A project to completely restore the Sikorsky VH-3A helicopter that served as a means of short-range air transport for President Richard M. Nixon will get underway in the coming weeks at the March Field Air Museum.
The Sea King chopper was relocated to the museum last week by truck, removed from its customary station at the east end of the parking lot for the Richard Nixon Library & Museum in Yorba Linda and placed in the Museum Restoration Hangar at March in south Riverside.
“This is the same hangar where it was restored in 2005,” museum spokesman Michael Ellzey told City News Service Tuesday.
Ellzey said Gordon Ponsford, owner of Ponsford Limited, a nationally recognized conservation and restoration consultancy, will be handling work on the chopper, which is expected to last 18 to 24 months.
“The key is that the Nixon helicopter will remain at March Field facilities until construction of the Nixon Foundation’s education pavilion is completed,” Ellzey said. “We are scheduled to meet with Mr. Ponsford and his team in the coming weeks to develop a work plan.”
The one-time U.S. Army and Marine rotorcraft will undergo a “complete restoration before returning as the centerpiece of the new education center,” the Library said in an online statement.
The education center will feature an “interactive, immersive” experience for visitors, according to the Library.
The Sikorsky was active not only during Nixon’s nearly eight years on Pennsylvania Avenue, but also during the two administrations that preceded his — those of Lyndon B. Johnson and John F. Kennedy — operating from 1961 to 1976 as a kind of “flying Oval Office,” officials said.
“President Nixon flew aboard this helicopter on 181 missions, including to the Giza Pyramids in Egypt and into Vatican Square, where it was blessed by Pope Paul VI,” according to the Library. “This helicopter flew under the call sign `Marine One’ when operated by the Marine Corps, and `Army One’ when operated by the Army.”
The rotorcraft, which could be transported internationally aboard cargo planes whenever required by the White House, was removed from presidential service the year Nixon resigned, thereafter placed at the disposal of the Secret Service for training purposes.
After the VH-3A was deactivated, it went to the National Museum of the Marine Corps at Quantico, Virginia, but ultimately was placed on long-term loan to the Nixon Library by the National Archives & Records Administration. It has been a fixture on the museum grounds for two decades.
“Other projects will be managed in and around the (helicopter), as organized by the Ponsford-March Field collaborative,” Ellzey said, adding that Rudy Lerma, who oversaw the 2005 restoration will be volunteering his time to work on the current rehab.
A private donor to the Nixon Foundation is paying for it, though the amount was not specified.
The chopper arrived on the afternoon of June 29. The restoration project will not be publicly accessible.