National Museum Of The US Air Force storage hangar footage

[Pat Carry]

I wonder, if in my lifetime I will see any of these on display? I kind of doubt it

[JimH]

Sadly most of those were on display, space is certainly an issue. Many of them used to sit outside adjacent to the 8th Air Force Tower. Glad to see them inside. The annex tours of yesteryear was always a highlight. The bus ride across the field, those historic flight test hangars. Just about every bit of wartime technology passed through that real-estate. I wish that was still part of the program. Security tightened up after 9/11 and things haven't really changed since...plus, the bus tours were quite the expense. I'm sure they will eventually rotate in to the display que. It would be cool to see them implement "plane of the month" from the storage area, with a dedicated space at the entrance...pie in the sky.


This year marks my 50th year of going to the USAFM, my mom and dad went there in 1971 for the opening...I wasn't born yet...but I was there . My dad had a contract with the Air Force maintaining the Steam Distribution system. Anytime he had to do service calls and I was on vacation from school or there was a special event he'd take my mom and I down with him from Akron. It's been incredible to watch it evolve. Although it's disappointing that restorations don't progress at a faster pace, it's still a great place to getaway. As an aside, and maybe its just me...every time I walk in there, it has the same smell, I can't describe it, it's not offensive, just a smell I remember since I was a kid. It maybe the food from the Valkyrie diner...pretty sure it's from the same 70's supply

Jim

[mazdaP5]

...every time I walk in there, it has the same smell, I can't describe it, it's not offensive, just a smell I remember since I was a kid.

Jim

It's not just you, and it's a definite deja vu smell when it hits you.

[Noha307]

For those interested, NMUSAF has been posting further drone videos of the storage hangar:

Looks like this one to me, same vertical stripes, "D" canopies.

Luckily you can make out the serial number on the T-6 at 2:15 in the most recent one. Turns out you're correct. It is indeed 41-17372, painted as 42-805, that was formerly at Chanute. The paint scheme was apparently changed since the most recent picture in the Aerial Visuals dossier.

They also recently posted a video of the engines in their "deep" on-base storage in Building 5:


The location was previously profiled in a video for Air Force TV back in 2016:

...every time I walk in there, it has the same smell, I can't describe it, it's not offensive, just a smell I remember since I was a kid.

It's not just you, and it's a definite deja vu smell when it hits you.

I can't speak for NMUSAF - although I've been there a bunch - but there's definitely a distinct smell when you walk into our museum.

[lucky52]

Are the remains of the XC 99 inside or outside?

[BK]

Are the remains of the XC 99 inside or outside?

Outside at the Davis-Monthan boneyard since 2012.

[Ken]

This video is from the restoration hangar, July 2021:

https://youtu.be/743iazwwvU0

[Noha307]

New video:


Note the new resident at the beginning, a Zenith CH 801, N801MP. It's not clear why it's there as it does not appear to have any military history. My best guess is that they're going to turn it into some sort of sit-in kids exhibit.

[Xray]

Whats the history of the white Phantom ?

[Andy Marden]

It was the YF-4E, converted from YRF-4C, so a test/trials machine all its life.

[hurricane_yank]

I really wish they would just let people walk through there and see all of that stuff...don't need it displayed or restored but just to see the history. I would pay just to see the German collection alone.

[ricusa]

Never thought the XF90 would ever be on display in my lifetime, but it is right now.

[Xray]

It was the YF-4E, converted from YRF-4C, so a test/trials machine all its life.

Ok, and now I see that it was the mount for Yeagers last active duty flight.

[Noha307]

space is certainly an issue.

On that point, I've been thinking of doing some math for a while now. For the sake of argument, lets assume NMUSAF fully assembles and displays all of the aircraft in the hangar. Further, lets assume that none of the aircraft overlap and that each aircraft is represented by a square formed from lines drawn from the nose, tail and each wingtip. (Yes, some could fit underneath the wings of the others and aircraft are not really squares, but calculating that would take a lot more effort.)

Airframe - Length x Wingspan = Area

• AQM-34Q - 21 ft 11 in x 12 ft 11 in (BQM-34A) = 283 sq ft
• AQM-60 - 38 ft 1 in x 9 ft 10 in = 374 sq ft
• B-23A - 58 ft 4 in x 92 ft 0 in = 5,637 sq ft
• C-21A - 48 ft 8 in x 39 ft 6 in (Learjet 36A) = 1,922 sq ft
• C-39 - 61 ft 11 in x 85 ft 0 in (DC-2) = 5,263 sq ft
• CASA 2.111H - 53 ft 10 in x 73 ft 10 in = 3,975 sq ft
• CASA 352L - 96 ft x 18 ft 2 in (Ju 52) = 1,744 sq ft
• CH-21B - 52 ft 6 in x 15 ft 9 in (CH-21C) = 826 sq ft
• EF-111A - 76 ft 0 in x 32 ft 0 in (swept) = 2,432 sq ft
• F-107A - 61 ft 10 in x 36 ft 7 in = 2,262 sq ft
• Fi 156 C-1 - 32 ft 6 in x 46 ft 9 in = 1,519 sq ft
• GAM-63 - 31 ft 11 in x 16 ft 8 in = 531 sq ft
• H-5 - 57 ft 1 in x 13 ft 0 in = 742 sq ft
• La-17M - 27 ft 9 in x 24 ft 7 in = 682 sq ft
• MiG-25RB - 78 ft 2 in x 46 ft 0 in (MiG-25PD) = 3,596 sq ft
• NF-16A - 49 ft 5 in x 32 ft 8 in (F-16C) = 1,614 sq ft
• NT-33A - 37 ft 9 in x 38 ft 10 in (T-33A) = 1,466 sq ft
• RB-34 - 51 ft 5 in x 65 ft 6 in = 3,368 sq ft
• S‐51 - 57 ft 1 in x 13 ft 0 in = 742 sq ft
• Su-22M - 62 ft 5 in x 33 ft (Su-17M4, swept) = 2,060 sq ft
• T-33A - 37 ft 9 in x 38 ft 10 in = 1,466 sq ft
• T-46 - 29 ft 6 in x 38 ft 7 in = 1,138 sq ft
• T-6G - 29 ft x 42 ft = 1,218 sq ft
• TG-3 - 27 ft 7 in x 54 ft 0 in = 1,490 sq ft
• X-19 - 44 ft 5 in x 23 ft 6 in (rear wing) = 1,044 sq ft
• XF-91 - 46 ft 9 in x 31 ft 2 in = 1,457 sq ft
• YF-4E - 63 ft 0 in x 38 ft 5 in (F-4E) = 2,420 sq ft
• YQM-98 - 38 ft 4 in x 81 ft 2 in = 3,111 sq ft
• YRF-84 - 38 ft 1 in x 36 ft 5 in (F-84G) = 1,387 sq ft

This gives a total of 55,499 square feet of floor space. Now, let's not forget, they have a B-17D and F-15 in restoration:

Airframe - Length x Wingspan = Area

• B-17D - 74 ft 4 in x 103 ft 9 in (B-17G) = 7,712 sq ft
• F-15 - 63 ft 9 in x 42 ft 10 in (F-15C) = 2,731 sq ft

These add another 10,443 square feet to bring the total to 65,942 square feet of floor space. However, we haven't even touched the big ones yet. They also have a C-17, KC-135, just received a KC-10 today and presumably will be receiving a C-5 and VC-25 at some point in the future:

Airframe - Length x Wingspan = Area

• C-5 - 247 ft 1 in x 222 ft 9 in = 55,038 sq ft
• C-17 - 174 ft x 169 ft 9 in = 29,537 sq ft
• KC-135 - 136 ft 3 in x 130 ft 10 in = 17,826 sq ft
• KC-10 - 181 ft 7 in x 165 ft 4.5 in = 30,029 sq ft
• VC-25 - 231 ft 10 in x 196 ft 8 in = 45,594 sq ft

Together, these five airframes are nearly triple the amount of floor space everything else listed so far: 178,024 square feet. The grand total to bring everything into hangars at the main facility is then a whopping 243,966 square feet of floor space! The fourth hangar encompasses 224,000 square feet. So the museum needs at least one more hangar of the same size to fit the rest of their current and near future collection.

So, when people ask, why are these aircraft not on display, consider the number 243,966 square feet. (Disclaimer: This is a quick and dirty estimate for illustrative purposes and so is not exactly accurate for a number of reasons.)

[JohnB]

It was the YF-4E, converted from YRF-4C, so a test/trials machine all its life.

And I believe it was originally "laid down" as a Navy F-4B.
Can any Phantom phan confirm that?

A pretty interesting history...matched only by the prototype F-94 which began as a F-80, then converted to the prototype T-33.