This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by psa188@xxxxxxxxx /-------------------- advertisement -----------------------\ FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION: IN AMERICA - IN THEATRES NOVEMBER 26 Fox Searchlight Pictures proudly presents IN AMERICA directed by Academy Award(R) Nominee Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot and In The Name of the Father). IN AMERICA stars Samantha Morton, Paddy Considine and Djimon Hounsou. For more info: http://www.foxsearchlight.com/inamerica \----------------------------------------------------------/ A Washington Museum Increases Its Wingspan November 16, 2003 By MATTHEW L. WALD THE Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum is generally considered to be the most visited museum in the world, with over nine million visitors a year. But even the most dedicated of those see just a few highlights of the Smithsonian's collection, because the building on the National Mall has had space to display only about 10 percent of the museum's holdings. Soon visitors will be able to see much more. On Dec. 15, two days before aviation history buffs mark the 100th anniversary of the first powered flight, the museum will open the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, a new 760,000-square-foot hangar on the edge of Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Va. It will eventually house most of the rest of the collection, displaying many of the museum's treasures for easy public viewing for the first time. The Wright Brothers' 1903 Flyer will stay in the downtown building, but those who make the 28-mile trip out to Dulles will be able to see all of that aircraft's giant progeny, including Air France's first Concorde, the prototype for the Boeing 707, NASA's prototype Space Shuttle and the Superfortress that dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan in 1945 The new branch of the museum will also house some rarities, like the last surviving Aichi Seiran, a single-engine plane that folds up small enough to fit inside a submarine. It was built by the Japanese, who planned to have it take off from floats and bomb the Panama Canal during World War II. There is also a single-seat Northrop N1N, a flying wing with two propellers in the back, looking suspiciously like a 1950's concept for a flying saucer. Biplanes, gliders, ultralights and aerobatic planes are suspended from the ceiling, many pictured in cruise flight; two of the stunt planes are upside down. All of the models have been restored to original condition, including their mechanical parts and their exterior paint jobs, which include advertisements, emergency instructions and, in the case of the Enola Gay, which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, the names of the crewmen. A P-40 War Hawk is painted with the distinctive open shark mouth that it wore in the Pacific in World War II, when it was part of the Flying Tigers squadron commanded by Maj. Gen. Claire L. Chennault. It also carries the name of a Smithsonian official, Donald Lopez, who flew with the squadron during the war. The gleaming white hangar, about 300 yards long and 10 stories high at its apex, will house about 200 aircraft in all, of which about 80 will be in place for the opening. An adjacent hall, called the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar, is dedicated to space exploration; it will open next year, displaying 150 satellites, missiles, probes and other artifacts. Already on site, though, and scheduled for display on opening day, is the Airstream trailer that NASA used to house the Apollo astronauts who were held in quarantine after their return from the moon in 1969. A nearby kiosk will show a 1969 photo of President Richard M. Nixon standing next to the trailer, greeting the astronauts held inside. The new complex has been part of the Smithsonian's plans since the original museum opened almost 30 years ago, officials say. It is a testament to aviation's power to move the imagination and the checkbook. Steven F. Udvar-Hazy, an immigrant from Hungary who made his fortune in the aircraft leasing business, contributed $65 million. Congress appropriated $8 million in Federal funds, and the State of Virginia added $40 million for access roads and other infrastructure; numerous corporate and private donors also chipped in, but the museum is still seeking about $90 million more for the project, which is expected to cost $311 million. Local governments are contributing, too; two counties in the area will each send one teacher on permanent assignment to the museum, which incorporates classrooms and a model-building lab. Smithsonian officials believe that the Udvar-Hazy Center will become a destination in its own right. They anticipate three million visitors a year, including a big crowd in May, when the World War II memorial will be dedicated on the National Mall, between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. Visitors will be able to take a shuttle bus each day from the downtown building, a 40-minute ride, for $7 a person. Others may drive directly from Dulles Airport. The Udvar-Hazy Center's location near the airport is not by chance; although its exhibits will never fly again, many of them arrived under their own power and taxied straight to the new site. That includes the Concorde, whose arrival in June caused a flurry of excitement among aviation buffs, and the Shuttle, which came on top of one of the Boeing 747's that NASA uses to ferry the spacecraft between a landing strip at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and the launching site at Cape Kennedy. While it is more out of the way than most of Washington's attractions, the new complex is worth at least several hours and possibly most of the day for anyone mildly interested in aviation. By opening day, an IMAX theater and food service will also be ready. The museum can be appreciated in several ways. There is the "oh, wow, look at that" sensation of seeing the barnstorming aircraft of the early days of flying, or planes celebrated from World War II movies. One is the F-4U Corsair, a model that most people could not name, but would instantly recognize for its gull-wing shape, an innovation designed to keep the wingtips off the ground but still allow a short landing gear, which is lighter. Some exhibits are striking because they are famous firsts, like the Enola Gay, whose fuselage (no more would fit) was briefly shown in the 90's at the downtown building. Now it is whole, raised eight feet off the ground, so that visitors on an adjacent catwalk can look directly into its cockpit. The center can also be seen as a classroom for the history of technology. As visitors enter, they see a vista of two World War II fighters, beneath them an SR-71 Blackbird, the cold war-era spy plane that could fly at three times the speed of sound, at nearly 15 miles above the earth. On its trip to the museum, the plane set a record for a cross-country flight, going from the West Coast to the East in 64 minutes 20 seconds. Behind that is the Enterprise, the shuttle prototype that NASA built to test the concept of landing a giant glider. Although the Enterprise never went into space, it was hauled to high altitude on a 747. There are less obvious exhibits that mark intermediate steps in the evolution of flight, like the Boeing P-26A Peashooter. Illustrating the transition from the biplane, it has a single wing, made of metal rather than fabric stretched over wood. The wing is braced with external wires, like a biplane, and has an open cockpit and fixed landing gear. Less visually dramatic but perhaps of equal historic importance are dozens of aircraft engines. People who were old enough in the World War II era to be familiar with the aircraft in use will find lots to see. That generation is passing, but there are also artifacts from later wars. The new center also displays, side by side, a MIG-15 and a North American F-86A Sabre that were the main adversaries in the skies over Korea, and a McDonnell F-4S Phantom II and a MIG-21 from Vietnam. While many of the most impressive specimens are military, a centerpiece is Boeing's prototype for the 707, the first successful commercial jetliner. (It was also the prototype for the KC-135, an in-flight refueling tanker, and the one on display has a military-style cargo hatch as well as passenger seating.) And there are some planes that are pure fun, like a Laser 200, a single-seat aerobatic plane made of composites and weighing less than 1,000 pounds. The Laser 200 and other suspended planes are meant to be viewed from catwalks above the main exhibit floor. The Smithsonian's main treasures - the Wright Flyer, the Spirit of St. Louis, the Apollo capsule that carried the first astronauts to go to the moon, and others - will stay downtown, with one exception: a Grumman G-21 Goose, a twin-engine amphibian that began flying in the 1930's and later became Grumman's first to enter airline service The Udvar-Hazy Center will also be somewhat different in character than the Air and Space Museum downtown, without the in-depth exhibits that examine narrow aspects of flight. It will be "less intensely interpreted," said Dr. Peter Jakab, chairman of the museum's aeronautics department. Making the most of the museum's proximity to Dulles, the designers included a 164-foot building that looks like a control tower, but is actually an observation deck. Visitors will be above the level of planes that pass by as they approach Dulles's Runway 1 Right. For most people, said Lin Ezell, the Smithsonian's project manager, this will be "the closest they are ever likely to get to the pilot's view." Museum Information The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va., will be open 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily, except Dec. 25. Admission is free. Shuttle buses will leave from the Air and Space Museum on the Mall every hour on the hour, beginning at 9 a.m. The trip, about 40 minutes one way, costs $7 a person. By car from Washington, take I-66 West to Exit 53B, for Route 28 north. Go 5.3 miles to Air and Space Museum Parkway and follow the signs. On the Capital Beltway (I-495), take the exit for the Dulles Toll Road West (Route 267). Take Exit 9, for Route 28 south, and go 3.5 miles to Air and Space Museum Parkway; follow the signs. MATTHEW L. WALD is a correspondent in the Washington bureau of The Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/16/travel/16dulles.html?ex=1070440114&ei=1&en=485473dc90170055 --------------------------------- Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. Imagine reading The New York Times any time & anywhere you like! Leisurely catch up on events & expand your horizons. Enjoy now for 50% off Home Delivery! Click here: http://www.nytimes.com/ads/nytcirc/index.html HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact onlinesales@xxxxxxxxxxx or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@xxxxxxxxxxxx Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company