Jordan MillerTwo planes that were left in The Leonardo after Salt Lake City terminated its lease with the museum will be demolished in the coming weeks.
The aircraft were part of an exhibit that debuted at the museum in 2016. One of the planes, a former Polish Air Force Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21, was the most widely produced fighter jet of the Cold War era. The other plane, a Convair C-131 Samaritan, was a U.S. military transport aircraft made in 1954.
The two planes were left in the building when the city terminated the museum’s lease last year, and staff “identified early” that they should be removed to maximize programming space, a city spokesperson said in a statement.
Despite efforts to find a buyer for the planes — including an open house with zero attendance and an online auction — interest was low, and the few that were interested “were unable to cover the additional removal costs,” according to the statement.
(Salt Lake City) A Convair C-131 Samaritan at the old Leonardo Museum.
The city plans to use the space for administrative offices. To stay on track with construction for the building, demolition on the floor-level aircraft — the C-131 — began on Sept. 28.
The MiG hangs higher above the floor-level plane and was put up for auction again on Oct. 6, but after “further evaluation of the removal process,” the project team determined attempting to completely remove the jet would not be possible.
Removal of the plane in one piece, a spokesperson said in a statement, could also compromise the structural integrity of the building due to the lack of information on how the plane was installed and suspended. So the MiG was also removed from auction and will be taken down piecemeal, the spokesperson added, with crews prioritizing the safety of the building rather than the quality of the plane.
The city is planning to recycle the metal recovered from both planes.
