There are always exciting restoration projects going on here at Patriots Point. Our newest project is reopening and restoring the pri-fly in the superstructure on the flight deck of the Yorktown. This part of the ship is so high up that on a foggy day you’re in the clouds.
The pri-fly was used as an “air traffic control tower,” but onboard the ship instead of on land. Here you would find communication equipment such as radios, wind speed detectors, radar gear, and much more. The flight deck is one of the most dangerous places to work on a carrier so a lot of equipment was needed to ensure that everything ran smoothly and the sailors weren’t in harm’s way while aircraft were coming and going.
In these photos you can see the work is just beginning on the restoration project. Our teams have had to completely strip everything out of this room, clean it, repaint the entire thing top to bottom, and that's just the beginning. Part of the wiring you can see in these pictures actually goes to one of the Wi-Fi boxes that supplies internet to the ship. That box will, of course, have to be relocated!
SCETV, the public airwaves channel out of Columbia, once used the pri-fly for one of their special broadcasting spots; some of their old gear was left in the pri-fly when our crew began this project. Those who were here during that time said it was pretty special to be able to broadcast from here, but it was challenging to get the equipment up so many ladders.
The most daunting task will be recreating the control room setup. Patriots Point curator Melissa Buchanan says locating all of the equipment that once filled the pri-fly is hard because there aren’t many pictures to look at to base the gear placement staging off of. The control room was a highly confidential space, so a casual picture really wasn’t allowed. This makes recreating history a little difficult!
Buchanan says just because this restoration is a ship-sized task to take on, that doesn’t mean the Patriots Point staff isn’t up to the challenge.
“We already have 50% of the ship open to the public thanks to our amazing staff, but we are always aiming higher,” Buchanan said. “We want to better interpret what a carrier embodies which means we need to have these important areas open for everyone to see.”
The money for this project is in part being raised by the Yorktown Foundation and our special-projects budget. The restoration services are being done in-house by the Patriots Point operations and museum services teams.
The pri-fly won’t exactly be on our typical tour routes due to how challenging it is to get up to. There are several ladders and smaller spaces along the route and a portion of that climb is currently not open to the public at all. Due to the challenges of getting there, Buchanan says she’s thinking this section will have to be a guided tour that is scheduled a few times a day for guests. Visitors interested in going to the pri-fly would be lead to the area by a trained Patriots Point employee to ensure everyone makes it to the top safely and easily.
Even though our pri-fly isn’t nearly as big as the one that current Naval ships have, the restoration process is still tedious when you’re aiming for perfection. Buchanan says she is hoping for a July 2021 reveal as long as everything goes as planned.
