Projects involving surviving aircraft posed a different set of questions. John J. Montgomery’s 1911 Evergreen glider contained original material from one of the most important objects in the Museum’s collection. Work on the glider therefore required restraint as well as reconstruction. The goal was not to make an old aircraft appear new, but to preserve as much physical evidence as possible while returning the form to a condition that could be safely understood and displayed. Security Pacific Bank sponsored the project, but its lasting value came from the research and judgment needed to distinguish repair from replacement.

The Museum's 1911 Evergreen glider, including parts from the original that Montgomery built

The Museum’s SPAD S.VII required expertise in fabric covering, a skill once routine in aircraft manufacture but increasingly uncommon by the late twentieth century. Similar work on the Curtiss JN-4D Jenny, Waco aircraft, and other wood-and-fabric airframes preserved knowledge that could not be learned from manuals alone. Volunteers such as Frank Huttle, Doug “Mac” McKlane, John Kline, and others carried practical experience into the shop. Their work linked museum preservation to the techniques of mechanics, builders, and inspectors who had maintained aircraft during their operational lives.

Before-and-after views reveal the intricate wing-rib structure normally hidden beneath the aircraft fabric.

This reliance on experienced volunteers became one of the program’s greatest strengths and one of its vulnerabilities. A skilled restorer might recognize an incorrect fitting, an altered structural member, or a historically inaccurate finish from experience that had never been formally recorded. When that knowledge was shared at a workbench, it could guide a project immediately. When it was not documented, it could disappear when a volunteer retired or died. Over time, restoration files, photographs, technical manuals, drawings, work logs, and recorded decisions became essential parts of the project rather than secondary paperwork. Project files, photographs, work logs, and recorded decisions are part of the Museum’s permanent institutional record and should be retained with the history of each restoration.

Some of our restoration volunteers working on various projects through the years.

The combination of technical expertise and careful judgment soon brought the Museum work of national significance.

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