108 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 56 



of the Museum. These requests come from visitors to the Museum 

 who are interested in various details of the exhibits, from authors, 

 engineers, historians, teachers, students, and others whose need for 

 authoritative information leads them to this national depository for 

 aeronautical materials. 



Among the numerous requests for assistance and information re- 

 ceived from other Government departments one of the most interesting 

 is the making of a historical film by the Navy Department, Bureau of 

 Aeronautics. It is astounding to realize that the evolution of naval 

 aircraft from the first 45-mile-per-hour 40-horsepower "hydroaero- 

 plane" of 1911 to the current supersonic jet-powered delta-winged 

 fighters has taken place in the active life span of a number of naval 

 aviators who retain keen recollections of this marvelous progress. In 

 this motion picture the memories of these men are being recorded and 

 illustrated by actual scenes taken from film records. The head curator 

 was appointed a technical director for this film, and it has been a 

 fascinating experience for him to listen to these stories in the words of 

 those persons who were actually there when history was being made. 

 For a number of scenes the Museum has supplied specimens which not 

 only stimulated recollections but also illustrated the vivid descriptions. 

 The Navy also requested assistance from the Museum in determining 

 the identification markings of carrier-borne aircraft of the 1930's, in 

 recalling details of the first aircraft landing aboard ship, and in dating 

 early catapulted takeoffs. 



The Coast Guard is filling in the history of its aircraft, and was 

 pleased to obtain some needed illustrations from our reference files. 

 The Department of Justice, investigating the origins of inventions in 

 order to defend claims against the Government, was shown on a 

 Museum specimen of 1909, the Olmsted monoplane, a prior develop- 

 ment of a high- aspect- ratio elevated stabilizer, and was interested also 

 in the use by the Japanese on their transpacific incendiary balloons of 

 a means for automatically releasing ballast and explosives with 

 aneroid-operated relays, as evidenced by an example in the Museum. 

 The Central Intelligence Agency was also informed about these 

 Japanese balloons. The Air Force, in assembling a history of Mitchel 

 Field, was furnished with data and photographs of early air races 

 held there, and the Signal Corps, proud of the first military airplane 

 exhibited in the Museum, obtained help in describing its technical 

 details and history. A consulting engineer for the Atomic Energy 

 Commission was shown, in the files and library of this Museum, numer- 

 ous accounts and illustrations of flight-training devices to assist him 

 in preparing a curriculum for employees. The Treasury Department, 

 preparing Defense Bonds advertisements featuring famous Amer- 

 icans, was shown numerous biographical references in the National Air 



