I graduated from Ft Rucker in 1968, and have been back many times over my career - I retire next month. Last night I happened to be going through slides, and find I have photos from the museum from '68, '81, '95, and '01. The Army has done a fantastic job of obtaining prototype aircraft that fall into their 'domain'. It has done a less than steller job of 'preserving' them.
Manpower and $$$ enter into the preserving aspect. The Army Aviation Museum originally got launched as a private tax free organization to care for these aircraft. Unlike the USAF and the USN the majority of the army's flight program were 'high school' graduates, not 'college graduates' as the other services. Hence the loyalty, and earning potential of those that moved on or even stayed in the service was considerably less than the other services. So donations didn't roll in like the other services. That and Dothan Alabama is not a trourist destination like Pensacola or Dayton is, so the number of "walk in's" and donations is less.
In the 90's I was there twice and did some research while there. There was a full time staff of 4-5, two maintainers, and two admin and a historian who did all research and correspondence. You could not watch a "Wings" episode on cable without seeing the museum and their historian listed as a contributor. Gift shop workers are 'volunteer' worker. In the 90's, the museum foundation turned the museum back over to the US Army to keep from going bankrupt. The army took it back but then when their budget was cut, they cut the museum's budget and they went to a staff of 2. The historian moved over to the Safety Branch.
Space: Originally all the old prototypes were spaced in the old WWII wood hangers and you could request it be opened to you. Lighting wasn't the best, but there was space between the aircraft and placards telling you its significance. More currant types such as the T-37, and P1127 were sitting on concrete pads between the hangers. As more aircraft arrived they had to be squeezed into the hangers or the fence area and access was restircted. Ultimately it became as crowded as my closet. And in general aircraft outside got no care.
The last time I gained access to the hangers I wanted to cry. With no proper equipment (handling wheels) to move skid equiped aircraft, ropes and tractors were used. For manpower, WOC candidates were gotten from the WOC program across the street. The second Lockheed XH-51A compound aircraft was moved in next to the McDonnell XV-1. Ropes were thrown over the horizontal stabilator and it was towed backwards (skids, no wheels). The ropes cut through the stabilator on both sides til stopped by the spar. The aircraft was towed/pushed back until the wingtip broke through the nose bubble of the XV-1 and left to sit like that. Elsewhere the early helicopters like the Jovair and Lockheed CLwere under a thick blanket of dust with blades overlapped or removed with perhaps two feet between airframes
The HLH was once the gate guard, then moved back to the fenced area. There it slowly disintegrated. At one point it was nearly ready to fly and those that say is was a mock up are wrong. Boeing manufactured a dummy head and other dummy componenents for it prior to shipping it to Ft Rucker, and kept the real components at the factory. It was lack of personnel and $$ in maintaining these aircraft at least in a survival mode. The post commander felt he needed to either remove or fix up the HLH as he had a major post anniversary scheduled. After checking with Ft Eustis, the owner of all these aircraft, it was decided the HLH had never flown, hence was never a true prototype and could be struck. Hence the demolition. What is a shame is that other museums were not notified. There are several that would have taken part if not all the aircraft if notified.
Now that the WWII hangers are being removed and the aircraft being dispersed around base in other buildings I can only hope that there is a plan to ultimately build a hanger big enough to protect them and utimately restore them to display standards. The staff have done there best for years against lack of interest from higher ups, lack of funds, space, and help. The volunteers who keep the museum moveing slowly forward are to be congratulated. I keep hopeing to win the lottery so I could donate a building big enough to move the US Army Aviation Museum up to the league of their bigger brothers. Help if you can. 01/27/2009 @ 07:20 [ref: 8642]