Conserving Aerospace History At the National Air and Space Museum

The Aviation Show

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Malcolm Collum, Chief Conservator at the Air and Space Museum, joins us to discuss the nuanced distinction between conserving and restoring artifacts, emphasizing the importance of understanding an object's historical context and condition. We discuss the Flak Bait's status and check out what is going on in the Conservation Lab at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.

Find out more about how to get into conservation at the American Institute for Conservation website: www.culturalheritage.org

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The Damcasters © 2025 by Matt Bone is licensed under Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International

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0:00 Introduction

2:15 Journey to Conservatorship

2:27 Conserving vs. Restoring Aircraft

5:03 The Flak Bait Aircraft

7:36 Innovative Preservation Techniques

11:49 The Art of Preservation

15:54 Managing a Large Collection

16:58 Preservation Challenges of Historic Aircraft

22:04 Restoring the Starship Enterprise

26:05 Analyzing Aircraft Components

28:24 Discovering Historical Artifacts

33:11 Unique Historical Technologies

34:51 Repairing Historic Fabrics

37:33 The Never-Ending Preservation Process

38:56 Resources for Conservation Education

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