SECRETARY'S REPORT 113 



A written report of curatorial activities since the previous meeting 

 was submitted ; the need for additional staff, including a director, was 

 considered; and activities of other aeronautical museums were dis- 

 cussed in terms of relation to and cooperation by and with the National 

 Air Musemn. Particular attention was given to progress with the Wil- 

 liam Mitchell statue project. 



STEPHENSON BEQUEST 



Previous annual reports have included details regarding the author- 

 ization by Congress for the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution 

 to accept as a gift from the late George H. Stephenson of Philadelphia 

 a statue of Brig. Gen. William Mitchell. The sculpturing by Bruce 

 Moore progressed during the year to the completion of the full-sized 

 plaster cast and its delivery to the foundry for casting in bronze. The 

 granite base is being cut. The full-length figure, in World War I uni- 

 form, mounted on its base will be about 10 feet in height and, pending 

 completion of the Aeronautical Hall of Fame in the proposed new 

 building, will be placed in the Arts and Industries Building adjacent 

 to Air Force displays. The formal presentation ceremony is scheduled 

 for December 17, 1957, as a climactic feature of the year that celebrates 

 the 50th Anniversary of the United States Air Force. 



SPECIAL EVENTS AND DISPLAYS 



The year 1956 was celebrated in Denmark as the 50th anniversary of 

 the first flight there by James Christian Ellehammer, which occurred 

 September 12, 1906. A reproduction of his airplane of 1906 was con- 

 structed in Denmark, and a copy of his 1909 airplane was flown there. 

 Another feature of the anniversary year occurred on December 11, 

 1956, when a model of the 1906 aircraft was presented to the Secretary 

 of the Smithsonian Institution for the National Air Museum by His 

 Excellency, the Ambassador of Denmark, Henrik Kauffmann, in the 

 Regents' room of the Smithsonian Building, and in the presence of a 

 distinguished group of officials, aeronautical historians, and Smith- 

 sonian personnel. The model is constructed to a scale of 1 : 14 and 

 reflects Ellehammer's earlier interest in kites in the diamond shape of 

 its principal surface. A miniature reproduction of the engine that 

 Ellehammer made is mounted at the front, and the 3-wheeled chassis 

 and tethering connection illustrates how the aircraft was guided over 

 its circular path and rose for a flight of about 140 feet at a height of 

 about 18 inches, with Ellehammer on a bicycle seat just behind the 

 engine. 



For the annual meeting of the Regents of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion on January 18, 1957, the National Air Museum displayed a series 

 of scale models illustrating development of United States naval air- 



