Wednesday, February 17, 2010

"Operation Baby Huey", delivering a UH-1 at the Cold War Air Museum

A new arrival joined the Cold War Air Museum as dawn broke today.

Most of the aircraft at the museum are owned or sponsored by individuals. Respecting their privacy and the privacy of ongoing negotiations for aircraft acquisition has given rise to some coded conversations. Such as, "do we know when the baby is due yet?". Accordingly, the acquisition of the UH-1, more widely known as the "Huey", inevitably gained the moniker above.

With so many projects ongoing, space was temporarily cleared beside Mi-2, Bord 213 for the delivery of the newest member of the Cold War Air Museum family.

As the morning progressed, help arrived from just down the road. In addition to being one of the leading aircraft recovery companies in the country, Air Salvage of Dallas is owned and staffed by guys that are genuinely knowledgeable and great to work with. As a source for aircraft parts and information, they can't be beat.

After a successful offloading, John, shown here with Museum President Bruce Stringfellow, heads back to Alabama. John not only worked with the acquisition team to make this happen, he drove through the night in order to meet the delivery schedule. One of the side benefits of working with the museum is meeting a continuous stream of interesting people.

After offloading, the Huey is bedded down for now beside one of our Mi-2s. Over the next few weeks, this acquisition will be carefully inspected and decisions will be made about how to proceed with the restoration.

A proud delivery crew poses beside the aircraft. Pete has extensively researched the history of this aircraft and we will have more posts in the future about the aircraft's history and its restoration.

One thing about this panel, we're not going to have any problem with space for radios. Even in its present condition, the cockpit is an opportunity for some of our associates to sit and reminisce.

Presented with a ceremonial role of 100mph tape, Johnny officially christens the project, "Can-do".

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