Feb. 27--HILL AIR FORCE BASE -- After many years spent acquiring new aircraft and pieces of aviation history to fill two massive hangars, the Hill Aerospace Museum is now looking to dump some of its inventory.
The museum, which is located just outside of Hill Air Force Base, immediately east of the 5600 South freeway exit in Roy, is reducing its collection by 18 aircraft, three missiles and a number of support vehicles.
Aaron Clark, acting director of the museum, said the downsizing is necessary because the museum no longer has the manpower or funding necessary to give the aircraft the care they need.
"An outdoor static display aircraft routinely needs repainting every five to six years," Clark said. "For example, to repaint an F-4 Phantom in-house it could cost the base nearly $15,000. For larger airframes, such as the B-47E we have, it would cost the museum roughly $100,000 to repaint and restore it."
Clark said the cut inventory will first be offered to field museums, base air parks, service museums and certified civilian museums around the country. If anything remains, the pieces will be offered to veterans organizations, hospitals and cities.
Only as a last resort, Clark added, will the planes be scrapped.
Maj. Gen. (ret.) Kevin Sullivan, chairman of the Aerospace Heritage Foundation of Utah -- a private entity that helps fund acquisition, restoration and maintenance of museum static displays and exhibits -- said while cost is certainly a factor, the decision to downsize isn't purely a fiscal one.
Sullivan said most of the aircraft slated to be cut from the museum's collection are those that have small or no ties to the history of Hill or to Utah.
"Part of the decision is fiscal, but part of it is just trying to get the collection right," Sullivan said. "The stuff we're excessing mostly has nothing to do with the history of Hill Air Force Base or this area."
Clark said after the inventory is removed, there will still be more than 2,000 artifacts on display at the museum, including more than 50 aircraft.
"The average person going to the museum probably won't even notice anything has changed," Sullivan said. "If someone has a pet airplane and it's gone, they may notice, but other than that things should look the same."
Last year, more than 138,000 people visited the museum and Clark said he doesn't expect museum attendance to be affected.
The Hill Aerospace Museum is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and offers free admission. For more museum information, go to www.hill.af.mil//library/museum/index.asp.
INVENTORY TO BE CUT FROM THE HILL AEROSPACE MUSEUM:
Aircraft:
F-4C (RF)
F-4E
F-86L
T-39A (CT)
C-131D
C-130E, Trainer
H-21C
F-4E (GF)
A-7F (YA)
C-45H
F-106A (QF)
U-3A
H-13T
T-28B, BUNO
F/A-18A
B-47E (WB)
C-119F, RCAF
C-7B
Missiles:
CIM-10C, Missile
LGM-118, Peacekeeper Missile
LGM-30, Minuteman III Missile
Support Vehicles:
BGM-109A, Trailer
SSCBM, Minuteman ICBM Storage
Peacekeeper Air Elevator Support Trailer
Peacekeeper Support Truck
Contact reporter Mitch Shaw at 801-625-4233 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @mitchshaw23.
Copyright 2014 - Standard-Examiner, Ogden, Utah
