134 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1968 



STORAGE 



The difficulties experienced during the year in operating the Park 

 Ridge, 111., storage facility and in establishing the one at Suitland, 

 Md., have been reviewed in the general statement. In spite of these 

 problems, considerable progress was made in the operations at Park 

 Eidge. 



Because the shipment of the stored material to Washington is the 

 final objective of the storage facility, the principal project at Park 

 Ridge is the disassembly, preservation, and boxing of aircraft, en- 

 gines, and other materials. During the year 9 full-sized airplanes 

 were taken apart to their major components, given preservative treat- 

 ment, and boxed, bringing the total of airplanes so prepared to 72 and 

 leaving but 10 presently scheduled for such treatment. Several of 

 these, however, are large aircraft and will present serious problems in 

 disassembly because they are foreign types for which little or no 

 breakdown data exists, and, having been constructed for immediate 

 and nearby combat operations they do not have the disassembly fea- 

 tures common to American aircraft. Of the aircraft boxes formerly 

 built, 17 were repaired and weatherproofed, 100 were sprayed with 

 protective material, 4 were provided with new skids, and all were 

 weighed to obtain data for final shipment. In the latter operation, 

 the assistance of the State of Illinois Traffic Police, who lent their 

 large scales, was particularly appreciated. Of the engines, 140 were 

 given cleaning and preservative treatment, and boxes were constructed 

 for 8, while all the engine boxes were checked for ventilation and a 

 number of new lids constructed. In the final weeks of the fiscal year, 

 when 20 tnickloads of boxes containing components were shipped to 

 Suitland, all those boxes were examined, repaired, their contents 

 given cleaning and preservation treatment where necessary, the closed 

 boxes banded, the material prearranged in load lots, and finally loaded 

 on the trucks. In addition there were times when the two carpenters 

 were required to construct office space or enclosures and shelves for 

 tools, supplies, and equipment, and when the three mechanics had to 

 stop their aircraft work in order to repair the crane, forklifts, and 

 other handling equipment and vehicles. The guards frequently vol- 

 unteered a helpful hand, and the manager, Walter Male, to whom 

 much credit for the efficient operation at Park Ridge is due, appor- 

 tioned his time so that he was able to visit the plant of Airwork Cor- 

 poration at Millville, N. J., where they kindly explained to him their 

 techniques for preserving aircraft, enabling these methods to be added 

 to our processing. Mr. Male also visited Wright-Patterson Field at 

 Dayton, where he searched for data on foreign aircraft in order to 

 better care for those in the Museum collection ; and, at the Naval Base 

 in Mechanicsburg and other places, learned about their methods of 

 storing aircraft, and related operations. 



