SECRETARY'S REPORT 141 



used by the Navy, Air Force, and Air Mail are grouped in chronologi- 

 cal sequence. Several additional models, listed in the lot of acces- 

 sions at the end of this report, have expanded these groups. 



Usual cleaning and preservation treatments were given to the Lilien- 

 thal glider, the Kitty Hawk, Spirit of St. Louis, Fokker D-7, Grum- 

 man F3F Gulfharok-2, and Republic F-84 Thunderjet. Manne- 

 quins with clothing resembling that of Otto Lilienthal and Orville 

 Wright were prepared with the cooperation of the L. A. Darling 

 Co., and placed in the glider and Kitty Hawk, making their methods 

 of control much more understandable to the public. The progres- 

 sive line-up of power units along "Engine Row" in the Aircraft 

 Building continued to be improved by rearrangements, additions, and 

 selective substitutions. Two important specimens were put on dis- 

 play; namely, original rockets developed by Robert Goddard 

 (1882-1945) who, in some of his earlier experiments was assisted by 

 grants from the Smithsonian and later by the Daniel and Florence 

 Guggenheim Foundation. These rockets, showing types of 1934-35 

 and 1939-41, were conditioned and labeled with the helpful assistance 

 of Mrs. Goddard; additions to this group will soon be added. The 

 display of the Hispano Suiza engine of World War I has been im- 

 proved by placing with it two large photographs received from S. E. 

 M. Hispano Suiza, Colombes (Seine), France, illustrating the orig- 

 inal Birkigt design of 1916, and the engine used by the renowned 

 French ace George Guynemer. 



Each of the accessions received during the year that could be ex- 

 hibited provided an improvement in the displays ; it is regretted that 

 lack of space prevents showing all of them. The Navy Department 

 was responsible for adding 10 engines to the collection, several of them 

 from the earliest years of human flight ; but the outstanding addition 

 was received from the Curtiss- Wright Corporation, with grateful ac- 

 knowledgment to George Page, prominent aircraft designer, who 

 has helped to protect this wonderful relic throughout the years until 

 it could be placed in permanent care. This famous engine is the 

 prototype for those made by Glenn Curtiss for the early airships of 

 Thomas Baldwin and the pioneer airplanes then being developed by 

 the Aerial Experiment Association headed by Alexander Graham 

 Bell. Curtiss decided to test this engine in a motorcycle, and at Day- 

 tona Beach, Fla., January 24, 1907, established a world record for 

 human speed that lasted for many years — 137 miles per hour. As 

 a motorcycle, this specimen is unique, but as a test bed for an airplane 

 engine it is one of the most renowned in aeronautical history. The 

 collection of trophies was greatly improved this year by the receipt 

 of one of the most famous, the Collier Trophy, which since 1911 has 

 inspired progress. Of the 35 awards of the Collier Trophy to date, 

 25 of them are now represented among the Air Museum's collections. 



