Air & Space Smithsonian – September 2019

F. Udvar-Hazy Center in northern Virginia.

As the Museum on the National Mall undergoes

a major, seven-year restoration—during which

time much of it will remain open to the public—its

aircraft and spacecraft must be moved so that con-

struction crews have room to work. The artifacts

are going to a storage facility near the Museum’s

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.

A DOUGLAS DC-3’S top speed is 230
mph, but on this particular journey the airplane
was moving at a sedate 35 mph—still impressive
for an aircraft whose wings had been removed.
The vintage airliner, transported at 2 a.m. on a
flatbed trailer with a police escort, was being moved
along a highway from the Smithsonian’s National
Air and Space Museum’s Mall location to the Steven

Transformation

Night Moves

ONE OF THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL AIRLINERS MAKES A SHORT

TRIP TO A TEMPORARY HOME.

by Rebecca Maksel

In July, the

Museum’s DC-3,

sans wings and

engines, made the

journey from the

National Mall to

northern Virginia.

16 AIR & SPACE airspacemag.com

AT THE MUSEUM

JIM PRESTON/NASM