Plans for ‘Jona-22’ Aircraft

Plans for the ‘Jona-22 self-catapulting aircraft’. One of a set of photostat sheets. Date and region of Origin: September 1944, Rome

Background: Part of a large collection of aircraft plans possibly acquired by an Allied intelligence officer during the latter stages of WW2. Photostats are positive, or negative, images made directly onto paper coated with a photographically sensitive emulsion. Purchased from a flea market in the 1980’s. The surface was obscured by a thin layer of embedded dirt both on the front and back, and there was dog-earing around the edges and corners. Deep creases ran horizontally and vertically through the page as evidence from being stored folded that needed to be removed due to the owner’s wish of storing the plans rolled.

Embedded dirt removed with a thorough cleaning with a smoke sponge along the front and back of the page The dog earing and deep creases were corrected with the use of a preservation pencil to humidify the folds with a buffer of blotting paper, then weighted down with glass weights until dry.