124 AOSTNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950 



basic scheme from which there can be developed a feasible and ade- 

 quate building for the national aeronautical collections. 



With this report as a nucleus, the required report to Congress was 

 prepared this year and, as indicated earlier, was submitted to Con- 

 gress on March 17, 1950. 



ADVISORY BOARD 



A meeting of the Advisory Board of the National Air Museum was 

 held on May 24, 1950, with the following members present: 



Dr. Alexander Wetm^ore, chairman. Secretary of the Smithsonian 

 Institution; Rear Adm. A. M. Pride, Chief, Bureau of Aeronautics, 

 Department of the Navy; Maj. Gen. Grandison Gardner, Deputy 

 Chief of Staff, Materiel, Department of the Air Force; Grover Loen- 

 ing, Presidential appointee; William B. Stout, Presidential appointee. 



The death of Gen. H. H. Arnold, who was known personally by all 

 members, was the subject of a commemorative conversation among 

 the members and resulted in the resolution mentioned in the fore part 

 of this report. The Board then heard brief reports by staff members 

 on the year's operations by the bureau at the Park Ridge, 111., storage 

 facility and in the conduct of the Museum activities in Washington. 

 These operations are described under separate headings in subse- 

 quent parts of this report. In connection with the storage operations, 

 the Board approved the staff's list of aeronautical items in the col- 

 lection that are to be rejected as unnecessary to the Museum. 



With the knowledge that the required report to Congress on the 

 National Air Museum was in the hands of that body, the Board gave 

 considerable attention to the problems involved in advancing the 

 Ail' Museum's site-procurement and building programs. It was 

 appreciated that positive action must await, as with all federally 

 supported building programs, specific authorization by Congress. 



SPECIAL EVENTS 



During the year the Air Museum participated both as host and 

 guest in a number of unusual events connected with the acquisition 

 of new aeronautical items for the national collection. The following 

 are worthy of mention : 



On July 3, 1949, during the Air Force Association's annual con- 

 vention in Chicago, and as one of the public events held at the O'Hare 

 International Airport, there was received for the Museum the United 

 States Air Force B-29 superfort Enola Gay, famous as the first aircraft 

 to drdp an atomic bomb in warfare. The presentation was made by 

 Maj. Gen. Emmett R. O'Donnell, Jr., Commanding General of the 

 15th Air Force, with Col. Paul W. Tibbets, pilot of the Enola Gay, 



