20 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 8l 



4. If the Wright brothers have an engine of an early type used by them 

 which could be placed in a floor case for close inspection that will be 

 desirable. 



" The engine of the Langley Aerodrome is now on exhibition in 

 a glass case and the original full-size machine is soon to be hung 

 in one of the large halls. The three Langley quarter-size models are 

 on exhibition. The natural plan would be to install the difit'erent 

 Wright machines along with the Langley machines, making the 

 exhibit illustrate two very important steps in the history of the 

 aeronautical art. 



" The request of Mr. Maynard is rather a large one. but we will 

 have to leave it to your discretion as to what you think it is prac- 

 ticable for you to do. 



Sincerely yours, 



Charles D. Walcott, 



Secretary." 

 " Mr. Wilbur Wright, 

 1 127 West Third Street, 

 Dayton, Ohio." 



10. Apparently, nothing developed from the above correspon- 

 dence. Dr. Walcott's last letter quoted above was never replied to. 

 It is a matter of grave regret that at that time the Wright brothers 

 did not see their way to reconstruct and deposit in the National 

 Museum their original full-size airplane, the first machine ever to 

 fly successfully with a man, because then, in 1910, it would have 

 been the only full-size flying machine on exhibition in the National 

 Museum, the Langley machine being still in the shops of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution awaiting further tests. 



11. In September, 191 1, the Smithsonian Institution secured and 

 placed on exhibition in the National Museum the original Wright 

 airplane that was tested at Fort Myer in 1908, and purchased by 

 the War Department, being the first military airplane purchased 

 by the Government. 



12. In January, 1914, the late Lincoln Beachey, one of the pioneer 

 aviators, and others, again suggested that it would be of interest to 

 determine by actual test whether the essential features of Professor 

 Langley 's aerodynamic theory, as illustrated in his 1903 machine, 

 were correct. Finally, at the initiative of the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution, the Curtiss Aeroplane Company was invited to submit a bid 

 to refit the machine and to make tests. The formal letter to the 

 Curtiss Aeroplane Company was dated March 31, 1914, and the 

 reply offering to undertake the work for a price of $2,000, was 



