Editing Convair XC-99 (section)

==Retirement and preservation==
[[File:1700 ATG Convair XC-99 1954.jpg|thumb|XC-99 at [[Kelly AFB]], Texas while attached to the [[Military Air Transport Service]] [[1700th Air Transport Group]], 1954. Note San Antonio Air Materiel Area (SAAMA) tail marking, indicating the aircraft was assigned to the [[Air Materiel Command]].]]

The aircraft was put on display at Kelly AFB near [[San Antonio]], [[Texas]], in 1957. Deterioration of the airframe due to the high [[magnesium]] content was beyond local abilities to address. The aircraft was later moved to a grassy field near the base and in 1993 the USAF moved it back to the Kelly AFB.  In 1995, Kelly AFB was identified for closure via [[Base Realignment and Closure|BRAC]], although some portions would remain under USAF control as the [[Kelly Field Annex]] to adjacent [[Lackland AFB]], it was deemed that a new location be identified for the XC-99.

Disassembly of the aircraft began at Kelly Field in April 2004 and the airframe was moved in pieces from Kelly to the [[National Museum of the United States Air Force]] (NMUSAF) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.<ref name="AFL04">{{cite web|last1=Hill|first1=Bruce R. Jr.|title=XC-99 begins piece-by-piece trip to Air Force Museum|url=https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/137090/xc-99-begins-piece-by-piece-trip-to-air-force-museum/|website=U.S. Air Force Official Website|access-date=21 April 2016}}</ref> By the summer of 2008, the transfer was complete and the parts were lying outside the museum.<ref name="location">[http://wikimapia.org/21679451/Convair-XC-99-Dismantled "XC-99 Disassembled."] ''Wikimapia.'' Retrieved: 2 November 2011.</ref> The aircraft had continued to suffer additional corrosion during its years in Texas and was found to be in worse condition than expected, with the restoration task being beyond the resources of the museum in a realistic time scale. Some major components such as the wing spar would need to be completely replaced.

The NMUSAF's plans for the restoration and display of the XC-99 are displayed in a case with a 1:72 scale model made by Lt Col Howard T. Meek, USAF (Ret).<ref name="Model">[https://web.archive.org/web/20141019030526/http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=13628 "Factsheet: Convair XC-99 Model."] National Museum of the United States Air Force. Retrieved: 9 July 2017. (see subsection: [[#Current situation|Current situation]])
</ref>

In an effort to preserve the aircraft for future restoration, the XC-99 was later moved incrementally to the [[309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group]] (309 AMARG) storage facility at [[Davis–Monthan Air Force Base]], in [[Tucson, Arizona]], where it will remain, in an area containing other aircraft belonging to the NMUSAF until the museum is able to restore it.<ref name="location"/> In 2014, [[Lieutenant General]] [[John L. Hudson]], [[USAF]] (Ret), director of the NMUSAF said that there would be insufficient resources for restoration for the foreseeable future.<ref name="flightjournal.com">Dorr, [http://www.flightjournal.com/blog/2014/11/19/aviation-insider-a-tale-of-the-times/ "We’ll lose the XC-99 and it won’t be alone"]</ref>

===Current location of the aircraft===
*XC-99, AF Ser. No. ''43-52436'' is now part of the National Museum of the United States Air Force collection at Wright-Patterson AFB. The aircraft was disassembled at Kelly AFB, Texas and its sections transported to NMUSAF for anti-corrosion preservation and reassembly there.<ref name="Goleta">Lockett, Brian. [http://www.air-and-space.com/xc99.htm "Convair XC-99 and Model 37."] ''Goleta Air and Space Museum'' via ''air-and-space.com'', 19 February 2011. Retrieved: 2 November 2011.</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Hill |first1=Bruce R. |title=XC-99 begins piece-by-piece trip to Air Force Museum |url=https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/137090/xc-99-begins-piece-by-piece-trip-to-air-force-museum/ |access-date=9 July 2018 |work=U.S. Air Force |date=22 April 2004}}</ref> It was subsequently transported in the summer of 2012 to Davis-Monthan AFB and is stored in Area 20 of the 309 AMARG complex, the so-called "Boneyard", pending financial resources sufficient to restore the aircraft and return it to NMUSAF for display.{{cn|date=December 2021}}