For many years historic aviation enthusiasts have criticized the Smithsonian Institution and namely the National Air and Space Museum for lack of action in many of the restoration projects that fill the facilities of the Garber Annex in Silver Hill, Maryland. With the opening of the Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles, many felt that the situation would change sooner than later, and in some cases it has indeed changed. Notable recent additions to the Udvar-Hazy display such as the Northrup P-61 Black Widow show that some progress is being made, but is it enough? Notable aircraft such as the Boeing B-17D Flying Fortress “The Swoose” continue to deteriorate, despite the fact the National Air & Space Museum lacks a B-17 in public display.

The General Accountability Office (GAO) released a report recently that uncovers “major structural deterioration” and “leaks” in many Smithsonian Museums and questions of cash flow and sustainability have come to light. With millions of people annually viewing the collections, the urgency of the situation is slowly coming to light in the media. Relative to the National Air & Space Museum, the GAO raised concerns 10 years ago in a report detailing the lack of space, lack of money, and continuing deterioration of the collection. One of the primary concerns; the restoration and storage space, still has yet to be addressed even with the building of the new Udvar-Hazy Center.

Tyler Green writes an opinion on the situation in the Los Angeles Times and notes the lack of action by Congress and the perils of allowing corporate sponsoring of certain exhibits to raise cash flow. Green notes, “One of the problems with corporate involvement is the appearance of influence in exhibition programming” as he describes a recent incident with a General Motors sponsored exhibit.

However, would corporate sponsorship help especially in the case of the aircraft that are at Garber? Where would the Boeing 307 Stratoliner be without the help of Boeing… at what point is the line crossed?

Your opinion counts and certainly the fate of many items of aviation history hang in the balance. Please make your representatives aware of your thoughts and let’s help the NASM come up with some way of keeping our aviation treasures safe.

Categories: Commentary, Government Issues, Museums
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