The National Museum of the US Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, recently started restoring the 200-foot tall Titan 4B rocket, acquired from Lockheed Martin in 2005. “This is the largest artifact we have ever restored,” said Greg Hassler, a supervisor in the restoration division. More than 350 Titans launched from 1959-2005, helping to shape US space history, states a museum release. When restoration efforts are completed, the rocket will be in the space gallery of the museum’s newest facility. “Right now what they’re doing is preliminary restoration work,” NMUSAF spokeswoman Susan Swan told Air Force Magazine. They are “cataloging parts, [and figuring out] what nuts and bolts they’ll need,” she said. Due to the sheer size of the rocket “one of the biggest challenges for our staff [will] be figuring out how to assemble and display it horizontally because it is too tall to stand up inside the gallery,” said Hassler. The division also is looking “for help from those who worked in the Titan 4B program,” states the release. (See Air Force Museum Breaks Ground on Fourth Building.)
As Air Force leaders consider concepts of operations for Collaborative Combat Aircraft, sustainment in the field—and easing that support by using standard parts and limiting variants—should be a key consideration, according to a new study from AFA's Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Studies.