76 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1954 



was selected. On June 11, 1954, Mr. Moore, with Alfred Verville, who 

 was a close friend and aeronautical engineering associate of General 

 Mitchell, and the head curator of the Air Museum, were received by 

 Mrs. Thomas Byrd, widow of the General, who discussed the air 

 leader's characteristics and qualities, lent a number of photographs 

 of the general to the sculptor, and generously gave to the Museum a 

 selection of the General's uniforms and other items associated with his 

 military and aeronautical career, these objects to be incorporated in 

 an exhibit associated with the statue when it is completed. The 

 statue is to be one-sixth larger than life-size, full length, and mounted 

 on a granite pedestal. It will occupy an honored place in the 

 Aeronautical Hall of Fame, which is to be a feature of the proposed 

 National Air Museum. Meanwhile, upon completion, it will be placed 

 with General Mitchell's World War I SPAD airplane which has long 

 been one of the most prominent exhibits in the Aircraft Building. 



SPECIAL EVENTS AND DISPLAYS 



As the calendar year 1953 approached, the staff of the Museum 

 realized that the fiftieth year of powered flight would be a significant 

 milestone of progress. Following the acquisition of the Wright 

 brothei-s' original Kitty Hawk Flyer on December 17, 1948, the forty- 

 fifth anniversary of its first flight, a concentrated effort was made by 

 the staff to obtain related material, so that the complete story of the 

 Wright brothers' aeronautical accomplishments could be assembled 

 in tangible form, and the related files furnish authentication. Ke- 

 search for and acquisition of Wright memorabilia had been under- 

 taken even before the Kitty Hawk Flyer was received, but the renewed 

 effort brought encouraging results. In this quest the Museum had the 

 valuable assistance of many persons who had known the famous 

 brothers and whose knowledge was authoritative and intimate. As 

 research progressed the staff was successful in locating several scale 

 drawings and numerous photographs of Wright aircraft and 

 activities. The Department of History of the U. S. National Museum 

 cooperated by removing all of their display cases from the floor ahead 

 of and beneath the Kitty Hawk Flyer so that a special Golden Anni- 

 versary Exhibit could be assembled in the most appropriate location, 

 and the Smithsonian Photographic Laboratory and other service units 

 assisted in preparations. The display was opened to the public the 

 first week in December. 



As the visitor to the Museum entered the front door he saw first 

 individual sculptured portraits of the brothers, both sculptures the 

 work of Oskar Hansen. These flanked a scale model of the monument 

 erected to the honor of Wilbur and Orville Wright atop Kill Devil 

 Hill. Nearby was the letter written by Wilbur Wright to the Smith- 

 sonian Institution on May 30, 1899, in which he stated : 



