Mon Nov 13, 2023 4:52 pm
James J. Strebig wrote:Ex-AF Chief Unwittingly Aids New Air Museum
BY JAMES J. STREBIG
WASHINGTON, Oct. 9
-(AP)-Near the end of the
war, Gen. H. H. ("Hap") Arnold,
wartime Air Force commander
issued an order: "Save one of
everything."
He meant one of every kind
of Air Force plane and flying
gadget.
It was an order made to a muse-
um curator's dream. Arnold was
dreaming at the time-dreaming
of a museum-devoted to the Air
Force in the hope that its so re-
cent beginnings and rapid,
youthful strides could be pre-
served for those generations
which will not remember when
the air was disturbed only by
birds.
Now the general's vision is on
its way to reality, but on a
broader scale than even he had
foresee. Congress expanded his
proposal into a national air mu-
seum, established as a bureau
within the Smithsonian Institu-
tion.
$50,000 Authorized
President Truman signed the
act which gave the Air museum
legal life Aug. 12, 1946. A year
later, on national Aviation Day,
Congress authorized $50,000 to
plan the job - find a location,
outline a building, search for the
exhibit material.
Thanks to Gen. Arnold, hun-
dreds of important planes and
items of aviation equipment
have been set aside. Cooperation
has come also from the Navy,
civilian organization and indivi-
duals.
Today 275 complete aircraft
and at least 200,000 other items
are set aside for the museum.
Some of the planes and many of
the items will not be placed on
permanent display.
One item-the Wright brothers'
"Kittyhawk"-overshadows all
others. It will be the centerpiece
in a room devoted to the Wright
brothers and their achievements.
Living Air University
Paul E. Garber, curator of the
National Air museum, pictures it
a living air university, where
the present and the future will
blend into a display of past ach-
ievement. But he has a special
idea for the items bequeathed by
Wilbur and Orville Wright.
The right room will be so
levated [sic] that it is visible to the
public 24 hours a day, constant-
ly lighted, standing as an ever-
lasting memorial to the brothers
who discovered the secret of
powered flight.
It may be years before the
National Air museum is housed
in its own building. The site and
the design have not yet been
selected. But the prize item of
all, the "Kittyhawk," will go on
display-if plans work out-Dec.
17, the 45th anniversary of man's
first powered, controlled flight,
at Kill Devil Hill, N. C.
The plane is being returned
from England. Orville Wright
sent it there 20 years ago in a
huff over the Smithsonian's rel-
uctance to accord him the credit
he felt he deserved. Orville
requested it be returned quietly
in 1943 at the behest of President
Roosevelt, but it was not made
public until after his death last
January.
Full Credit Unquestioned
There will be no questions about
full credit to the Wright Broth-
ers when the "Kittyhawk" moves
into the Smithsonian. The institu-
tion is ready to accept a dis-
play card that Orville would
have approved.
The National Air museum
will carry the story of 'man's
flight far beyond the "Kitty-
hawk." It will give due emphasis
also to the present, with provis-
ion for current displays of air-
craft and equipment making new
and history.
For example, if the National
museum existed today it would
be displaying the Air Force F-86
jet fighter, which recently push-
ed the world speed record up to
670 miles an hour. Or, if it could
be pulled out of service, the Air
Force X-1 research plane-first
to fly faster than sound-would
be on display.
160,000 Items Stored
The Air Force has about 160,-
000 items stored at Park Ridge,
Ill., for the museum. The Navy
has thousands more stored at
Norfolk, Va., Philadelphia and
other points. Hundreds of indi-
viduals have responded to inquir-
ies about possible items of in-
terest.
The National Air museum had
considerable momentum at take-
off. The aviation section of the
Smithsonian institution had 3,-
500 items for transfer at the time
of the creation of the new bu-
reau.
Those items include not only
some of the most famous air-
planes in history, such as the
NC-4, first to fly the Atlantic, but
dirigibles, balloons, helicopters,
and instruments and flight clothing
from history-making events.
Site in Washington
The new building will be in
the Washington area. The site
will be selected with regard to
reachability and must include
enough land for ample parking.
Garber is studying plans to
provide the things that museum
visitors want to go with their
enlightenment of the past comfor-
table chairs, adequate rest room,
snack counters. There may be
such modern items as rolling
chairs, escalators and special ar-
rangements for students who
want to study exhibits.
Present plans call for the dis-
play of 200 ful-scale airplanes,
about two-thirds of those already
available.
Each of these is being repro-
dueced in scale models, cut to
one seventy-second of full size,
for use in "space control" studi-
es. The result is that the air
museum will exist in complete
detail, but only one seventy-sec-
ond of its size, before it becomes
a reality for the public.
Mon Nov 13, 2023 5:11 pm
