Yeah, they
broke ground on the new hangar back in October. Apparently, the reason they were able to do it is because they
received $12 million from the Utah State Legislature. I'd really like to know what they did to achieve that level of support, since I can't think of the last time a state chipped in for an aviation museum like that.
It's clear they're gearing up for the new hangar, since they acquired an
F-22 in December, 91-4002, (
WIX thread) and a
U-2 in January, 56-6716. (They also
received an F-117, 82-799, back in 2020 that they're
working on restoring, but I think that transfer had less to do with the building of a new hangar and more that they were just being made available at the time.)
They did have to
scrap their WB-47E, 51-2360, though. It was the one from the New England Air Museum that was damaged in the tornado, so I guess although it was scabbed back together it was in pretty bad shape. Unfortunately, the World War II barracks at the museum was in
too poor condition to save too. However, back in 2014 they had
plans to remove around 18 aircraft from the museum, so it seems that things have turned around a bit.
I'd just like to know the status of their library and archives, since it is no longer listed on the website and the
last mention of it stated that it was closed due to staffing shortages.