SECRETARY'S REPORT 127 



craft in service, were utilized to augment an older display of scale 

 models of these planes. Among other exhibits improved were the 

 Thompson Trophy series and the story of the first American air force — 

 the balloon corps established during the Civil War. With the help 

 of Col. Roderick Tower, who had once been a pilot of the Curtiss 

 Jenny now in the collection, the original num-bering and insignia of 

 this airplane of World War I were restored, thereby improving the 

 appearance and authenticity of the plane. Numerous other exhibits 

 were serviced; the cleaning and repahing of all aircraft maintained; 

 and the continuing project to provide accurate drawings and a repre- 

 sentative space control scale model for each aircraft in the collection 

 was advanced. 



Among new accessions of aircraft and engines, the Enola Gay and 

 Whittle W-l-X are outstanding. Of the 14 full-sized aircraft acces- 

 sioned, only one, the loadable Autogiro, could be given exhibition in 

 Washington; all the others were placed in the storage area. Five 

 engines were received during the year, three being jets. In deference 

 to the increasing size of huge bombers, transports, and patrol planes, 

 a departure from the Museum standard airplane model scale of 1:16 

 was decided upon, and 1:48 adopted for the larger models. Two of 

 this new scale, a Northrop flying wing B-49 and a Fairchild cargo 

 plane C-82, were added to the collection. A large sectioned model, 

 1:8, of the Piasecki helicopter permits technical study of this type. 

 One guided missile, a Navy "Bat," was acquired, and enables the 

 Museum to show the contrast between a radio-guided weapon and 

 the human-guided "suicide" Japanese Baka bomb previously 

 accessioned. 



In addition to the aeronautical material actually accessioned this 

 year, it can be reported that the Department of the Navy has placed 

 in safe storage for the Museum the Locldieed P2V Truculent Turtle, 

 which established the present long-distance, nonstop, nonrefueled 

 flight record, and the Vought F-5-U. The F-5-U is a unique develop- 

 ment of low aspect-ratio wing configuration which has an unusually 

 wide range of flight performance. 



Projects under way at the close of the year included a rearrangement 

 of the aircraft engine collection in the Aircraft Building ; improving, 

 through the use of an automatic slide projector, the illustrated story 

 of Colonel Lindbergh's flights in the Spirit oj St. Louis; and prepar- 

 ing a commemorative display to record the fortieth anniversary of 

 the beginning of carrier operations in the Navy. 



STORAGE 



Compression of material to conserve space, development of preserva- 

 tion techniques, disassembly of aircraft, and packmg of aeronautical 



