118 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1957 



Dependent Area Affairs ; the Voice of America ; and the Government- 

 published magazine America Illustrated. Subjects included the 

 history of jet aircraft and guided missiles, identification of per- 

 sons in photographs, the story of skywriting, flight clothing and uni- 

 forms, addresses of companies and persons, the history of trans- 

 atlantic flying, lives of aeronautical pioneers, data on famous aircraft 

 and some obscure ones, first instances of structural details and acces- 

 sories in aircraft, air-sea rescue devices, and many others. The De- 

 partment of the Interior asked about early uses of airplanes in 

 Alaska, the Air Force Museum was supplied with photographs for 

 its displays, the Coast Guard received help with an exhibit on ant- 

 arctic flying, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics was 

 aided in locating data on a helicopter pioneer, and the Geological 

 Survey was interested in maps used by Charles Lindbergh when he 

 flew across the Atlantic in 1927. The Civil Aeronautics Administra- 

 tion was helped with facts about airmail history, in identifying an 

 obsolete "flying wing" aircraft, and pioneer flyers. Speech writers 

 in the Navy Department requested help in assembling facts for talks 

 to be given by their head officers; at the beginning of the Naval 

 project, which culminated in establishing a new altitude record for 

 balloons, the Museum was asked to furnish information about earlier 

 attempts to reach record heights; and the Navy's Hydrographic 

 Laboratory, experimenting with hydrofoils, was informed about 

 earlier experiments with water vanes. Several times during the 

 year the Navy was assisted in preparation of a film illustrating 

 the development of Naval aviation as recalled by the pilots and en- 

 gineers who helped to make that history. Such assistance with im- 

 portant projects admittedly saved time for the research workers, and 

 prevented duplication of work already accomplished and a search for 

 details proved or rejected. From the offices of a number of Congress- 

 men requests were received for information needed by constituents, 

 and in every case help was given to the extent possible by the limited 

 staff and facilities of the Museum. 



PUBLIC INFORMATIONAL SERVICE 



As stated in the opening paragraphs of this report, furnishing in- 

 formation to the public is a function most demanding on the time of 

 the staff. This service occupies a large portion of each Museum day, 

 but space permits only a few highlights to be given here. 



General Dynamics Corporation's Convair Aircraft, preparing a 

 history of its third of a century in aircraft production, used the Na- 

 tional Air Museum's reference files and photographic prints to pre- 

 pare the background, and Capital Airlines found useful information 

 here for its historic review. Many aeronautical organizations found 



