[MilCom] Naval Aviation Museum Damage

[Greg Brazil]

For those of you aviation buffs.

> Date: Sun, 17 Oct 2004 11:57:30 -0700
> Subject: Update on Ivan damage to NAM aircraft
> 
>  
> 

> National Museum of Naval  Aviation For Immediate  Release MUSEUM ENDURES
> HURRICANE IVAN'S  WRATH
> 
> The storm struck with all the might that Mother Nature could muster and
> for the inhabitants of the Pensacola area, life will never be the same. 
> Many returned to their homes to find them smashed by walls of water or
> at the very least missing sections of the roof.  NAS Pensacola suffered
> some $1 billion dollars in damage, its landscape marked by fallen trees
> and some of its historic nineteenth century buildings damaged beyond
> repair.
> 
> If there was one bright spot in the ordeal, it was the fact that the
> National Museum of Naval Aviation suffered relatively minor damage.
> Situated on some of the highest  ground on board NAS Pensacola, the
> Museum was not threatened by the strong storm  surge that devastated the
> waterfront areas of the air station, but the high  winds of Hurricane
> Ivan took somewhat of a toll on the Museum's main building  sending a
> section of high wall of the Blue Angels Atrium flying.  In  addition,
> sections of the skylights in both the West Wing and the Quarterdeck 
> were lost and a window in the Cubi Bar Café blew in, allowing some
> rainwater to  drench sections of carpet and some ceiling tiles. 
> Fortunately, not one  artifact or aircraft on display within the main
> Museum building was damaged. This was not the case with respect  to
> other structures on the air station in which the Museum stores aircraft
> and artifacts and conducts exhibit fabrication.  The Collections
> Department  storage facility in Building 3221 located behind the Museum
> had flying debris  break a window, which allowed water to enter a
> storage room.  Luckily, the  only item of significance that was
> destroyed was an early 1900s U.S. Naval  Academy Lucky Bag yearbook.
> 
> The restoration facility at the opposite end  of Building 3221 also
> suffered water damage and a falling tree damaged the roof  on a small
> artifact/artwork storage building across the street, but caused no 
> damage to items inside.  Building 604, located across the street from
> the  bay, suffered the most damage of any building operated by the
> Museum.   Between three and four feet of water entered the structure,
> whose brick face  emerged from the storm with a gigantic hole in it. 
> The result was water  damage to the Museum's Exhibit Fabrication
> Department spaces as well as the loss  of ordnance publications and
> archival supplies. Fortunately, the  collection of aviation flight
> records from the prewar and World War II eras  survived without so much
> as a drop of water on them. However, we still  await reports from some
> of the sites on the air station at which the Museum has  materials on
> loan, though it appears that most artifacts in this category are  intact
> and in excellent condition.
> 
> The greatest damage occurred on  the flight line behind the Museum,
> where about 75% of the vintage aircraft on  display sustained some
> damage.  Most of it was minor and, with possibly one  exception,
> repairable.  Our NU-1B Otter took the heaviest beating, losing a  wing
> and having its empennage twisted about forty degrees, which will require
> a major effort to repair. "Que Sera Sera", the first aircraft to land
> at the South Pole, also took a hit, but it is not as bad as it looks. 
> The  venerable C-47 lost its right wing and rudder among other things,
> but she should be back together before long.  We lost a few canopies
> and a lot of fabric  from control surfaces and our PB4Y-2 Privateer left
> its number 4 engine on the  ramp when it broke
> its tie downs and went for a short trip.  Ironically,  the EC-121 that
> is displayed in the markings of the "Hurricane Hunters" squadron  lost
> its dorsal radome. Following is a list of aircraft  that suffered damage:
> 
> 1.  F-14  (Damage to  port vertical stabilizer)
> 2.  CT-39  (Vertical stabilizer damage)
> 3.  KA-6D  (Canopy blown  off and destroyed/Damage to starboard wing fold)
> 4..  HU-16  (Port float  blown off and wing damaged)
> 5..  P2V "Truculent  Turtle"  (Cockpit wind screening off and starboard
> hatch out)
> 6..  SP-5B  (Vertical  stabilizer and rudder damage)
> 7..  P-3  (Vertical stabilizer and rudder damage/Port wing access hatch
> out)
> 8..  P-3  (Rudder blown  off and antenna down)
> 9..  AJ-2  (Damage to starboard elevator, port elevator, rudder,
> ailerons, and port tip  tank)
> 10..  EA-1F  (Hole in  starboard wing and rear canopy blown away)
> 11.. A-4 (Damage to  both wing tips, rudder, port aft fuselage, and dent
> in the nose cone)
> 12..  A-7  (Canopy blown  off and damage to starboard aileron)
> 13.. EC-121  (Top  radome blown away and damage to starboard wing and
> elevator)
> 14..  TC-4C  (Rudder and  elevator damage as well as damage to the nose
> strut)
> 15..  EA-3B  (Tail  damage and dent in aft radome)
> 16..  C-118  (Aileron, rudder, and vertical stabilizer damage)
> 17..  RA-5C  (Starboard  flap, nose section, and horizontal stabilizer
> damage)
> 18..  R4D "Que Sera  Sera"  (Aircraft suffered tail wheel damage and an
> aileron and rudder were  blown away.  The port wing broke away and there
> is fuselage damage to the  aircraft) 19..  C-117  (Fuselage  holed and
> damage to tail wheel and elevators)
> 20..  C-131  (Wing  scraped and damage to engine nacelle)
> 21..  E-1B  (Damage to  port wing fold)
> 22..  T-2C (Damage to  pitot tube and trim tab)
> 23..  T-38  (Horizontal  stabilizers blown off)
> 24..  PBJ  (Damage to  fabric on flaps and tail)
> 25..  RF-4  (Forward canopy blown off and damage to starboard wing slat
> and leading edge port wing)
> 26..  JD-1  (Nose  section blown off and damage to ailerons)
> 27.. RC-45J  (Damage to  port aileron)
> 28..  PBY  (Damage to  elevator fabric, aft section of the fuselage,
> nose turret, and port  wing)
> 29..  NU-1B (Tail section twisted approximately forty degrees, starboard
> wing off, and damage to  tail)
> 30..  PB4Y  (Rudder  blown off and damage to fuselage, cockpit canopy,
> tail and wingtip.  Top  hatch is missing and starboard outboard engine
> blown off the aircraft)
> 31..  SP-2H  (Aft  stinger radar off and damage to ventral radome, and
> port wing and  aileron)
> 32..  S-2E  (Damage to  rudder, port elevator, and trim tab)
> 33..  C-46  (Port and  starboard aileron damage and also damage to
> rudder, trim tab, and  elevator.  Damage to access door)
> 34..  F/A-18 (Port and  starboard landing gear door damage)
> 
> The museum will reopen for business on Monday, 11 October, at 0900
> hours, after being closed to the visiting public for almost four weeks.
>