5 unique aircraft restored in full view at NASM - Ho-IX is one of them!

AeroFranz

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I have a preliminary list of the five aircraft that will be in full view of visitors while undergoing restoration at the Udvar Hazy museum. Visitors will be able to see them from overhead walkways, it is my understanding. I'm glad to see the Ho-IX, probably one of the most iconic Luft-46 aircraft, is among them. Misspelling of the Horten name is not mine ;)

Sikorsky JRS-1
Lippisch DM-1
Nakajima Kikka
Horton IX
Curtiss S2BC Helldiver
 
Restoration of the Lippisch DM-1 will also be interesting.
I 'm wondering whether it will be restored in its original form, or in its final status (after the NACA wind-tunnel tests).
http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,11084.msg120003/highlight,dm-1.html#msg120003
http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,5666.msg45597/highlight,dm-1.html#msg45597
 
If the government does not shut down, i will try to take some pictures on saturday.
government shutdown... in what world this sentence even makes sense?
 
Is the misdesignation of the SB2C yours? :)

AeroFranz said:
I have a preliminary list of the five aircraft that will be in full view of visitors while undergoing restoration at the Udvar Hazy museum. Visitors will be able to see them from overhead walkways, it is my understanding. I'm glad to see the Ho-IX, probably one of the most iconic Luft-46 aircraft, is among them. Misspelling of the Horten name is not mine ;)

Sikorsky JRS-1
Lippisch DM-1
Nakajima Kikka
Horton IX
Curtiss S2BC Helldiver
 
Nope, it was the original author's - of all the crazy-long mixed number/letter Navy designations, SB2C is the easiest to memorize because of the well-known nickname affixed to it by less-than-loving crews ;D
 
I don't guess I'll ever understand all the complaints about the pre-'64 USN designations, as long as they're written properly, they tell you everything you need to know about the aircraft!


AeroFranz said:
Nope, it was the original author's - of all the crazy-long mixed number/letter Navy designations, SB2C is the easiest to memorize because of the well-known nickname affixed to it by less-than-loving crews ;D
 
frank said:
I don't guess I'll ever understand all the complaints about the pre-'64 USN designations, as long as they're written properly, they tell you everything you need to know about the aircraft!


AeroFranz said:
Nope, it was the original author's - of all the crazy-long mixed number/letter Navy designations, SB2C is the easiest to memorize because of the well-known nickname affixed to it by less-than-loving crews ;D

I agree! They're still my favorite system ever... and always will be!!! There is nothing quite like a good ol' XTB3F-1W, isn't there? LOL
 
Oh, the Tr-service system sometimes aspired to reach the heights of the old Navy system -
the NTRA-3B Skywarrior of the late 1980s comes to mind. Brevity (if not sanity) soon prevailed and the former testbed in the service of VAQ-33 was redesignated to "UA-3B".

I think that my favorite designation-derived nickname was the "Hookey-Tookey" for the Kaman HU2K-1 Seasprite.
 
http://www.nasm.si.edu/museum/udvarhazy/restoration.cfm

I haven't been out there in awhile. Has the hangar been built?
 
The Mary Baker Engen restoration hangar is finished - I believe there are very minor things left to do in the archive rooms, but I think that theoretically they can start moving everything from the Garber facility.
I was given a tour this morning, here's some highlights.

- There is already a restored He-219 fuselage + empennage and engine nacelles in the main gallery. The wings are still at Garber, being finished. The docent estimated that the two would be mated by the end of the year.
-The restoration bay is state-of-the-art and about 40,000 sq.ft. There are windows all around the top floor and visitors can see everything that's going on from there. The walkway connects with the space hangars, so as an additional bonus, now you can see a whole lot of space artifacts from a raised point of view.
-Enterprise will likely be replaced by another orbiter (announcement on the 12th). For this to happen, Enterprise has to go. NASA people have been cycling the landing gear and ascertaining that it can actually be lifted on the 747 that will whisk it away.
-There is now an Me-163 in preserved (non-restored conditions) on the gallery floor just outside the space hangar. For a while it had been sitting with the wings detached but now they are on.

I found out that the planes exposed in the Engen Hangar are NOT necessarily the ones that will be restored next. Since they have so much space, they are bringing in planes representative of the different states of preservation. I'm pretty sure the Dauntless is the next one on the list (it was a condition imposed by the Engen family who generously coughed up $15M. Daddy flew SB2C's in the pacific). So I'm not actually sure when the other planes in the hangar will be restored, but they are definitely going to be visible at least. The Ho-IX's wings where already there, but the fuselage is still at Garber while they are figuring out how to transport it without damaging the plywood.
The Lippisch glider is still in the same crates it was put in by NACA at the end of their wind tunnel tests back in post-WWII (I think it's the darker crates above the Kikka's empennage, I think). The Sikorsky JRS-1 is the only surviving aircraft that was operational at Pearl Harbor on December 7th. For the Kikka, they are still trying to figure out what airframe/hybrid they have, as they suspect it was assembled with part from different prototypes. They do know it doesn't have the damage associated with the one that ended up in Tokyo bay.

Sorry about the image quality! I took these with my cell phone behind glass panes.
 

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I forgot to add the Convair "Pogo" will be shown in that hangar as well, as soon as repairs are made to the erector
 
Isnt that a Helldiver rather than Dauntless ?

Still nice to see a restoration hanger in view, i think it helps show what work is put in to get or maintain the aircraft we see on display.

Certainly look foward to seeing those late war aircraft finally appear ;D
 
Found on: http://www.nasm.si.edu/collections/artifact.cfm?id=A19600324000

When Phase II at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center opened 15 March 2011, the H IX V3 outer wing panels were on public view in the new workshop.

NASM collections care specialists will move the wing's center section to Phase II later in 2011.
 
Just was there on Friday with a friend.

Looks like they have space to restore five different aircraft at a time. While we were watching, they had some contractors performing final adjustment/installation/whatever on the HVAC system.

Right now they have:

Unidentified Seaplane
Kikka
Horten Wing
SB2C Helldiver

in the hangar.

Photo of Horten all crated up was taken by a friend of mine who noticed it. I didn't ::)
 

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The "unidentified seaplane" is a Sikorsky S-43 Amphibion, better known by its nickname "Baby Clipper"!

There is another example left that's been restored to flying condition (see pictures).
 

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I took these during an evening event there a couple of weeks ago...
 

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