17f wrote:
Quote:
and the NASM`s love for civilian / foreign / weird / one-off aircraft.
I do not think this either fair or correct. I was wondering about the civilian/military breakdown of NASM aircraft a year ago and so did an inventory of the entire collection, separated into "civilian," "military" and "mixed" (eg, P.51C with historic civil markings), and determined that a majority of the collection is indeed military, although many types are still unrestored.
- Recent accessions -especially among those of larger size- have been largely mil as well (eg, F/A 18-C Hornet, EA 6B Prowler, Sikorsky S-2, Sikorsky HH-52A, Sopwith Camel).
- There are very few accessions since 2003 that are foreign (the only ones I have of 44 accessions altogether are the aforementioned Sopwith and Sukhoi SU-26M [aerobatic]).
- most of the one-off aircraft in the collection are from the old Paul Garber days, and I frankly think that those add an eclectic charm to the collection that cannot be found anywhere else. Most of the recently acquired one-onlies are fairly to very historic (Julian Nott balloon gondola, Sharp Nemesis NXT, Pathfinder Plus, Story Little Gee Bee, Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer). The one exception among aircraft is a Loving-Wayne WR-3 that is an interesting aircraft built and flown by an especially interesting person (African-American, without legs) that is well worthy of NASM.
I find NASM to be an astonishingly interesting and diverse collection, like nothing else in the world except the Musee de l'Aire in Paris. The "foreign, weird and one-off" aircraft are a part of what we should expect of our premier national museum. We are all somewhat frustrated by the reduced pace of restorations (four at a time, with fairly rapid turnover in the days before Harwit), but this remains a growing and improving collection with high standards. 44 accessions (with 20 deaccessions by my count) over 18 years is quite good by any standard, especially knowing that this is not a collection that will last only for the lifetime of a person.
Concerning SSSB, my information is that this will be coming over sooner rather than later. When that happens, I assume this will be in the restoration facility for perhaps a year to freshen things up and then will go out on display, in beautiful company for the remaining lives or us and our grandchildren. This is a big project and NASM is much preoccupied by the revitalization - considerable reconstruction of interior and exterior - of the Mall Museum, so they are taking some time. As to Swoose and the B-17G, NASM kept these preserved and under cover. NASM will soon enough have a combat-record B-17 with a neat story; they showed the patience to wait for an especially good one. Give 'em a bit of slak - and pretty soon we will have the Flak!