128 AGsnsruAL report Smithsonian institution, i960 



materials have been the four principal categories of work at the 

 Museum's storage facility at Park Kidge, 111., this year. 



Following an intensive period of preplanning, the curator, with the 

 help of the storage facUity staff and two of the staff from Washington, 

 concentrated the entire stored collection within about one-half of the 

 space previously occupied. This was followed by the erection of an 

 8-foot-high wire-mesh fence enclosing the entire area, the fence being 

 so made that individual panels are removable to facilitate the move- 

 ment of aircraft into and out of the area. 



Preservation of aircraft flown in requires running up of the 

 engines and giving them protective coatings while they are free and 

 warm, draining tanks and venting fumes, cleaning the aircraft inside 

 and out, placing dehydrators, and sealing all openings with tape. 

 Proper treatment of material, when received, requires cleaning, in- 

 specting, and replacing of preservatives. A large bacldog exists in 

 the inspection and preservation of the aeronautical items originally 

 transferred to the bureau by the Air Force. As an example of the 

 work involved in preservation, the cleaning of the propellers on the 

 Enola Gay, which, prior to its transfer to the Air Museum, had been 

 stored outdoors for a long period, required 247 man-hours of time. 

 Another rust-removing project involving the cleaning and applying 

 of preservatives to the Enola Gay's engines will consume an estimated 

 1,400 man-hours. 



The disassembly of aircraft condenses the space they occupy, and 

 this task constitutes the initial step taken toward boxing them. 

 Some of the planes received from the Air Force had been partially 

 dismantled and required further disassembly. Including these and 

 the aircraft dismantled entirely by the facility personnel, 59 were 

 handled during the fiscal year involving 1,697 man-hours. 



The boxiog program is intended, as far as is practical, to prepare all 

 stored material for safe storage and future shipment to Washington. 

 Twenty-nine aircraft, 67 engines, and other aeronautical materials 

 were already packed in boxes when received from the Air Force. The 

 boxes had become damaged, however, through repeated handling, 

 and many of them were repaired during the year. In addition, 6 

 airplanes were packed, requiring 18 boxes and consuming 950 man- 

 hours. Economies were effected by extensive salvaging of lumber 

 from the boxes and crates in which rejected aircraft had been placed. 

 Most of the aircraft and material received during the fiscal year were 

 delivered in permanent boxes. 



These several major continuing projects begun during the year 

 required nearly a fifth of the curator's time in planning and super- 

 vision. Several conferences of Air Force, Navy, and Air Museum 



