90 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1955 



the Secretary and the head curator. General Mundy's aide, Maj. 

 John P. Clowry, and the curator of Air Force Historical Properties, 

 Henry Caldwell, cooperated with the head curator in planning a 

 group of five displays featuring the role of the air arm in warfare. 

 These exhibits are under construction. By direction of General 

 Mundy, repairs and improvements to Air Force planes in the Museum 

 were made by personnel of Boiling Air Force Base, who installed 

 engines in America's first jet airplane, refinished all struts of the 

 Douglas World Cruiser, re-covered the tail surfaces of the World 

 War I Voisin bomber, and painted the cowling of the Spad-XIII. 



The Navy member of the Board, Kear Adm. Apollo Soucek, aided 

 the Museum by approving the transfer of significant naval aircraft 

 items. Toward the end of the fiscal year Admiral Soucek was forced 

 by illness to relinquish his duties, and it was with a keen sense of 

 loss that the news of his death was received shortly after the close 

 of the fiscal year. 



Grover Loening continued to give stimulating advice; it was at 

 his suggestion that the cooperation of the Aircraft Industries Associ- 

 ation and the Air Transport Association in financing the architec- 

 tural study for the proposed new National Air Museum building was 

 sought and obtained. The other civilian member of the board, William 

 Stout, during his visit to Washington in April, took time from a busy 

 program to discuss the progress and needs of the Museum. He has 

 aided throughout the year in procuring exhibits and enlisting the 

 cooperation of air lines and aeronautical manufacturers. 



STEPHENSON BEQUEST 



The statue of the famous pioneer of air power Gen. William 

 Mitchell, provided for in the bequest of George H. Stephenson, of 

 Philadelphia, is progressing satisfactorily. By the fall of 1954, the 

 sculptor, Bruce Moore, had completed his initial study in plastiline, 

 one-third size. It represents the General in World War I uniform 

 standing beside his open-cockpit airplane, braced against the air- 

 stream and ready for flight. After approval by the Secretary of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, on October 28, 1954, the model was cast in 

 plaster and submitted to the Commission of Fine Arts, by whom it 

 was approved at their meeting of February 10, 1955. The formal 

 contract between the Smithsonian Institution and Mr. Moore was 

 signed April 7, and a duplicate cast of the one-third size study was 

 deposited with the Museum to insure the preservation of the original 

 concept during the making of the full-size enlargement. 



SPECIAL EVENTS AND DISPLAYS 



On October 26, 1954, the National Air Museum was host at an eve- 

 ning meeting of the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences, Washington 



