124 AKNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1951 



Changes in the composition of the Advisory Board were announced 

 as follows : Lt. Gen. K. B. Wolfe, United States Air Force, on retiring 

 from active duty was succeeded by Maj. Gen. Donald L. Putt, United 

 States Air Force. Rear Adm. A. M. Pride, Bureau of Aeronautics, 

 Department of the Navy, upon assignment away from Washington was 

 succeeded by Eear Adm. Thomas S. Combs. 



STEPHENSON BEQUEST 



Public Law 722, by which the National Air Museum was established 

 August 12, 1946, authorized the Smithsonian Institution to accept as 

 a gift from George H. Stephenson, of Philadelphia, Pa., an appro- 

 priate statue of Brig. Gen. William Mitchell. Mr. Stephenson died 

 on July 17, 1949, leaving a bequest of $15,000 to the Smithsonian for 

 the proposed memorial. This has been accepted following a feasible 

 interpretation of the bequest under agreement between the Smith- 

 sonian and the executors of the Stephenson Estate, with approval of 

 the Orphan's Court of Philadelphia County. Toward the close of this 

 fiscal year, the bequest was received, and plans for the memorial were 

 initiated. 



CURATORIAL ACTIVITIES 



The curator, Paul E. Garber, reports on the year's work as follows : 

 In an effort to alleviate the crowded condition of the aeronautical 

 displays, provide space for the bureau's laboratory and shop, and 

 permit the exhibition of some of the new and timely accessions, many 

 exhibits were moved and rearranged this year. In addition, several 

 important items in the collections were removed from exhibition and 

 carefully stored. 



Since its organization, the workshop facilities of the bureau had 

 been contained in small rooms in two buildings. Operations were 

 hampered, and it was decided to convert a portion of the exhibition 

 area in the Aircraft Building into a single laboratory. Some of the 

 exhibition space lost by this transaction was regained by the construc- 

 tion of display cases recessed into the exterior walls of the new shop, 

 and the condition of the bureau's reference files and library was im- 

 proved by extending these units into one of the old shops. Another 

 major readjustment was the concentration of all aircraft engines in 

 "engine row" along the north side of the Aircraft Building. The en- 

 gines have been chronologically arranged and provided with improved 

 exhibition stands, better labeling, and a protective railing. This con- 

 centration provided floor space for the display of a portion of a full- 

 sized fuselage of a current United States Air Force fighter, the Re- 

 public F-84 thunder jet, a type now in service in Korea. 



