It was a work animal and the most frequently flown aircraft after the flight deck of the Unaffected During the Second World War. But it was more than seventy years ago Unaffected. But the venerable bomber is back home. From the end of the last month, the public can now see a new Rensiver FG Corsair in the Intrepid Museum.
The brand new addition to the museum, which is located on Pier 86 in the Hudson River in front of W. 46th St. The donations come from the former occupation members and their families and include most of the new exhibition: various uniforms, crew equipment, medals and new video testimonials of former seafarers and crew.
It was a long journey for the fearless fighter. The Corsair had had in another museum, the naval history and the cultural heritage command in Washington, DC, in a gallery for over four decades. “People have not touched it in the past forty years,” said Peter Torraca, Manager for Aircraft Restauration and noticed the quality of the aircraft. The corsairs celebrated their war debut in 1944. “This was essentially the Ferrari of airplanes when it came out. It is a legendary machine,” said Torraca.
“My job was to take what was brought here and to do the necessary work to do what it is now.” As a restoration manager, there was comparatively very little for Torraca fixDespite the fact that it took four months to maintain complete restoration. “It was mostly cosmetic,” he said, pointing to the new paint.
Surviving models are difficult to find. There are only about seven full models that still exist. One of them is now at home and sits in Hangar Bay just like in World War II.
This specific aircraft belonged to an ACE pilot, Alfred Lerch. At his first battle mission during the Battle of Okinawa, Lerch started from the flight deck from USS Unaffected And became “an ace in one day” and shot seven Japanese aircraft. It was the first and only time that Lerch met fighter from the Empire of Japan. The 21-year-old Lerch was awarded the Navy Cross for his actions.
“We have been looking for one of them since our opening,” said Kate Good, Associate Curator of Aerospace.
The process of getting the Corsair lasted a year from start to finish, including paperwork, logistics, restoration and installation. “It was a dashboard to get this through restoration,” said Good. “If we let it paint as we wanted, even bring it into the house!”
While the focus is on the Corsair, the exhibition offers much more. The new artifacts include personal effects of seafarers and soldiers, a logbook of a combat aircraft and a notification of death telegram from the Western Union. There are also military medals, uniforms of officers, marines and seafarers as well as the helmets and combat suits of combat pilots from the Second World War to the Vietnam War.
“It was a key component of this exhibition to make content and artifacts accessible,” said Danielle Swanson, collection director. Further interpretations and information about how the ship was built were included in the new exhibition. Together with these improvements, Braille is added to the many posters, whereby people with different learning and accessibility needs give more learning opportunities.
“What we wanted to achieve with this exhibition was to convey a deeper understanding of people Unaffected History, “said Jessica Williams, chief curator.” It is a combination of focus on both the technology of the ship and much more about the crew that lived and worked here. “
The new exhibition was made accessible to the public on Friday, March 21st. You can find tickets on the website for USS Unaffected.