Tag Archives: conservation

Preserving and Displaying the “Bat-Wing Ship” – March Update

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Horetn

Close up of the acrylic canopy being analyzed by our conservation staff and Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute (MCI).

Waiting for an update on the conservation and restoration of our Horten H IX V3 “Bat-wing Ship?” Here’s the latest! Our conservation staff, in collaboration with curator Russ Lee, is working with the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute (MCI) to figure out the materials and technologies used to craft the Horten H IX V3.  For example, the transparent canopy was analyzed with a portable Raman spectrometer and determined to be a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) plastic.  PMMA was developed by Rohm and Haas in the mid-1930s in Germany and the United States, and the material is reputed to have been incorporated quickly into aircraft canopies, gun turrets, and transparent noses. It is lightweight, impact resistant, relatively easy to form, and transmits light even better than glass.  In this instance, identifying the canopy as PMMA confirms what we already expected from our research of trade literature from that period.  It also shows how studying our collection, visually and with analytical tools like MCIs Raman spectrometer, provides direct physical evidence of an aircraft’s manufacture, which enriches our understanding of the history of early plastics in aviation.

Raman spectroscopy identifies materials by shining a laser beam at a surface and measuring the energy distribution of inelastically scattered light.  It is potentially non-destructive and does not require removing a sample from the aircraft.  MCIs spectrometer weighs only 6 lbs. and fits in a convenient “carry on” sized suitcase for trips out to the Udvar-Hazy Center and other Smithsonian museums.

Lauren Horelick is a objects conservator in the Collections Department of the National Air and Space Museum.

Preserving and Displaying the “Bat-Wing Ship” – July Update

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This post is a follow up to Preserving and Displaying the “Bat-Wing Ship” published on September 9, 2011.

After preparing hundreds of condition reports last winter on the many artifacts that curators plan to exhibit in the upcoming Time and Navigation gallery opening at the Museum in Washington, DC in April, 2013, while simultaneously helping the Collections Processing Unit move artifacts from the Paul E. Garber Facility to new digs at the Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, Museum staff could finally return to work on the center section of the Horten H IX V3 jet fighter, the “Bat-Wing Ship.”  With help from retired treatment specialist Karl Heinzel, Museum conservator Lauren Horelick is determining the best methods to stabilize and protect the center section for movement to the Mary Baker Engen Restoration Hangar at the Udvar-Hazy Center later this year. Lauren carefully mapped the object to establish a baseline of problematic areas and to complete an essential step in recording present damage [Figure 1].

condition map

Figure 1: In-progress condition map showing the types and extent of damage currently seen on the metal components of the center section (Lauren Horelick photo, modified Arthur Bentley drawing published in Shepelev and Ottens, Horten Ho 229, Spirit of Thuringia, 2006).

 

In addition to creating written and photographic documentation of the jet, Lauren is conducting material identification analysis to identify the wood used to make the plywood, the adhesive used to bind the micron-thin layers of the plywood, and the adhesive used to join the large structural members of the wood panels. Her analysis will not only add to the history of the Horten wing, it will also help her craft the best conservation treatment protocol.  Summer interns working with scientists at the Museum Conservation Institute are contributing to the materials identification effort.  We will blog the results at the end of this summer.

We have begun initial effortsto protect the center section during the move to the Restoration Hanger.  These efforts include removing the fragile plywood belly panels so that conservators can treat the wood for long-term stabilization before reattaching it.  To remove the wood panels safely, it was necessary to apply a facing over sections of the wood to prevent loss of material [Figure 2].

horten

Figure 2: Lauren carefully attached a sheet of Reemay, a non-woven spun bonded polyester, to cover a section of fragile and delaminating plywood on the underside of the center section. She used BEVA (Berger’s ethylene vinyl acetate) film, a reversible heat-set adhesive, around the perimeter of the Reemay sheet to hold it in place and stabilize the wood so that the panel can safely be removed for later treatment. Lauren cut the small holes seen in the Reemay to provide access to the bolts securing the panel to the steel tube support frame.

Other conservation efforts include researching adhesives to stabilize the plywood and developing methods to address how to move the center section to the Udvar-Hazy Center.  Lauren is considering a multi-layered envelope system that would enclose the entire center section during travel.

Russ Lee is a curator in the Aeronautics Division of the National Air and Space Museum and Lauren Horelick is a conservator in the Collections Division of the National Air and Space Museum.

 

 

From Collecting to Curating

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The Museum-going public doesn’t often get the opportunity to observe the work that goes on behind the scenes in a museum. The National Air and Space Museum’s poster collection is a case in point. The items in this collection, which range from notices for early aviation exhibitions to commercial airline advertising, were collected over many years. It is only recently, however, that the posters have been curated; i.e., cared for as a collection.
In the early 1990s, Aeronautics Division curator Joanne Gernstein (now London) began to take an active interest in the poster collection. She consulted with a paper conservator at the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute, and carried out the necessary preservation measures. She sought out suitable storage at the Paul E.Garber facility. She also had the collection photographed, with an eye toward eventual display online, but also to provide reference images for the collections database. She curated an exhibition, titled Fly Now! Aviation Posters from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum, that traveled around the country. She also wrote a companion book, Fly Now! Aviation Posters from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum, which was published by the National Geographic Society in 2007.

A typical post-World War II airline poster by commercial artist Frank J. Soltesz depicts the large and distinctive triple-tail section of a TWA Super Lockheed Constellation in a striking and colorful pose, circa 1952. In the pre-commercial jet transportation era, the airlines often used aircraft as the central image in their posters and emphasized the safety and reliability of commercial flight. With the introduction of commercial jets in the late 1950s, airline advertising began to change. Aircraft were nowhere to be seen. Instead, images of relatively easy travel to distant and exotic places were the norm.

After Joanne left the National Air and Space Museum in 2008, I took over the collection. Working with Collections Processing Unit (CPU) staff, volunteers and interns, I have attempted to continue Joanne’s pioneering efforts. A longtime Museum volunteer, Ted Hamady, has been working on a subject category reclassification, which should make searching the collection easier. Meanwhile, CPU staff members Carl Bobrow and Samantha Snell have received substantial grants to rationalize the collection, provide better storage and housing for it, and prepare it for its eventual move to new collections care facilities in Phase Two of the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. In the most recent behind-the scenes effort, CPU summer interns Katy Osterwald, Hannah Soh, Amelia Kile, Allison Smith, Jeff Nagel, Mark Leadenham, Rachel Goddard, and Carolyn Metcalf worked on a variety of tasks geared toward bring this collection to the public. The result: 600+ posters are now available for public access on the National Air and Space Museum website. Eventually, we hope to place the entire collection of some 1300+ posters online.

Dom Pisano is a curator in the Aeronautics Division at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.