1996-97 Photos - Helium/Cargo Arch Removal

The first thing to go was the end wall. Here some of the debris is still present. The milvan (?) against the back wall is where the cargo office was, but it doesn't look like the cargo office.

Here is a look from the garage arch, looking through the passage into the helium arch. This passage wouldn't go away until 1997-98.

The first step of the arch removal...installing a stiffener channel to the first section. This photo also got used by the Wonder Arch people.

The arch base section needed to be cut away and unfastened from the foundation...

...using various implements of destruction...

...so it could be picked up.

Like so.

The same operation was repeated on the skiway side.

All propped up and ready for...

...installing curved sled runner noses on the ends of the channels.

Here is another look.

After attaching a pipe stiffener, the arch section could be dragged away.

Like so.

After the bulkhead was removed, the back half of the arch would be dealt with the same way.

Away it goes, to you know where. Now you know why those arch sections out there are so large, and how they got there.

Jump to January 2004...here are pieces of the arch sitting
out on the berm. And that hanging piece of plywood was still there (common drive photo).

Another January 2004 picture of the helium arch, sitting on the berm with some other junk--er, aircraft (that Russian aircraft that flew down in January 2002 and sat here until a Russian team came down and repaired it in January 2005). Pieces of the arch were used to extend the old garage arch to its original design length in 1997-98; more of it was used to fill in the arch sections between the old biomed and power plant arches after the buildings were removed and these areas were transformed into the LO arch (photo from Seth White).