‘Snapshots’ of AEDC history displayed

  • Published
  • By Raquel March
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, TENN. --  When you walk through the halls of the Administration and Engineering (A&E) building, a new display of photographs and drawings may be seen which depicts Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC) history and testing. This display is possible due to the coordination of the Complex historian Chris Rumley.

"Each piece is a snapshot of AEDC history showing the grand scale of our mission and our testing facilities," Rumley said. "Many of the drawings go back to the 1950s and 1960s. When each facility was in the design and planning stage, draftsmen sat down and made pencil sketches first and then full color renditions of the proposed facilities. One of the things they did to show the scale of the facility was to draw in workers, roads and the automobiles of their era."

After speaking with AEDC Commander Raymond Toth and understanding his desire to display Air Force heritage at AEDC, Rumley thought he had an idea of the artwork that could be used.

"It just so happened, that we had a treasure trove of AEDC artwork in archive storage that had not seen the light of day for many years," he said. "I was quite happy that Col. Toth appreciated them as much as I did and that he wanted them on display."

There are 50 prints mounted on the walls of the hallways and there are 25 being framed and 25 in the production stage.

Rumley chose photos and drawings from the past, as well as the present, and selected those that had a classic AEDC look. He enlisted the assistance of the Complex photographic laboratory photographer Rick Goodfriend to compile photographs and to restore drawings for display.

The original drawings and photographs in the historian's collection were in decent shape, but others were a little worn. Rumley said when the drawings were first created, they were used as visual aids for briefings and presentations. The handling of the drawings left finger prints and stains. In other drawings the colors faded or the borders that were glued on fell off and caused discoloration.

"The goal was to recreate the prints and preserve our archive of originals," he said. "The originals were really too big for any scanners we had, so Mr. Goodfriend offered to make high-resolution photographs of each drawing over in the photo lab."

Goodfriend said he photographed the drawings and then he digitally restored them to their original luster.

Rumley admits that it was a challenge to print the recreated drawings due to the colors not showing true. After making adjustments with lighting, camera settings and printer settings, the end product was a result they both liked. Rumley said that Goodfriend "just did an amazing job from start to finish."

Goodfriend also photographed some of the facility images which are currently displayed.

"AEDC has really been blessed over the years with some amazing artists and photographers who were dedicated to their craft," Rumley said. "You will see some of those names signed on the artwork. Don Northcutt, F. Hueser and R. Jennings signed some of their work, but many of the pieces are not signed. People will also be familiar with the photographs taken by Mr. Phil Tarver during his years at AEDC, and those taken by our current photographer Mr. Rick Goodfriend."