Some bad news. I looked at pics of the outside display aircraft and
they appear to most probably were just have been tied down. There was an
old hurricane trick that used to be used for smaller operational
aircraft to be tied down by putting the aircraft on its belly with gear
up and then tying it down. However, with these artifacts, it would not
have been possible. Tying down aircraft for a hurricane is not
recommended but it is all they could have done, although if the aircraft
had been mounted on concrete pads and then the wheels raised off the
ground on metal supports they would have been much better protected.
Although the musuem was first class inside it left something to be
desired outside apparently...and considering this is a hurricane prone
area, perhaps it should have been considered.
Here in Victoria we had an F-101 that when we got it, we prepared pads
and metal supports to secure it and get the tires off the ground. Not a
particularly difficult or expensive task.

Al

Thomas A. Hoffer wrote:
I copied this article segment from a local Pensacola newspaper. Looks the
exhibits suffered no damage with minor damage to the building itself. While
it mentions some damage to static aircraft displays outside, it sounds like
nothing was totally destroyed. I'm curious if the "significant" damage to
some planes is fixable.

" The National Museum of Naval Aviation was almost unscathed by the storm.
Nichols said there were a few leaks in the roof, but the exhibits inside
were unharmed.

Some of the historic aircraft parked on the tarmac behind the museum were
damaged, however. The canopy of an A-6 was sheared off. A couple of wings
lay on the pavement and some planes, evidently blown off their moorings, had
collided with other aircraft, causing significant damage."