APPENDIX 9 
REPORT ON THE NATIONAL AIR MUSEUM 
Sir: I have the honor to submit the following report on the opera- 
tions of the National Air Museum for the fiscal year ended June 30, 
1949. 
INTRODUCTION 
This year, the first full year of the National Air Museum as a 
bureau of the Smithsonian Institution, was one of many activities. 
In addition to normal museum operations, the bureau was concerned 
especially with the return from England of the Wright Brothers’ 
renowned aeroplane, the Kitty Hawk; with the acquisition and man- 
agement of a field storage facility; with the accession of the U.S. Air 
Force aircraft collection; and with the basic study and planning for 
a site and building for the aeronautical collections. 
Karly in 1948 the Institution was informed that the late Dr. Orville 
Wright had expressed the desire to present the Kitty Kawk to the 
United States National Museum and that the executors of Dr. Wright’s 
estate would institute the necessary legal action to bring this about. 
Prior to the receipt of this news the Smithsonian had effected the 
administrative transfer of all aeronautical museum activities and ex- 
perienced personnel from the National Museum to the newly estab- 
lished National Air Museum. Therefore, in order to have the expert 
assistance of the Air Museum staff, the Secretary, through the 
Director of the National Museum, delegated to the National Air 
Museum the responsibility for the reception, exhibition, and preserva- 
tion of the Wright plane. The details are indicated under Curatorial 
Activities presented later in this report. 
Negotiations begun last year with the U.S. Air Force to acquire a 
storage depot for the Air Museum were successfully consummated on 
November 1, 1948. On that date the bureau was granted occupancy 
of 267,475 square feet of floor space within building T-6 of the former 
Douglas Aircraft plant at Chicago Orchard Airport, Park Ridge, IIL., 
and installed a field organization to operate the facility. On the same 
date the Museum assumed tentative custody (pending inventory) of 
the large aircraft collection stored in this building by the Air Force 
and on May 1, 1949, upon completion of the inventory, assumed full 
responsibility for its preservation. 
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