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Well, we all know, as much as we like to see Concorde on display in New York, there is much criticism of the Intrepid as a venue both aesthetically as well as the museum's record of taking care of its exhibits...but check out this scathing critism of the stewardship of the blackbird...
http://area51specialprojects.com/articl ... e_122.html
Well a picture tells a thousand stories and this is one that is truly sad. I was never impressed with the Intrepid at all. It always seemed dirty, rundown, and just not well kept at all. The Intrepid is the last place the Concorde should be housed.
Not defending the actions of the Intrepid, but, it is very difficult to keep the exibits in good condition when they are exposed to the elements 24 hours a day and you have people fonding the aircraft 7 days a week.
You have people going to the museum that are not lovers of aviation & have no respect for the aircraft that are there......
I agree Mike -
As poorly as some of the exhibits are kept on Intrepid, just maintaining static aircraft is a very difficult challenge. Time, Money, expertise..its very tough.
And, to be fair, I have a hard time accepting The New England Air Museum would've been a significantly better venue. Like many aircraft collections, those inside are very cluttered together - only moreso than usual even. It's difficult to fully appreciate a static aircraft (giving up seeing it do what it was made to do) but doubly so, when you can't even gaze upon it without other aircraft in the foreground obscuring the lines.
And, of those aircraft outside, many are sinking into the mud...(not sure about the Caravelle though). Seems they have their hands full taking care of the B29.
As you say, not that much of the public really appreciates this stuff anyway.. I remember reading (don't know if its true or not, but would not surprise me) the Star Wars junk outsells the legitimate aviation paraphenalia at most of these gift stores..possibly even the Smithsonian and such. Certainly at the Cradle of Aviation (last I went) the big draw is some make believe mock up junk...
The saving grace of places like the intrepid is that you get to see the aircraft outside with a bit of space around them. Its not the proper way in a coastal city to literally "preserve" the aircraft, but it is a good way to "display" them.
Personally, and I realize it is heresy to say this, but I believe concorde enthusiasts are a bit overboard in the protection of these birds. I am very happy they have found homes, but really, how many other civilian aircraft types will be so well represented in museums in the years to come?
It's not comforting to me to know there will be about 10+ concordes doing well in museums 20 years from now, but we'll be lucky to have one or two examples of DC-8s, Comets, VC-10s, 707s, 727s and other significant commercial aircraft....
But yeah, hard not to sympathize with that article when you see the image of Evil Kneivels' son jumping the aircraft...
Tom
Sad to say, the Intrepid has always been run as one of Manhattan's sort of hype-oriented theme attractions as opposed to the serious historical venue that it could and should be. This was obvious to anyone who noticed the well-lit, branded soft drink machine sitting on the flight deck at night, the prominent McDonald's at the entrance to the decaying exhibits, or the marketing of the ship as a 'cool venue' for parties and such.
Unfortunately, Manhattan (if not NYC as a whole) operates on a patronage system when it comes to funding historical or cultural venues, and Intrepid has never had quite the necessary big money behind it, either private or public, to make it a world class operation. I worry that she will come back from this renovation as an even more commercial entity, if she even comes back at all. I don't think it's a sure thing they have all the funds lined up to do whatever it is they are doing.
There are many places in America that respect and support military and aviation history, unfortunately NYC is just not one of them.