SECRETARY'S REPORT 95 



It was suggested to the Air Force Advisory Board member that 

 the Air Force would save money in the long run by financing the 

 shipment of these Museum specimens, all of which were of Air Force 

 origin, to Suitland, Md. Examination by Air Force storage and 

 traffic officials confirmed the fact that the cost of storage and servicing 

 space would in less than a year balance the cost of this shipment, and 

 so the Air Force agreed to finance this move. By the first of October 

 all arrangements had been completed for starting shipments, which 

 were organized in three phases : aircraft, engines, and equipment and 

 supplies. A schedule of four rail cars per week was planned, and 

 a target date of January 1, 1956, was set. 



By the end of March 1955 the indoor area was reduced to 30,000 

 square feet, and all the boxes remaining in the outdoor area had been 

 brought under cover. 



The strenuous work during the winter involving transportation of 

 very heavy loads in bitter weather and over rough and icy surfaces 

 had exacted a toll upon the Museum's vehicles and handling equip- 

 ment, requiring continuous attention to the repair of the crane, fork- 

 lifts, truck, and dollies, but with the coming of spring the shipping 

 program was resumed. As the final aircraft were being moved out, 

 engines were loaded on the flatcars and in boxcars, and items of office 

 and shoj) equipment were inserted wherever an opening permitted. 

 By the close of the fiscal year, with only one aircraft remaining and 

 more than half of the engines shipped, the Park Ridge unit was 

 reasonably certain of meeting the deadline for complete evacuation 

 of the storage area. 



Owing largely to the efforts and abilities of the Museum's senior 

 aide, supplementing those of the superintendent of buildings, the 

 storage facility at Suitland — about 6 miles from the Smithsonian 

 exhibition premises — was able to keep pace with the shipping pro- 

 gram of the Park Eidge unit. The loads of aircraft that began 

 arriving the second week of November were stored in Building 7, 

 which had just been completed at the close of the previous fiscal 

 year. Owing to the rapid shipping rate maintained at Park Eidge, 

 the entire 20,000 square feet of floor space in that building was occu- 

 pied by the end of January. Construction of storage buildings 8, 9, 

 11, and 12, each of 4,000 square feet area, built of prefabricated steel 

 with concrete floors, was started early in August and completed by 

 mid-October. Building 12 was erected on 3-foot concrete walls to 

 make it high enough to receive the taller boxes. Material was pur- 

 chased for Building 10, which is to be constructed during the fiscal 

 year 1956. 



By the end of the fiscal year all completed buildings were filled to 

 capacity except Building 11, in which there is a small space for the 

 storage of the engines yet to be received. 



