{"id":402629,"date":"2026-07-17T20:21:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T20:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/402629\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T20:21:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T20:21:17","slug":"off-limits-area-of-the-san-diego-air-space-museum-is-about-to-open-to-the-public","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/402629\/","title":{"rendered":"Off-limits area of the San Diego Air & Space Museum is about to open to the public"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve visited the San Diego Air & Space Museum<\/a>, you\u2019re familiar with its collection of historic airplanes and other aviation related exhibits; planes like the Bell X-1<\/a> that broke the sound barrier in 1947.<\/p>\n

But what you might not know is that the X-1, and other important planes in aviation history displayed here, are not the originals. They are exacting reproductions, built by hand just a few feet away; a few feet down, in the basement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is \u2026 the restoration department of the museum,\u201d Tom Nolan said as he welcomed us in.<\/p>\n

Nolan, a former Air Force aircraft mechanic, is one of scores of volunteers who work down here. For folks who like to fix old stuff, or make replicas of engines and aircraft, this is a little slice of subterranean heaven.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A replica of the Bell X-1 that broke the sound barrier in 1947 is shown, hanging from the ceiling of the San Diego Air & Space Museum on July 13, 2026.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Hughes H-1 Racer replica is shown in the Air & Space Museum’s restoration shop on July 13, 2026.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A picture of the Hughes H-1 Racer on display at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum is shown, complete with tape measures, at the San Diego Air & Space Museum’s restoration shop on July 13, 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got jet engines; we have \u2026 this one here is a \u2014 we did a cutaway on this one. You can see how it operates,\u201d said Nolan as he showed us a 1930s-era radial engine<\/a>, moving slowly enough to show how it works.<\/p>\n

Around the corner from the engine is what you might call the centerpiece project in the shop, one of those planes the guys here are building from scratch. When it comes to speed, this one was a star in the ’30s.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a replica of the Hughes H-1 Racer<\/a>, featured in 2004\u2019s \u201cThe Aviator\u201d<\/a> starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There are no plans available to help them build this airplane. Instead, they’re working from photos, one of them from the Smithsonian<\/a>. All the pictures include a tape measure. That\u2019s all these craftsmen have to go on. But they have everything they need.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a machine shop, we have welding, we have all the capabilities of fabricating parts,\u201d Nolan said.<\/p>\n

With all the unique, intricate work happening down here and all the remarkable things this shop turns out, it\u2019s a shame this part of the museum is off limits to visitors.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s about to change.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re formally creating a very special tour opportunity down here,\u201d said Jim Kidrick<\/a>, the Air and Space Museum\u2019s longtime President & CEO.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of those tour groups will be smaller, you know, we expect it\u2019s two people, eight people, 10 \u2026 It has to be an add-on because it now takes docents who will give that tour off the main floor,\u201d Kidrick said.<\/p>\n

Kidrick said he expects the tours to begin within a few weeks. So the first visitors will see something that has absolutely nothing to do with aviation: funky-looking little one-seater cars belonging to Ripley\u2019s<\/a>. The museum is currently hosting their Odditorium exhibit.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The body of a 1960s era single-seater car belonging to Ripley’s Believe It Or Not is shown in the San Diego Air & Space Museum’s restoration shop on July 13, 2026.<\/p>\n

The little cars, manufactured in the late ’60s on the British Isle of Man<\/a>, are being restored to their odd former glory. The restoration job is not easy.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust pulling this stuff apart, it\u2019s so rusted that we\u2019re using heat and hydraulics and everything to pull it apart. So once we get it apart, we can get everything restored,\u201d Nolan said with a laugh.<\/p>\n

Ripley\u2019s knew this shop was the perfect place to restore these cars because of other restoration work they\u2019ve had done here.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a financially beneficial arrangement for the museum. They get paid for the restoration work, and Kidrick said Ripley\u2019s gave the museum a discount on the price for hosting the Odditorium exhibition.<\/p>\n

With all the attention paid here to restoring and building aviation history, Kidrick is also focused on the future.<\/p>\n

A bus that\u2019s parked in the shop goes out every week to schools. It\u2019s packed with hands-on opportunities, the kinds of things that get kids interested in the future of aviation and space travel.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The San Diego Air & Space Museum’s “Mission Control” bus is shown with restoration shop volunteer Tom Nolan and KPBS reporter John Carroll in the foreground – at the restoration shop on July 13, 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t believe that there was only one ‘greatest generation.’ We have to believe that our job is to perpetuate what they did and who they were to future greatest generations \u2026 because it is so, so important to realize how important they are to the future of, not just the United States, of course, but the world,\u201d Kidrick said.<\/p>\n

At the Air & Space Museum, its mission is being accomplished every day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you\u2019ve visited the San Diego Air & Space Museum, you\u2019re familiar with its collection of historic airplanes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":402630,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[74,76,75],"class_list":["post-402629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}