Why did the National Air and Space Museum restore the Enola Gay?
A. The primary responsibility of a museum is to care for its collection. Although this artifact is 99 percent original, it had to be disassembled and was in very poor condition after being stored outdoors for several years. Therefore, a decision was made to restore it as fully as possible. This was completed in-house over ten years as resources were made available. Other museum aircraft have also been restored for the Udvar-Hazy Center, including the Japanese bomber Aichi Seiran, and the 707 Prototype “Dash 80” and the 307 Stratoliner, which were restored to flying condition by the original manufacturer, Boeing.
