USS Alabama Memorial Park after Katrina

[Scott Rose]

This letter was forwarded to me and I figured it would be approriate to post it.

[Owen Miller]

Thanks Scott!!

Owen

[Pat Carry]

Hey Owen, Which of the Memorial Park's aircraft were total losses? I heard there were 2 or 3 that were beyond repair.

[Owen Miller]

Hi Pat,
Three planes were considered lost to Katrina. There was a replica
F3F destroyed, the CH-19, and the Huey inside beat to death. Ivan
got the Huey outside at the Vietnem memorial. the year before.

My understanding is the the USN is going to reair the aircraft they
have on loan to Battleship Park and the F4U-7 as well. They are
going to swap Crusaders and they just recently delivered a shiny
F-14 done in VF-31 livery. The Air Force is helping to gather parts
for repair of some of the other birds. As you might imagine there
are not a lot of spare pieces around for Blackbirds. After that the
park is pretty much on their own to repair the F-86, B-25, C-47,
P-51, F-105 etc., etc.

It cost them $10 million to level the ship and get the park back
open. They were already paying $20.000.00 a month interest
on the loan to preform the hull restoration project a few years
ago. After insurance and FEMA they are still $3 million away from
repairing the aircraft so they need all the help they can get. And
the hanger, which they call a pavillion, is FUBAR.

These guys to more with less than anyone I've ever seen. Any-
one who has been there would be amazed to know how much of
what was on display was fabricated from PVC pipe, aluminum scrap,
chewing gum, plywood, and bailing wire.

If any one has any money they can spare this time of year, I
assure you they will put it to good use. And, of course, it's
tax deductable and this is end-of-the-year giving season. And,
oh yea, does anyone have a Huey or two they could donate.
It seems the military is fresh out of surplus ones.

[APG85]

I've seen the USS Alabama and it's an incredible site. It certainly can take a pounding from a monster storm...but, perhaps having fragile aircraft on outside display in a hurricane prone area isn't the smartest idea. Maybe those aircraft would be better suited and protected if they were given to a museum that could better house them away from salt water and the potential destructive forces of future hurricanes. Just my opinion...

[Owen Miller]

I have always prided myself on being respectful of
other peoples opinions even when I do not agree
with them. However...........

Randy, where should we put those planes? Maybe
we could send them to CA where they would be
threatened by fires, flood, and earthquakes. We
could put them in the "Heartland" where they have
tornadoes regularly. I seem to remember Wright-
Patt having some wind damage a few years back.
We could put them in the northeast and hope
there is no repeat of the storm at NEAM. We could
put them on the east coast where they also have
hurricanes on a regular basis.

[Scott Rose]

I've seen the USS Alabama and it's an incredible site. It certainly can take a pounding from a monster storm...but, perhaps having fragile aircraft on outside display in a hurricane prone area isn't the smartest idea. Maybe those aircraft would be better suited and protected if they were given to a museum that could better house them away from salt water and the potential destructive forces of future hurricanes. Just my opinion...

There really is no such thing as a safe place, like Owen said. Heck, look at NEAM. Half the collection wiped out by a Tornado.... in CONNECTICUT! The only way to really make them safe is to bury them in a block of concrete. Thier isn't a museum out there that you can't point a finger at and see it as unsafe in some form or another. Leave em outside, nature gets them, inside you risk fire, and earthquakes and such.

These people do thier best with a crappy amount of money.

We all love these planes, but you can't nerf the world.

[Owen Miller]

Well said sir!!!

They do indeed preform a wonderful job with meager
funds. Remember folks, as we approach
the end of the year a donation to Battleship Park
is tax deductable. I assure you it won't go to
waste or be squandered. Please consider it.

[k5083]

Scott's post kind of fudges the fact that some places are a lot safer than others. Disaster can strike anywhere, but you have to play the odds. In Mobile you know there is going to be a big storm every several years and salty air all the time. Not so much in CT. And there just might be a reason why Mojave and Tucson are such popular places to park airplanes you aren't planning on using for a while.

But there are two good reasons to let Mobile keep its airplanes and not move them all to Tucson:

1. Looking at the big picture, since disaster can strike anywhere, the best way to ensure the preservation of the greatest part of the pool of historic aircraft is to spread them out at different locations, even if some of the locations individually are high risk.

2. If the planes were all in Tucson everybody would have to go to Tucson to see them. It's worth some risk to the artifacts to make them accessible to more people.

Best of luck with the continued rebuilding.

August

[Bill Greenwood]

They can park the P-51 and the F4U right here in Aspen. Leave the keys and I'll make sure they aren't neglected! We don't have tornados, yet , or hurricanes. They would add a little class to a ramp that is full of mostly rent-a-pilots with giant corporate diesel stinkers. Some of them sit out on the ramp and run their engines for hours. It sure changes the nature of an airport. They don't bring many passengers, but lot's of money. There's a lot of wallet worship going on at the FBO. My 23 year old son Charles just returned from a month as a volunteer in New Orleans. Wish I could get his photos on the site.

[APG85]

Some places are more high risk than others. A hurricane prone area such as Mobile is one such place. Parking vintage aircraft next to salt water is a challenge (in my opinion). I was stationed at Keesler for several years and we battled corrosion every day on actively flying aircraft (and we had full corrosion control specialists). I can't imagine what's going on with a plane parked next to the salt water with a volunteer crew and a limited budget. I'm not saying they don't do a class act down there (they do), but there might be other ideas for more suitable and durable outside displays than fragile, corrosion prone, vintage aircraft. Personally, the ship itself is so awesome, I think that is enough of a crowd pleaser. I had a blast just walking around it all day...

I suppose any aircraft displayed outside is taking a risk. Maybe I'm off-base. Any other opinions?

[19Skier]

Hello everyone. My first post here.
I went to see the USS Alabama when I went to Teledyne continetal motors school in October of 06. The whole museum was still under repair but the ship was in great shape I thought.

The museums hangar on the other hand was in very bad shape, along with some of the airplanes on static display outside. All of the hangared planes had been pushed outside into a gated area so reconstruction could begin. It was a sad sight to see some of these airplanes in such bad shape.

Here are some pictures from my visit








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[Owen Miller]

Thanks for posting those pictures. I have some in the camera
I keep meaning to have developed ..

[viking73]

A good friend of mine visited the USS Alabama last month and judging from his photos and descriptions, a lot of the planes are still in need of major repairs. Here's a few sad photos:

[bax101]

the way those a/c are outside like that makes it look like a graveyard.