Help needed to repair damage at the Kansas Aviation Museum..

[Warbirdnerd]

The Kansas Aviation Museum is seeking contributions to help repair its Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bomber, which received more than $20,000 in damage during a recent storm.

The storm ripped the roof off of a building on McConnell Air Force Base, which is adjacent the museum, causing debris to fly into the plane, said Lon Smith, the museum’s interim executive director.

A large piece of sheet metal from the roof wrapped around the right wing of the B-52, damaging the tip tank and basically collapsing the entire rear side of that part of the wing, Smith said. The left gear-well door was also damaged by another piece of sheet metal.

Smith said the damage, which occurred in early July, makes the plane less presentable.

“People come here to Wichita, and they hear, ‘Air Capital of the World, Air Capital of the World,’ and then they come to the Aviation Museum in the Air Capital of the World, and we have one of the most iconic and large planes on the planet sitting on our ramp, and it looks like it just got hit by a tornado,” Smith said.

B-52s are long-range, heavy bombers designed and built by Boeing. The “52” indicates the year the planes were first produced, Smith said.

The bombers were first used during the Cold War but are still in operation today. The B-52 at the museum flew during Operation Arc Light, the strategic bombing missions in Vietnam.

To cover the costs of the damages to the B-52, Smith said the museum is going to file a claim with McConnell Air Force Base, but otherwise, the museum is seeking contributions.

Staff Sgt. Rachel Waller, a spokeswoman for McConnell, said the incident is being examined.

“All we really have right now is that the damage is under investigation,” Waller said in an email.

Smith said nothing else was damaged during the July storm, but a tornado in 2012 caused the same McConnell roof to fly off and damage planes at the museum.

“There wasn’t a plane that wasn’t damaged, and we’re still repairing some of those,” Smith said.

Part of the problem is that the planes at the museum are stored outside, and they will never be moved inside, Smith said.

“We just can’t build a building big enough for all (five planes), so it’s subject to the weather,” he said.

The B-52 is significant to Wichita and its residents, and all support is helpful, Smith said.

“(The damaged B-52) was built right here at Boeing, so it’s an important part of Kansas aviation heritage,” he said.

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/news/business/avi ... rylink=cpy

Found it here:
http://www.kansas.com/news/business/avi ... 20942.html

[Cutlass]

B-52s are long-range, heavy bombers designed and built by Boeing. The “52” indicates the year the planes were first produced, Smith said.

Mr. Smith is in need of a history lesson it seems...........

[sandiego89]

B-52s are long-range, heavy bombers designed and built by Boeing. The “52” indicates the year the planes were first produced, Smith said.

Mr. Smith is in need of a history lesson it seems...........

Ha, that jumped out at me also. It is perhaps interesting that some US bombers in the 40, 50 and 60 numbering series did come out pretty close to their serial number or delivery/first flight year- such as the B-42, B-45, B-47 (first flight in '47) B-50, B-52 (first flight '52), B-58... wonder how many others besides Mr. Smith have this misperception. On the other hand I am quite sure the B-10, B-17, B-24 etc were no where close to their conception year date.

As for the Kansas B-52 repair I wish them well. I wonder if the START treaty prohibits taking spare bits off boneyard or other derelict B-52's?