Mr. THOMPSON. We understand from our staff inquiry that these heavy crates are on pallets, wooden pallets, and that they are moved from time to time by being pushed by bulldozers, is that correct? Mr. BRADLEY. Yes, sir. That is to say, bulldozer in the sense that it is really a forklift. It is not shoved. A forklift goes under the pallet and lifts the load.

Mr. THOMPSON. These are photographs of some of the other storage facilities or lack thereof. They are outside, as you can see.

Mr. SCHWENGEL. May I ask, is there anywhere room for these to be inside?

Mr. BRADLEY. Mr. Schwengel, I think that the answer has to be "No." Mr. Taylor, would you say there is any room inside?

Mr. TAYLOR. Mr. Schwengel, we are actually doing a great deal on this. We admit there is a deplorable condition there. To get all of these crates indoors, we would need about 70,000 square feet of covered space, which we don't have.

Mr. THOMPSON. The lower photograph is one of the Douglas jet bombers. [Photo projected on screen.] You will notice the door is open. It rained heavily yesterday and the insides of the aircraft were soaking wet. The other aircraft are in various stages of disintegration. These aren't presented, Mr. Taylor or Mr. Bradley, to be critical of you. Rather, they are presented to dramatize to this extent the need for some more sophisticated storage facilities.

Mr. TAYLOR. Mr. Chairman, may I say that there are 17 aircraft outside now, that we have recently completed one new storage building there, and that eight of these will be placed in the new building. (The statement follows:)

PROGRESS ON PRESERVATION AND RESTORATION OF AIR AND SPACE COLLECTIONS

The former Director of the National Air and Space Museum, S. Paul Johnston, planned and put into effect a program for the storage, preservation, and the eventual restoration of aircraft in the collection of NASM at Silver Hill, Md. The program has had 3 objectives: (1) To organize the storage of collections by cataloguing, inventorying, and improving the physical arrangement of the collections to make them accessible for research and reference; (2) to clean up and rearrange the area to provide a neater and more businesslike appearance; and (3) to improve the maintenance and preservation of the collection.

Note that when this program was initiated the collection of space craft and associated material was very small. The space collections have grown greatly (for example, approximately 3,500 items were received in f.y. 1970); and the program of acquiring significant space objects from NASA for circulation in the United States and abroad has been added. These activities have been accommodated while the condition of the aircraft has been improved.

In the past 4 years much has been accomplished in the program of preservation and restoration. Two storage buildings for space and aircraft have been erected; 42 aircraft have been assembled and placed indoors; accessible storage racks have been installed in 2 buildings which, when collections are shifted to them, will empty 3 other buildings to receive more of the material now outdoors; space has been made available for 3 of the aircraft now stored outdoors and they are in the process of being moved in; land surfaces were graded and graveled; many crates were moved to the graveled areas and set up on wooden stringers, and 70 crates were repaired by contract. Two aircraft, the NC-4 and the Fokker D VII have been completely restored; the Meuport Type 83E has been partially restored; 22 aircraft have been placed on loan to other museums in return for their restoration; restoration, preservation, or exhibits work was performed on 20 aircraft; and 15 spacecraft plus a number of rocket engines and satellites were prepared for exhibition.

Work in various stages of completion will accomplish, soon, the repair of all exposed crates; the moving of 6 of the outdoor aircraft to concreted areas; the assembly of 3 more aircraft; and the restoration of 5 additional ones.

Illustrations of some of the collections preserved at Silver Hill are included to show that much is well cared for.