SECRETARY'S REPORT 123 



On June 1, 1950, the services of Maj. Gen. Grandison Gardner as 

 the United States Air Force representative on the Advisory Board 

 were terminated by reason of his transfer to a post of duty away from 

 Washington. General Gardner's enthusiastic interest and advice on 

 Air Museum matters during his year's tenure in this office were most 

 helpful to the Board and the Air Museum staff. In his stead, Gen. 

 Hoyt S. Vandenberg, Chief of Staff, United States Air Force, appointed 

 Lt. Gen. Iv. B. Wolfe as his representative on the Board. 



The Air Museum had so busy a year that bacldogs developed in 

 several of the bureau's work programs. Kequests for information 

 were of large volume, and a quarter of the curator's time was spent 

 on this service in addition to considerable time of two associate 

 curators. There were accessioned and cataloged 465 items — a four- 

 fold increase over last year — and there were designed, prepared, and 

 installed three times as many temporary special exhibits of current 

 or commemorative significance as the year before. 



Worth-while improvements were made, too, in the bureau's condi- 

 tion and operations. At the Park Ridge storage facility, for example, 

 a considerable portion of the space originally rented by the bureau 

 was vacated, and the smaller retained area was enclosed by fencing. 

 These changes permitted the safe reduction of the watch force from 

 10 to 7 guards and the employment, at no increase in over-all cost, 

 of additional technical and clerical help to further the essential 

 preservation and accessioning programs. With the help of a second 

 museum aide added to the Washington staff, marked improvements 

 were made in the aeronautical exhibits. 



MUSEUM BUILDING STUDIES 



As indicated in the bureau's recent annual reports, for the past 2 

 years studies have been conducted by the bureau's staff in coopera- 

 tion with the Public Buildings Administration to determine a suitable 

 Museum building and site. After 17 months of work these studies 

 were completed, and a report thereon was presented to the Advisory 

 Board on June 29, 1949. 



The report embodies the ideas of the Advisory Board members, of 

 architects and engineers of the Pubhc Buildings Administration, and 

 of the professional staff of the bureau regarding the scope and volume 

 of the proposed aeronautical collection and the equipment, facilities, 

 and services required to maintain, exhibit, and preserve the collection 

 and operate the Museum. The descriptive matter, perspective 

 drawings, preliminary floor plans, estimates of costs, and suggestions 

 of suitable sites contained in the report are believed to provide a 



