The Paul E. Garber Facility consists of 32 buildings on 28 acres. Five of the buildings are on the tour, which takes 2 to 2.5 hours. The tour is free, but you need a reservation. The facility will move to a new home at Dulles airport in the next few years.
Update: April 2001: According to an article in the April 11, 2001 Washington Post, the Smithsonaian has announced a $125 million construction contract as part of the $300 million Annex to the Air and Space Museum, to be built at Dulles airport. The building will have 760,000 square feet on three levels and is scheduled to open in December 2003. It is unique for the Smithsonian in being heavily financed by private contributions. The Air and Space museum still needs to raise $100 million for the project.
Click here to go to the National Air And Space Museum web site (http://www.nasm.edu). Then click on the Garber Facility link. Garber has a live web cam in the restoration shop.
Staff:
18 craftspersons
23 volunteers
6 interns
46 docents
Aircraft:
354 in the collection
63 on the Mall in Washington DC
140 on display at Garber
20+ in storage at Garber
remainder on loan