Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration, and Storage Facility

[1] It was named in honor of Paul E. Garber in 1980, a Smithsonian curator who devoted most of his career to maintaining a collection of historic aircraft.

[2] It was created in the early 1950s by Garber to store, protect the museum's growing collection of World War II aircraft and provide space to restore them.

The aircraft was finally delivered to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in 11 tractor trailer loads over the space of three months in 2003.

The roof collapsed on the facility's Warehouse #21 just before dawn on February 10, 2010 during a blizzard and the region's second 15 to 30 inch snowstorm during a five-day period.

[5] The warehouse, scheduled for eventual demolition after transfer of the artifacts to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, contained historic aircraft and spacecraft that were exposed to sub-freezing temperatures and blowing snow.