Museum officials shut down public tours of the off-site Presidential and Research and Development hangar May 1 because of the mandatory budget cuts known as sequestration which has upset many of the museums visitors. Prior to the closure, guests who wanted to tour the hangar were required to show ID and board a shuttle bus which would take them to “Area B” located behind the gates of the base. Museum officials state that eliminating the shuttle bus operation and minimizing utility costs are projected to save about $120,000 a year.
The presidential planes on exhibit will include the Boeing VC-137C SAM 26000 that carried President John F. Kennedy’s body back to Washington after his assassination in Dallas in 1963 and was the craft in which President Lyndon Johnson was also sworn in to the Office of the Presidency. Other presidential planes on display will include planes used by Franklin Roosevelt, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.
The over two dozen experimental planes scheduled for display include the gargantuan, six-engined, Mach 3+, delta winged North American XB-70 Valkyrie, the reverse-winged Grumman X-29 and another North American product, the hypersonic X-15 rocket plane which to this day holds the world record for the fastest speed achieved by a manned aircraft, set in 1967 when it reached 4,520 miles per hour with test pilot William J. “Pete” Knight at the controls. “Each one of these artifacts, those exhibits, are engineering marvels,” said Richard V. Reynolds, chairman of the Air Force Museum Foundation, Inc. Board of Managers and a retired Air Force lieutenant general.
Construction of the new hangar is scheduled to begin in 2014 with the building being opened to the public in the summer of 2015. The museum’s foundation has raised more than $38 million for the privately funded expansion through gift, ticket and food sales at the museum, foundation memberships, and individual and corporate donations. The Air Force pays the costs to operate the museum, however because of the sequestration that led to $374,000 in cuts, the foundation is contributing an additional $42,000 to pay utility expenses one day a week through the summer.
Born in Milan, Italy, Moreno moved to the U.S. in 1999 to pursue a career as a commercial pilot. His aviation passion began early, inspired by his uncle, an F-104 Starfighter Crew Chief, and his father, a military traffic controller. Childhood adventures included camping outside military bases and watching planes at Aeroporto Linate. In 1999, he relocated to Atlanta, Georgia, to obtain his commercial pilot license, a move that became permanent. With 24 years in the U.S., he now flies full-time for a Part 91 business aviation company in Atlanta. He is actively involved with the Commemorative Air Force, the D-Day Squadron, and other aviation organizations. He enjoys life with his supportive wife and three wonderful children.
Is their any way to have plan for Xb-70 Valkyrie. I would like to build a RC Jet.