Malmstrom museum receives much needed restoration

MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. -- Renovations to the Malmstrom Museum began on July 30th to repair weathering damage that has taken its toll on the museum's outdoor static displays since its opening in the early 1980s. Curt Shannon, Malmstrom Museum director, is heading the restoration project with help from Air Force Global Strike Command.

According to Shannon, the displays needed restoration mainly in the form of new paintjobs accurate to the original Air Force designs when they were first implemented into military service.

The exhibits being restored outside the museum are the 1942 Ford staff car, two Minuteman missiles (one on display in front of building 1191,) a transporter erector trailer and a UH-1F helicopter.

"One thing we also did to improve the museum was have cast-aluminum signs made for the displays," said Shannon. "The benefit of using cast-aluminum is that we should not need to replace the signs again, which should save the park a lot of money."

Some of the damage to the exhibits was severe enough that new metal sheeting was required.

"As far as restoration goes, most of the displays will be fine with new paint and body work," Shannon said. "There are some sections of the missile that are just too bad and will have to be wrapped in metal, but generally the work that will be done should be similar to what a body shop would do."

Funds for the restoration process were set aside during fiscal year 2012.

"A lot of research goes into bringing these exhibits back to their original condition," Shannon said. "We want to make sure the work being done reflects what the exhibit actually looked like when each display was in use. The company working to restore these pieces of history specializes in what they do and I am excited to see how they will look when completed."