Restorations - Conservation/Preservation

Many of our customers consider Conservation/Preservation as the primary driving force in restoring an airplane. The airplanes are irreplaceable, often one of a kind or an excellent example of a classic aircraft. By reason of their history, design, age or cultural importance these aircraft are artifacts of extraordinary value. Our approach to this work is threefold. The first is to research and document the aircraft. The second is to save as much as possible of the original aircraft. The third is to make only repairs that conform to authentic materials and techniques used when the aircraft was flying. At all times we work with the customer to preserve the aircraft for the future.

1918 DeHavilland DH-4

National Museum of the US Marine Corps
Quantico, Virginia

This airframe has been partially restored and will be completed as accurately as possible using factory drawings, photo research and written documentation. The airframe will be configured and painted to represent the Marine Corps DH-4s as they appeared while operating in Nicaragua during 1921-22.

1917 Curtiss JN-4D "Jenny"

JN-4D "Jenny" S/N 5368 belongs to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, IL. It was built by the Springfield Aircraft Company in 1918 and has a wonderful history. It started as a military trainer and was sold to a private individual after the war. He used it to barnstorm around Illinois and Indiana. It was given to the Museum in 1933 and its last flight was at the 1933 Century of Progress, Chicago Worlds Fair. It went into MSI in 1934 and has been placed and hung in various places in the Museum since then. In early 2006 we were contracted to do an inspection on all of the aircraft that are in MSI. Most of the aircraft just needed a cleaning and some "TLC" but the Jenny needed some minor repairs and new fabric as the old fabric was literally ready to fall off.

In September 2006 she was lowered from the ceiling and staged to await conservation work. Century Aviation disassembled the "Jenny" and it was shipped to our shop in East Wenatchee, WA. We inspected it and found it to be in amazingly good condition. We gave the Jenny a thorough cleaning and made some repairs to the wood in her wings and center section. We put on new fabric and paint and reassembled the plane in our shop to insure fit and finish. It was then disassembled and shipped back to the Museum of Science and Industry. The last portion of this project was to reassemble the Jenny upside down so that we could raise it up into its new display location.

1943 Mitsubishi "Zero"

National Museum of the United States Air Force
Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton Ohio

We restored this aircraft for the United States Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. They provided a partially restored airframe and a second airframe that was recovered from the South Pacific Islands several years ago. The aircraft was be restored as accurately as possible using factory drawings, photo research and written documentation. The airframe represents the Type 21 as they appeared while operating off of the South Pacific Islands.

DeHavilland DH-4B

National Museum of the United States Air Force
Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton Ohio

The restoration of this aircraft was for the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. This airfame was restored to original and is comeplete to the point where, if oil, fuel and coolant were added, the aircraft would fly. The aircraft was restored to original factory specifications using the remains of two aircraft wrecks supplied by the NMUSAF.

Boeing F4B-4

National Museum of Naval Aviation
Pensacola, Florida

Century Aviation restored a 1932 Boeing F4B-4 Navy Bi-plane fighter. This was a 2½ year project starting with building the wooden wings from scratch.

1917 Thomas Morse S-4 Scout "Tommie"

The National Museum of the Marine Corps' (NMMC) Thomas Morse S-4 Scout has an interesting history. Acquired by the Museum in 1979 in a trade with the Aeroflex Museum in New York, the aircraft was identified as an S-4C. In fact, it is not an S-4C or an S-4B but rather a combination of a spare S-4 prototype fuselage and S-4B wings and empennage.

The wings and empennage were kept and restored. A new S-4B fuselage was built using many parts from the prototype and the plane is being displayed as an S-4B. The Marine Corps operated a flying school at the Marine Flying Field located near Miami, FL. This Scout was painted to represent one of the nine S-4B Scouts that were delivered to the school between 1917 and 1919.

After the Tommie was delivered, we worked with the restoration staff at the NMMC to do hanging load tests and hang the aircraft in the newest museum gallery.