Aircraft Restoration: MiG-21

[0:12] [Music] Hello, my name is Peter Taraka. I'm the  manager of aircraft restoration at the Intrepid   Museum. And today we're talking about the MiG 21.  The airplane was in good condition for having sat   out in the elements for nearly a decade. We were  pleasantly surprised to find that there was not   uh a tremendous amount of corrosion buildup  inside the internal structures of the airframe.   So then after thorough cleaning and uh the  application of uh preservative coatings on   the internal structures, we are removing the  prior paint coating which is usually pretty   oxidized as it was in this case. What we do to  prepare for a new paint job is just remove the   oxidized paint on just the top layers. We like  to leave as much paint on there as possible  

[1:14] because it constantly eroding. So this MIG 21  was a gift from the country of Poland in 1991.   This scheme commemorates a scheme I found  that was being used by a squadron in Poland   uh as late as 2002. The second brighter green  you see in various places on the airframe.   This green color was used on uh composite  components, fiberglass components, which   would be used to cover sensitive radio equipment,  but in addition to that, there were in a couple   places on the airplane sort of what's called nose  art. It might not necessarily be on the nose.   One of those it's a small dragon carrying a  lightning bolt for a weapon and carrying a   shield on which is the Polish national insignia  for me add a lot of charisma to the airplane. So  

[2:19] come check out our MIG on the flight deck and  for more information go to intrepidmuz.org. or