Fortresses Under Fire Mural
Keith Ferris painted “Fortresses Under Fire” in 1976 for the National Air and Space Museum (NASM). The 75′ by 26’8″ mural depicts the 303rd Bomb Group of B-17G Flying Fortresses under attack from Luftwaffe pilots.
Before the Museum’s major renovations, EverGreene was hired to safely remove the mural. Our conservators assessed, documented, and developed a detailed plan for removing the painted canvases from the wall. Custom scaffolding was built and enclosed within negative-air containment to protect against asbestos-containing materials in the wall. The mural was removed in sections, starting from the top and working down. Dressed in Tyvek suits and full-face respirators, our team carefully detached the canvas from the wall in original 10-foot sections, rolling them onto large sonotubes. The sections were then transported to our studio.
At our D.C. studio, we set up a clean containment room to remove hazardous materials from the backs of the canvases, including paint, primer, drywall paper, and asbestos-containing joint compound. After thorough cleaning and testing to ensure the absence of any asbestos-containing materials (ACM), the murals were rerolled in archival materials, crated, and sent back to the Museum for storage.
In 2024, EverGreene reinstalled the mural in the museum’s new World War II gallery. Extensive testing allowed the Smithsonian to select the best adhesive for reattaching the large, heavy canvases. A team of conservators and installation specialists carefully aligned and adhered each section to the newly refinished gallery wall. The seams between the panels were restored, minor damage repaired, and a painted wood trim was added to frame the mural.
