much. Without the sunlight the place resembles a cave !

[ww2John]

In addition to poor lighting at NMUSAF Dayton, the walls & ceiling in the newest building are painted b-l-a-c-k.

The NASM Udvar-Hazy center uses pretty bright w-h-i-t-e paint which helps your visual acuity significantly and the "skylights" are important as the previous poster has suggested. At night it is pretty dark in the U-H wthout all that skylight coming in.

[Lynn Allen]

Well I saw it from Y11 #3 for take off on Rwy 30 this morning Have to try again next time. The Hitlon @ Dulles has 42" HD TV's in the room's, so it was that bad......

Lynn

[Pat Carry]

Yes, the lighting at the Natl Museum of the USAF is horrible especially in the new Cold War building. I have complained via letters but have never erecived a response.