RAY MACALLISTER
April 2007 Update
SUPPORTING THE NATIONAL ATOMIC MUSEUM
As you have all probably heard from me before, the NWTA, in conjunction with the National Atomic Museum and other concerned parties has begun an effort to help museums get better Nuclear Weapon Displays. During the months since our Convention in October 2006 we have been literally deluged with requests for displays and perhaps more significantly with sources of displays! We now have access to dozens of items, ranging from the MK 7 to the B61 and W80. Many of these items are already here at Kirtland AFB. What remains now is to prepare them for distribution. This will entail inspection and some packaging.
A number of them are now classified. They must be declasssified, properly documented and marked and then logged into the NAM's accounting system and also the DOE's. This will be done by Sandia National Lab personnel. We are starting with the B/BA/W53. We have several here at KAFB and we have already disassembled one and declassified it and turned it over to the Atomic Museum and now awaits pickup. The majority of the 53s are at Nellis AFB and we will be going there in the early part of May, June, and July. There only remains a couple at the EOD school at Eglin AFB to finish off. We can probably make one good one from the two they have and send it over to the Armament Museum. Two or three W53s are also available and we expect them to go to the NMUSAF (WPAFB) and the PIMA Museum in Tuscon, AZ.
We are inviting any of you out there who is interested in this project and would like to dust off their skills to E mail me and let me know what you would like to do. In addition to turning the wrench and spray painting we will need writers as we are generating unclassified weapon descriptions, maintenance procedures and record keeping. We also will need folks who can provide advise and knowledge to the Museums. The work will need to be done all across the country not just here at KAFB. So if you have an aerospace museum nearby, advise them about this effort and tell them to contact the NWTA or myself. This will mostly be on a first come first served basis while trying to match available assets to their needs.
Museums we have recently visited have had a wide variety of Nuclear Weapon displays, ranging from non-existent to great. However, there is no standardization or consistency and many displays are poorly done with errors, omissions and some downright lies. A standard source of information is needed to insure that the displays are accurate and interesting. Additionally, some museums would like more displays and others would like to pass along excess asset
.I would like to propose that we form a Center, under the auspices of the NWTA.The purpose of the Center would be to:
- Be an information clearing house for Nuclear Weapon Displays
- Be a source of standardized information for the preparation of these displays
- Be a source of expertise for the displaysBe a coordination point for distribution of assets
- Be a source of volunteer help and expertise for museum displays