sandiego89 wrote:
I would imagine with much of what was in the R&D hanger and presidential flight (former "annex") moved to the new building 4, there is plenty of space for the EC-135. If the JFK 707 and the XB-70 fit in there the EC-135 would fit no problems.
It will be interesting to see how they deal with some of the heavies that will be retiring ahead. They will need a big hanger for the E-3 AWACS, E-8 JSTARS, C-17#1 (already at Dayton), C-5M Galaxy, KC-10, E-4 "nightwatch/doomsday", Presidential 747 (when the -800 comes on line). I imagine a "real" B-2 could replace the static article, and a B-52H would be a nice bookend to the D model. Also a whole series of E/RC-135 types like Rivet Joint, Corbra's etc will be retiring, but imagine they all (any?) won't go to Dayton. From the latest accounts might be awhile for the C-5, B-52H, and KC-10 to fully retire.
I have wondering about this for a while myself. I figure one option would be to just chop the "important bits" off and display them. I was specifically thinking in regards to the KC-135. Since they already have a 707 on display (the VC-137) and the only major important difference is the rear fuselage with the boom and boom operator's section, they could cut the tail off and just display that. (Maybe put it in a line with a mock up of the new KC-46 remote station to show the development of IFR?) Same goes for the chemical laser bits on the NKC-135 and the nose on the EC-135. A horrifying thought, I know, but it is one option.
I imagine they still have the ability to store planes out at Davis-Monthan AFB, so they could store the larger ones in the better environment there until they have a place to put them. (Don't forget, they still have the XC-99 out there that they don't know what to do with.) Something like
what NASM did with the Boeing 367-80.
I seem to remember that when they were still planning out the fourth hangar there was a hypothetical layout that showed a C-5 inside. I'm glad that they dropped that idea, since it would have taken up so much space that they were able to use for multiple smaller airplanes.
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