SECRETARY'S REPORT 125 



The installation of the Bell supersonic X-1 was a major project. 

 Unlike aircraft generally, the X-1 was built as an integral structure 

 without the usual attachments and fittings that permit assembly or 

 disassembly. As its size did not permit its movement into the mu- 

 seum's exhibition hall through existing entrances, a 30-foot length of 

 wall was removed from the side of the Aircraft Building to allow the 

 X-1 to be placed inside the building. In this undertaking the bureau 

 had the cooperation of United States Air Force personnel and equip- 

 ment and of the Bell Aircraft Corp. 



Two of the full-sized aircrafl>-the Spad XIII, World War I 

 fighter, and the F-5-L, World War I Naval patrol bomber — received 

 extensive repairs. The exhibition of the Wright Brothers' Wind 

 Tunnel was improved by adding a copy of the bench grinder, fan, and 

 belt, which provided the wind current, and the small truck used to 

 launch the original Kitty Hawk. 



ACCESSIONS AND EVENTS 



The outstanding accession of the year was the Bell supersonic air- 

 plane X-1 noted above. This was formally presented to the Air Mu- 

 seum by Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg on behalf of the United States Air 

 Force and accepted by Dr. Alexander Wetmore, Secretary of the 

 Smithsonian, on August 26, 1951, at Logan Airport, Boston, Mass., 

 during the National Air Fair. Participating in the ceremony were 

 Lawrence D. Bell, president of Bell Aircraft Corp. which constructed 

 the airplane, Lovell Lawrence, Jr., president of Reaction Motors, Inc., 

 makers of the rocket engine which powered the X-1, and Capt. Charles 

 E. Yeager, United States Air Force, who first piloted the X-1 through 

 the sonic barrier on October 14, 1947. 



A second accession of note was a duplicate of the first ram-jet engine 

 to achieve thrust over drag and attain supersonic speed. This type of 

 jet engine was developed for the United States Navy by the Johns 

 Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Silver Spring, Md. 

 The first successful demonstration occurred on June 13, 1945, when a 

 speed of about 1,500 miles an hour was attained. The original engine 

 was lost in the ocean off Island Beach, N. J., where the experiment 

 took place, but a duplicate composed of original pails, sectioned to 

 show construction and operation details, was prepared for the Na- 

 tional Air Museum. Its presentation was made at a ceremony held 

 in the Aircraft Building on November 29, 1951, in which Rear Adm. 

 A. G. Nobel, Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance, United States Navy, 

 Dr. R. E. Gibson, Director of the Laboratory, and his associate, Dr. 

 Wilbur H. Goss, participated. Carl W. Mitman, Assistant to the Sec- 

 retary for the National Air Museum, accepted the gift. 



