The aerospace museum at Hill Air Force Base announced that it will be reducing its collection of aircraft and other vehicles.
Hill Air Force Base Spokesman George Jozens said the nearly 30-year-old museum will be making the aircraft available to other museums worldwide in an effort to reduce costs.
“The museum needs to reduce its collection by about 18 aircraft, three missiles and a number of different support vehicles,” Jozens said. “The reason for this is it takes money to maintain and keep those aircraft up all of the time.”
Currently, the museum houses nearly 80 aircraft both in and outdoors. Jozens said the new effort allows for more aircraft related to Utah’s heritage to move indoors and out of harsh weather.
“Since the mission here at the Hill Aerospace museum is to show off aerospace that has been here locally, [we’re] trying to rearrange things so that it’s all the Utah aircraft that are here and the ones that aren’t related go to different museums that can use them,” Jozens said.
Maintenance on planes kept out of doors can cost the museum tens of thousands of dollars.