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00:04It's been a hundred years since the first powered flight.
00:08We walked on the moon.
00:10That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.
00:16Revolutionized travel and warfare.
00:21The story of flight is so fresh.
00:24We have liftoff.
00:25Every object is a witness to history.
00:29At one of the busiest museums in the world, they aim to keep that history alive.
00:35We're contributing to the history and contributing to the future as well.
00:39For those who collect.
00:40Looks like I have an overcoat from the Royal Air Force here.
00:44Go, go, go.
00:45Transport.
00:45It's the widest thing I've ever moved.
00:47And preserve its thousands of treasures.
00:51We have very little time to do a great deal of things.
00:55Keeping cool under pressure is a job requirement.
01:00What was that?
01:02It just got real easy all of a sudden.
01:03What was that?
01:06What was that?
01:20My name is Samantha Snell.
01:22I'm a collections project specialist here at the National Air and Space Museum.
01:27Samantha Snell may not have a fancy title, but she has a big job.
01:31She's a guardian of our nation's treasures, helping to oversee 70,000 objects and counting.
01:38Everything that we have in the Air and Space Museum has some kind of story.
01:41We're here as caretakers on a daily basis for these artifacts.
01:44But we need to preserve them and do our best for their longevity.
01:48So that the American people can come and enjoy it.
01:52Today, Sam's at the Paul E. Garber storage facility in Suitland, Maryland.
01:58She and a team of specialists are loading up a Vietnam-era F-100 fighter jet.
02:05It's scheduled to be out on display in three months' time.
02:09That's got to come up about four feet.
02:13John, come up.
02:15Crew chief John Schatz and company have taken the former fighter jet out of storage
02:19and broken it down into three segments for transport.
02:25All right, lock it up there. I think we're good.
02:30First up, the 9,000-pound fuselage.
02:33It's the core of an aircraft that, in its day, packed an unprecedented wallop.
02:39The F-100 Super Sabre was the first supersonic fighter.
02:46Other aircraft had exceeded the speed of sound on a dive,
02:49but only the F-100 had the muscle to do it in level flight.
02:55The height of their service was during the Vietnam War.
03:00In 1969, hundreds of F-100s were operating from South Vietnam bases.
03:07That's where John Schatz first worked with them.
03:10Spent 20 years in the Air Force.
03:12Six and a half of that, almost seven, was enlisted.
03:16Aircraft maintenance on the F-100 predominantly.
03:20Back off this.
03:21We're very fortunate in that John Schatz, the lead restoration technician on it,
03:30was a crew chief on F-100s, so there is nobody on this plane that knows more about an F
03:36-100 than John.
03:37So, that's perfect.
03:39This plane has seen it all.
03:42During the Vietnam War, it spent three years at Benoit, a major U.S. airbase 20 miles outside Saigon,
03:49and the first target of North Vietnam's 1968 Tet Offensive.
03:55These high-performance fighters earned their stripes in battle,
04:03but also required a lot of care between missions.
04:06I don't know, it was kind of a love affair with the airplane,
04:10although it can be doggy with some of the maintenance.
04:13The F-100's glory days may be over, but it hasn't been forgotten.
04:17It's headed for a new arena, and one with a sizable fan base.
04:26Each year, some seven million people visit the iconic National Air and Space Museum in downtown Washington.
04:34How did that man get up?
04:36And the newest member of the aviation family,
04:39the Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy Center in suburban Virginia.
04:48Today's destination for the oversized artifact is the Udvar-Hazy Center's state-of-the-art restoration facility,
04:5540 miles away.
04:58And the man whose job it is to get it there safely,
05:00museum specialist Anthony Wallace.
05:04I was always interested in aviation since I was a child.
05:07Stand on it.
05:09Stand on it.
05:12When I was in college, I conducted an internship down at the Air and Space Museum downtown in the curatorial
05:16department.
05:18But came out here to Garber one day to work and knew that this is where I wanted to work.
05:23Anthony's been planning the trip for weeks.
05:25He has to. He's not simply hauling a heavy load.
05:29He's transporting a piece of history.
05:31We are using the drop center, which is this guy right here,
05:35which helps us with taller lugs like the one we have on the truck right now.
05:39We need to go left.
05:41Go left.
05:43Stand by.
05:45Everything that comes to us, once it crosses through our threshold,
05:49it is no longer a working piece of equipment.
05:51It is an artifact.
05:52And once it comes through our doors, we are not going to be treating it like you can still take
05:56it out for a ride.
05:59Anthony has to contend with the 200,000 cars that clog the Capitol Beltway each day.
06:08I'm sorry, you ain't getting rid of my airplane.
06:13One of my main concerns always when we stop around here is other people on the road.
06:18Yeah.
06:19Good job.
06:22I know what I'm going to do and what I want to do.
06:24I don't know what they want to do or what they're going to do.
06:29Flash is on, slowing down.
06:31Flash direction.
06:33Got it.
06:43We're good.
06:44We're good.
06:54Udvar Hazi's restoration facility will be the crew's home for the next two months while they reassemble the F-100.
07:02The glossy shop is a far cry from the early days of the museum.
07:06It stands as a testament to the vision and tenacity of the museum's first curator, Paul Garber.
07:15Paul Garber created the air and space was playing something.
07:19He loved airplanes and aviation and he also realized that this brand new technology was going to be extremely important,
07:25but no one was attempting to preserve it.
07:29Soon after World War II, Garber began collecting at a feverish pace.
07:34He had the vision and he had the will.
07:36What he didn't have was the money.
07:39He managed to secure 21 acres of land in Silver Hill, Maryland.
07:44He picked up the buildings from military surplus.
07:47He got local concrete trucks to pour the building pads with their job site leftovers.
07:52He was a scrounger.
07:54He called in favors.
07:56And I will guarantee you all the really, really important stuff he got.
08:00Among Garber's prizes, the original Wright Brothers 1903 flyer, Charles Lindbergh's record-breaking Spirit of St. Louis, and the B
08:12-29 Super Fortress bomber Enola Gay, the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb.
08:20For these icons of history, the first stop on the road to permanent celebrity was the mysterious cluster of pastel
08:26buildings in Suitland, Maryland.
08:29Al Bachmeier was a local motor head when Paul Garber hired him in 1971.
08:35I was hired as a welder, but I worked for the collections department here at the time.
08:41This was a cardiac system.
08:43I decided that collections is probably where I wanted to be.
08:48Al worked with Garber for 40 years, documenting and storing artifacts.
08:53He was a hardcore type collector.
08:56He didn't turn anything down because he knew that he may not get another chance for it, that if it
09:01was offered to him, he'd find a place to put it.
09:04But in those early days, little was known about artifacts storage and conservation.
09:09In the meantime, the collection continued to grow.
09:14Now, over 60 years later, 40,000 objects are still at the Paul E. Garber facility, and the retrofitted surplus
09:22buildings are bursting at the seams.
09:25The Garber facility is very challenging to have proper artifacts storage.
09:31I mean, when Paul Garber got the land for the Garber facility, he was already collecting.
09:35So, so many things had to live outside for a long time under tarps and whatever else, whatever he could
09:41do.
09:42But at least he had the artifacts. At least they were being collected.
09:46We've known for years that we need to get out of the Garber facility because the buildings have outlived their
09:51lives.
09:52It is time. We are past our time. We have got to get out.
09:59Today, the Air and Space Museum's three locations house over 70,000 objects.
10:05And with the Garber and downtown buildings packed, it's up to the Haase Center's three enormous hangers to help make
10:11the growing collection available to the public.
10:14All the artifacts we were never able to display downtown because of their size, were able to display here.
10:22And we can store the artifacts properly out here as well.
10:26The Udvar Haase Center has over 58,000 square feet dedicated to storage.
10:32The team's master plan must account for a wide range of special needs objects.
10:40Everything requires proper handling.
10:42Hardware has to be up and ready.
10:44And some tough decisions have to be made about what goes first.
10:47For some objects still at Garber, the trip to Udvar Haase can't come soon enough.
10:53I took a look at where the artifacts are currently stored and which are the artifacts that are most threatened
10:59and in the worst levels of deterioration today.
11:04And I looked at those and determined that these are the ones that need to come out first.
11:09So they're in the first section of the new storage area.
11:16And then I just went from there and there's a lot of logistics that go into preparing these things to
11:20come out.
11:25One of Udvar Haase's hidden gems is its pristine spacesuit vault.
11:30But getting the suits to their new digs required some creative problem solving.
11:36When we started the planning for bringing the small artifacts out to the Haase Center for storage, the biggest collection
11:42that we started working with really was the spacesuit collection.
11:45We have a collection of about 280 spacesuits.
11:51The suits had been stored at Garber initially under very crowded conditions.
11:59Transporting 280 spacesuits out the door and over to Udvar Haase posed a rather unusual challenge.
12:05Well, we wanted to have them on trays, but going on trays, how do you transport them?
12:12Do you strap them down? If you strap them down too tightly, you're going to damage the suits.
12:17So the MOVE team came up with an unusual solution, coffin boxes.
12:23A coffin is far bigger than a human, so you could get a suit with very large shoulders into a
12:29coffin box.
12:29And they were absolutely perfect for moving spacesuits, because some of the spacesuits are fairly heavy.
12:36So this was a way to move them around safely, support them, keep them on their handling trays, and then
12:42put it directly into storage.
12:49Thousands of objects later, the MOVE team is still at it.
12:54The Garber MOVE team are my boots on the ground every day.
12:58I'm in contact with them on a daily basis, usually multiple times a day.
13:02These are gloves from the Royal Air Force, so these will go into our rubber spacesuit storage.
13:10But packing is only part of the job.
13:13This team is trained to spot damage and decay, and take steps to protect the priceless artifacts.
13:19I would enjoy at least putting tissue down.
13:24These gloves have a rubber material on the lining, and that rubber off-gasses various chemicals.
13:31So it's best if those materials are kept together in storage.
13:34But sometimes, even under optimal storage conditions, things can go wrong.
13:40The problem with spacesuits is that they're made of complex materials that were not created to last for a very
13:48long period of time.
13:53I'm going to step off the limb now.
13:55That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.
14:03When Neil Armstrong walked on the moon in 1969, he wore custom-made gloves featuring stainless steel fabric and blue
14:11silicone fingertips.
14:14When the gear was put on display to commemorate Armstrong's life, one glove developed mysterious spots on the cuff.
14:22There seemed to be spots where something had been painted on.
14:27The interesting thing is that in the case of Neil Armstrong's gloves, it's only on the right glove.
14:31So this is what I think the clean weave looks like.
14:35What we're working on right now is trying to determine what was applied, who applied it, and when it happened.
14:41And this is part of documenting the history of the suit.
14:44Today, Cathy is meeting with conservator Lisa Young and Bill Arie, a rep from the suit's manufacturer, to look for
14:51an answer.
14:52So today, we're looking at the coatings on the surface of the glove.
14:55I mean, it is whiter in that area.
14:57Like, you can see, like, even around that abrasion, it's like it almost flowed away from the tear.
15:02The white material is called beta cloth, and we're using a new piece of equipment that we actually got in
15:08the lab, a 3D microscope.
15:09Is that the Teflon?
15:10Yeah, this is the Teflon.
15:11I mean, that's just going to be the Teflon.
15:12Right here.
15:13This is the edge of the coating right there.
15:14So it's going.
15:15This way?
15:16Yeah.
15:16Now what we're thinking is that the spot repairs were done to freeze snags that had occurred in the cuff.
15:24And what we think we see, we're not sure, is lunar dust that has been caught underneath.
15:32This is where I'm seeing, like, the swipes of the moon dust underneath that got on the fibers.
15:36That would tell me that this coating was added after post-mission.
15:40Not anticipating it would have come right to the Smithsonian and figure out which way to freeze.
15:44Lunar dust is very sticky, very sharp, very aggressive.
15:47It will attack materials that we just never even thought about.
15:52You see the woven fibers criss-crossing each other in there, which is really pretty cool.
15:57As it turns out, the impacted materials were metal fibers in the spacesuits, which acted as magnets for the iron
16:04-based lunar dust.
16:05So we discovered a new history that we didn't even know about.
16:09But it looks very angular in glass.
16:11I mean, it doesn't look like normal dust.
16:13Right.
16:13And these are things that might seem very small but are very important to missions, to the moon, to Mars.
16:20So we're contributing to the history and contributing to the future as well, which is really exciting.
16:33Back at Garber, John and Anthony have been waiting a week for a break in the weather to move the
16:38next part of the F-100.
16:40It's about 10, 15 at night.
16:43So each stack is strapped itself.
16:46This is just the excess tie-off, because this is the actual.
16:50So this one goes up over into the other side.
16:53I've got two of those.
16:54And then I've got two coming from the other side to pull the wing back that way.
16:58Okay.
16:58What we're doing is we're getting ready to move this wing for the RF-100 Super Saver.
17:03Anthony has the wing strapped down tight, but the major point of contact to the truck is a pair of
17:0832-year-old tires.
17:10If there's a blowout, the strap securing the wing will loosen up.
17:15This goes up and around and takes us straight back to the other side.
17:19And redundant.
17:20Yeah.
17:20One in it.
17:22Overkill is good.
17:24Because of the overall size of the wing, we're actually going to need to move it at night.
17:29The advantage of a night move is there's a lot less traffic.
17:34But the downside is that you really can't see as well as you can during the day.
17:39The weight on the wing is only about 7,000 pounds.
17:43But we get into size issues.
17:46It's a 12.8 high, 19.8 wide.
17:48This is just a shade under 20 feet wide as we have it rigged on the truck right now.
17:53I've got glow sticks on each one, so I'll crack them before we leave.
18:01It's the widest thing I've ever moved.
18:04A little nervous but exciting at the same time.
18:09What I'm looking for is you're on the right.
18:11I need you to watch any emerging traffic from my side.
18:15Roger that.
18:16Ideally, what we would want to do is minimal personnel and equipment as possible
18:19to keep lines of communication clear and make sure everyone has their specific duty.
18:23Swings around, he can open up the exit gate.
18:26So what we're going to have set up is we're going to have our tractor in the middle.
18:28Anthony and I can only see one at a time.
18:31We have to go back and forth with that mirror.
18:33And then we're going to have one of our escort vehicles out in the front and two in the back.
18:38One on the left and one on the right.
18:40That's what's required by our permits.
18:42We're going to have a Maryland State Trooper escort us to the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.
18:51The Maryland Trooper did a walk around in the vehicle.
18:53He's now calling in all our information.
18:55The permit and my driver's license to verify everything's legit and ready to go.
18:59When his overhead lights turn on, that means the check came back and we're fine and we're going to go.
19:04This is great.
19:06This is great.
19:07Pretty cool, huh?
19:08Come on.
19:09It's great.
19:14Hey, all the way into the lane.
19:16Come on, Amber.
19:21Look past him.
19:24You're clear of the lane.
19:26We are just east of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.
19:29We're still in Maryland.
19:30This is where we switch our escort from Maryland to Virginia.
19:33Everything's going as advertised.
19:36We'll let nothing happen to the taxpayer's artifact.
19:40Crossing the Potomac River means crossing state lines and a midstream handoff from the Maryland Trooper escort to his Virginia
19:48counterparts.
19:50Genius is giving us three escorts that will come with us all the way to the museum.
19:53So far, we've only gone about seven miles.
19:55We've got about 32 to go.
19:57And then we'll get to the museum.
19:58It should be about a 35, 40-minute drive from this point.
20:03Go, go, go.
20:04Okay, call.
20:05Let them control the traffic, all right?
20:07They're blocking.
20:08Escort vehicle is twofold.
20:10One is to keep people away from my truck and my load.
20:12We've got merging traffic.
20:14But it's also to assist me with what I need to do.
20:18Clear left.
20:19Thank y'all.
20:20They can spot things for me that I can't see.
20:23To the right.
20:25If I need to move over, they can go out ahead and get me the lane that I need before
20:29I actually physically start moving over.
20:31Everything looks good, Blue. Everything looks good.
20:33So they're a way to keep traffic away from me and also to help me move around as I need
20:36it.
20:37You are good. Off the road, Blue.
20:40That's a negative. Everything looks good, Blue.
20:45Right side's good.
20:47At the entrance to Hossie, the escort departs and the team heads for the hangar.
20:52Actually, it was a lot easier having a state trooper than not.
20:55So that ended up being a very big help.
21:00I never had that before. I kind of wish I had that from now on.
21:03And they were a great group of guys.
21:07It's two in the morning when Hossie's hangar door finally closes.
21:13Anthony posted a personal best tonight.
21:15But the job's not over yet.
21:22The National Air and Space Museum's 22 curators keep the Garber team busy managing the flow of newly acquired objects.
21:32Everything that comes in the collection gets catalogued.
21:34And everything gets a catalogued number, gets photographed.
21:41Curators are responsible for choosing what comes into the collection and we're responsible to take care of it after that.
21:47But sometimes curators face a familiar dilemma.
21:50They've got too many of one thing and need to do a bit of housekeeping.
21:57Museum specialist Jen Lavosser has come to Garber to make some tough decisions about her collection.
22:03She specializes in the everyday personal items used by astronauts.
22:08One of the things that's interesting about my job is that the items in my collection are the things that
22:12astronauts use that are very much like the things we use here on Earth.
22:17We've got our hot dogs.
22:20They seem to still be vacuum sealed but I wouldn't want to try.
22:26Essentially astronaut diets consisted of about 2500 calories, sometimes more based on the level of activity the astronaut would need
22:34to do that day.
22:35Just because the food was available did not always mean they ate it.
22:39All of our drinks.
22:41These items don't have nearly as many in our collection and that's when we need to determine just the right
22:46number of things that make sense for us to maintain.
22:49You can actually tell with some of the coffee that this one does not have any cream in it but
22:53that one does have cream.
22:54Some of the things we consider how likely it is something might go on display.
22:58Because what an astronaut could actually do with this is they could squirt hot water into this, in this case
23:04spaghetti.
23:05If we want to have some available for loan to other museums.
23:10But also if there were any reason that someone might want to come and study the item.
23:20I think this ongoing fascination with astronauts in particular is that they are these representatives who have had this experience.
23:27They represent all of humanity in these exploration projects.
23:31Everything that's on the table should have a condition survey that they've already done.
23:35Great, thank you so much.
23:38Earth-bound humans take a lot for granted.
23:41In space, daily duties can turn into the stuff of nightmares.
23:46What we have here on the table now are what, at least according to the label on the package here
23:52says, defecation collection device.
23:55This was NASA's solution to how an astronaut would collect their bowel movements.
24:04Essentially its construction is, it's a fairly simple plastic bag.
24:09At the top of the bag is the circular portion.
24:13And there's an adhesive that goes around the circular portion here.
24:18This paper would be peeled off and the astronaut could literally stick it to their backside.
24:25The major problem is the fact that there's no gravity, no gravity or any kind of assistance to keep the
24:32fecal matter at the bottom of the bag.
24:34It wasn't uncommon for some to escape the bag as well.
24:38If you poop in that, the poop doesn't just go to the bottom, it floats in there.
24:42And so it did sometimes get loose and float around the cabin.
24:50Astronauts were not keen on a lot of these things.
24:53It's highly personal.
24:54So some of the difficulties that they had during the missions weren't often talked about until years later,
24:59when astronauts started writing their memoirs and talking about really the nitty gritty of being in space.
25:05Curators acquire to help interpret the past, but they also want to help keep future astronauts alive and healthy a
25:12hundred years from now.
25:14We may never really get to know what that sense of weightlessness and awe and wonder at seeing Earth from
25:19afar, what that's really about.
25:21But they're the ones that are willing to take that incredible risk that I think is always going to exist
25:26in this process of space exploration.
25:52Back at the restoration shop, John Schatz and his team have three days to reassemble the F-100.
25:59The goal today is to try to install the engine.
26:02And before we can do that, I have to make sure that these railing systems are cleared through here and
26:07smooth.
26:10And I'm going to try to make it so that it's straight enough that we can actually slide it in,
26:14because this is going to be an obstruction the way it's set up right now.
26:20It's getting all of this stuff out of the way so when the engine goes in we don't have electrical
26:25cables and hydraulic lines snarling.
26:28John's prepared for a few glitches.
26:30The F-100's been idle for the past 32 years.
26:38The installation itself is pretty straightforward.
26:43That's the little stuff that gets you.
26:51Basically, the next step is to get the engine over there and lined up with the engine bay.
26:58And the doorway that's on here right now is adjustable.
27:02So it contains a certain amount of roll and a certain amount of left and right.
27:06So if you're well within the ballpark, then there's no problems with getting it lined up and moving in.
27:38The engine is lined up and ready to go.
27:41Will's job is to adjust the engine.
27:42It's going to adjust the dolly so it can slide into the fuselage.
27:48How are you looking?
27:50What about another inch?
27:51Another inch?
27:52Am I going the right way?
27:54I'm going the right way.
27:56The other way.
28:00Is it working?
28:01Yeah.
28:06Well, as you can see, moving up on it, aligning, trying to keep everything out of the way.
28:12Unfortunately, in a couple of cases, we had to snag.
28:16Give me a quarter inch drive ratchet.
28:19Well, you've got a lot of hoses in there that have become stiff as certain things have gotten into position
28:24from sitting around all those gears.
28:26Got lined up over there, Rob.
28:29Bring the aft up?
28:30Yeah.
28:30Coming up.
28:34Okay.
28:38I feel it just going around the surface.
28:41Every time I start putting pressure on it and try to push the engine in there, it skips like a
28:48tooth.
28:48It's going as hard as it can.
28:50I'm putting a lot of pressure on spinning this thing.
28:53And I'm stripping the gear, so to speak.
29:00What was that?
29:03It just got real easy all of a sudden.
29:17This morning at the Udvar-Hazi Center, Sam's team jumps into go mode when their truckload of artifacts reaches the
29:24loading dock.
29:24Well, it's 855 in the morning.
29:26We are offloading our Penske straight truck with textiles from our collection back at the Garber facility.
29:34In total, it's probably about 100 items that are going to be coming out.
29:39A hundred textile items might fit easily on the discount rack at the mall.
29:44But here, that number fills up a freight truck.
29:48That's because this batch of clothing was designed for a different runway.
29:53Jackets, trousers, overcoats, flight suits, dresses, hats, long underwear.
30:01It's all here, and it's all been individually packaged and prepped for storage.
30:07Exposure to dirt and humidity can harm artifacts.
30:10So Sam and the team move quickly.
30:13And in the spirit of Paul Garber, they're still improvising.
30:17They've resurrected the original coffin boxes they used to move the spacesuits.
30:24Many of the items in this shipment fall under the watch of curator Alex Spencer.
30:29He's here to check out a few of the uniforms in his collection of 15,000 artifacts.
30:33The material here that you see is a little barrier that they put so that there's not a reaction between
30:39the wool and the brass of the insignias to help preserve them and prevent corrosion.
30:44Maintaining a 60-year-old overcoat isn't easy under the best circumstances.
30:49The storage facility at Ud Varhazy must protect it for future generations to research and enjoy.
30:55For Alex, the mission is critical.
30:58It's hard for an individual, a visitor, to relate to an aircraft sometime.
31:03It's something they don't encounter in their everyday life, of course.
31:07So, if you can bring in the personal objects, it humanizes the story of this is how they go to
31:15war.
31:34The F-100's fuselage is in position and secured.
31:39Next step is to place the aft section.
31:41But John Schatz doesn't like what he sees.
31:44The afterburner that's on the airplane right now, it's in the full afterburner position or the maximum thrust position.
31:49The afterburner gives the F-100 the thrust needed for quick takeoffs and supersonic flight.
31:57To look authentic on display, it should be completely closed down.
32:02We're trying to close this constrictor off so it's actually, it closes up like a clamship.
32:07All this closes up into a smaller hole.
32:12With these cylinders here, we're trying to activate these cylinders to push against these leaves here.
32:18To actually close off the constrictor.
32:20But the cylinders haven't moved for over 32 years.
32:24Yeah, basically the piston seals have dried out.
32:27You can see where they've started to move out.
32:30See, like down here hasn't moved all that much.
32:33So what we've got is a situation where they've started to bind.
32:36The dried out seals have locked up the cylinders.
32:39John decides to pump nitrogen gas directly into the afterburner to try and free them.
32:45It's a long shot at best and he'll need a special fitting to hook up the gas.
32:49Well, we've got to make pneumatic fitting that'll fit on this end here so that we can use that,
32:55that nitrogen tank to charge up these over here.
33:01So we want to close it off and we don't have a fitting for it so we're going to have
33:05the machinist make a fitting.
33:08The shop's machinist, Gary Gordon, is equal parts mechanic, inventor and artist.
33:15Well, we're just trying to get a smaller piece to make this fitting for John.
33:24During restoration, John keeps the artifacts curator in the loop on the team's progress.
33:30During a restoration, it's a give and take.
33:36A lot of discussion goes back and forth between the store and the curator as what we can and cannot
33:40do.
33:41And sometimes we make a decision where it's too expensive, where we can't find the parts or we can't manufacture
33:46the parts.
33:47That's why we have flexible hooks.
33:49That's exactly what I thought.
33:50We curators know a good deal about the aircraft, but when it comes from the technical side, I understand John
33:57knows far more about it than I.
33:58So is that a two or a four burrito job we just did?
34:01I'll settle for one today, John.
34:03Okay, you're on. You're easy.
34:04Good. I try to be.
34:07Yeah, we'll go from there.
34:15Gary Gordon did the initial fitting, and we applied pressure, and of course, we had a bypass, which gave us
34:22back pressure, and nothing was happening.
34:24More.
34:27Well, there goes my burrito.
34:31I can't feel anything on top.
34:34That's the afterburner control belt.
34:37See, there's no air coming out of this.
34:42Oh, man.
34:44I was counting on this thing being closed.
34:46It's right around the ring here.
34:48How about if we block this one off of you?
34:50Well, we're back against the same thing, Gary.
34:52Oh.
34:53It's called another fitting.
34:54Well, I don't bother.
34:56So, he made another piece that allowed a needed flow.
35:00Want to give it a try again?
35:03Yeah.
35:03We applied about 800 PSI.
35:24Yeah, it's better down here.
35:26It ain't doing it.
35:27Nope.
35:27But it was leaking so badly that we had to discontinue it.
35:32We might have to try and manually close it, and that's not going to be easy.
35:41Okay.
35:41While John and his crew wrestle with the F-100, Sam and the Garver Move Team check the uniforms
35:47into their new quarters.
35:48We've already received the barcodes for all the drawers in this one.
35:52Sam brings Alex Spencer up to speed on the new system.
35:56Get ready to accept the next collection.
35:58Right.
35:59Okay.
36:021989-0065.
36:06So, for the next set, I did just order shelves, because since we have all these nice handling
36:11trays now, we can move them in and out easier.
36:13It does happen where you get a phone call out of the blue from somebody that says they
36:17have something, and it's something from World War I or World War II that you don't have,
36:25and you go after those, but you can't plan for those kind of things.
36:31As I'm doing my job, I have to kind of keep up with current events and where things are happening
36:36and what's going on in the world, and it's particularly relating to aviation.
36:40A donation offer from a former Marine Corps officer has caught Alex's eye.
36:46And this is actually the first email that I got from Captain Dwyer concerning the potential
36:52of his donation.
36:54He included a couple of photographs as well as a short bio of his flying career with
37:01the Marine Corps.
37:02With this collection of Matt Dwyer's things, he was an Osprey pilot, so an Osprey is a fairly
37:07new aircraft.
37:08It hasn't been used for that long.
37:10We have a prototype example of it in the collection, but we don't have an Osprey itself.
37:18The V-22 Osprey landed on the scene in 2007, designed to get troops and their equipment in
37:24and out of combat zones.
37:28It has unique rotors that allow it to take off, hover, and land like a helicopter, then
37:37tilt forward like propellers to fly as fast as an airplane.
37:43Its innovative technology and involvement in the post-9-11 wars make objects related to
37:49it of particular interest to Alex Spencer.
37:56He included his standard pair of desert flying boots.
38:01Here he also included his leather shoulder holster.
38:06So what we have here is Captain Dwyer's flying helmet.
38:08Everything Matt Dwyer has donated will help Alex tell the Osprey's story.
38:13This provides some oxygen.
38:15It also has a microphone on the inside so he can do his communications and talk to people.
38:20First off, it personalizes the events.
38:22And they can tell you what they did and where they were at, what kind of actions were taking
38:27place, what it was like to be in combat, what was the sound of combat.
38:31Those are always a bonus to have that bring the story of what they're living and doing to
38:37life for me personally, but then hopefully it can be translated as well onto our exhibits down
38:43on the floor.
38:43These are the manuals and checklists.
38:45We want to be able to convey that to our visitor.
38:48In this pocket, it looks like he included a small memoranda book with notes for flying
38:54organization, places that he was flying in and out of.
38:56With what I'm doing now, I can actually plan with my collecting.
38:59I know what's out there.
39:00I know what's going on.
39:01I know these are important events that we're living in in this day and age.
39:04So why don't we get it now and then we're not having to scramble at a later date and time.
39:10They'll have to wait for the Osprey, but in the meantime, Captain Dwyer's gear will head
39:15to Garber for processing.
39:30I can't hear it.
39:31We're going to come in two feet.
39:33All right.
39:37Coming in.
39:38Coming in.
39:41The F-100 stubborn afterburner won't close, but they've got just enough room to slip the
39:47aft section over.
39:48John wants up.
39:50Front and back.
39:51Coming up.
39:53Front and back.
39:55What's up?
39:56Stop it.
39:56Bring her in again.
39:57Front and up.
39:59Front and coming up.
40:04Hold.
40:05Holding.
40:06Well, we're kind of hoping that the afterburner actuators would work so that we can close the
40:12afterburner down to a normal position.
40:15Coming forward.
40:16Coming forward.
40:17Good.
40:18We're hanging up on something.
40:19We're hanging up on something else.
40:22The problem is now, of course, the aircraft will appear with the afterburner in full
40:27power position, full open position.
40:31Something's holding up.
40:32It's holding up on something.
40:35Which, for anybody that's worked on the airplane or has flown the airplane, will recognize
40:40that by effect.
40:41Oh, yeah.
40:42I hate to tell you guys this, but I'm about to get close to bottoming out.
40:46At this point in time, there's not really much we can do about it.
40:49After the F-100 is fully reassembled, the team will add the final touches to its appearance.
40:55Traces of an era gone, but not forgotten.
40:58The decision on how an airplane appears is the responsibility of the curator.
41:03Now, the curator will work with the restoration staff to make sure that it works, but basically
41:08we want the airplane to look as it did truthfully at a certain point in its career.
41:17In our case of the F-100, we're very fortunate in that the paint that's on it, when we got
41:22it from the Michigan Air Guard in the mid-70s, is the same camouflage paint we had on when
41:27it was serving in Vietnam.
41:29All we had to do was change a few of the markings to bring it back to where it was
41:33when it was
41:35flying during the Tet Offensive in 1968.
41:37So, what we've done with the airplane is change it to appear as it did at Benoit, specifically
41:45in the garb of the 19th Squadron.
41:47It's designated by, you know, the tail paint, the tail numbers, and the paradise on the nose
41:52gate line.
42:02Calibrated box.
42:03Calibrated box.
42:13Calibrated box.
42:15It's fantastic, but they're...they're, like a well-oiled machine, you know, all these
42:19guys looking together and they've been doing this for a long time, they know each other's
42:23moves...
42:23we can have to do a lot without using a lot of words, and...
42:27Everybody's paying attention and being as careful as you can.
42:35They made it.
42:51The F-100 is on the final leg of its journey to Udvar-Hazy.
42:57It's a half-mile tow from the restoration lab to the museum hangout.
43:03For John and his crew, the job isn't over until it's on the floor and secured.
43:10Well, hopefully this thing on his 40-year-old tires will make it from here to the north entrance where
43:16we can park it.
43:18That's the plan for the day.
43:25There's a feeling of relief wrapped up with the nostalgia, but mostly it's just relief.
43:31You know, it doesn't look like much sitting out here as well on an airplane with all the bits and
43:35pieces.
43:36Well, you've seen some of the struggle that we went through getting some of the stuff right or something else.
43:46I'm relieved.
43:49I'm going to go celebrate with a donut and a cup of coffee.
43:53It's been a long ride for the Hun, as it was called.
43:56It's logged thousands of miles in service, endured a war on the other side of the world, and all the
44:03while setting a new standard for aviation innovation.
44:07For now, John Schatz and his team will take a moment to celebrate.
44:12Then, they'll get to work on the next assignment.
44:16The group that's here right now, I think it's all one mind.
44:22We've got something to present.
44:25We care about what we do.
44:27Some of it can be extremely sensitive, where you think, eh, do I touch this?
44:34And that's really what makes it interesting.
44:40You take a look at this stuff and you wonder, jeez, how in the world can something that big just
44:44get up in the air?
44:46What holds it up? How does it work?
44:49I got to understand them. I got to work on them.
44:52And I had the best life I could ever think of because of it.
44:56It's a collective effort.
44:59It's a team effort.
45:03It's downtown.
45:05It's Garber.
45:07It's Hazy.
45:08It's every department, you know, working together to make a final product.
45:13To share with the people of this country and people from all over the world.
45:20Paul Garber lived to see the National Air and Space Museum become one of the most popular in the world.
45:29His prophecy that this new and evolving technology would touch each of our lives inspires the millions who visit each
45:36year.
45:41And for those behind the scenes, dedicated to preserving and caring for these national treasures, Garber's vision still burns bright.
45:50To be continued...
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