SECRETARY'S REPORT 115 
Along with these several extra activities the bureau continued, with 
the Office of Design and Construction of the Public Buildings Ad- 
ministration, the further study of sites and a building for the Museum. 
This was done in accordance with the recommendation of the Advisory 
Board. The result of the study is recorded later in this report. 
No changes were made during the year in the departmental organi- 
zation of the bureau except the occasional employment of temporary 
clerical help. This was especially necessary in connection with the 
reception and exhibition of the Wright Brothers’ aeroplane. The 
bureau found it difficult, on the other hand, to fill several positions 
available at its field storage facility because of the higher wage scale 
prevailing in the Chicago area for comparable work. As a result, 
the work program planned for this field organization was not fully 
carried out. In all other respects the bureau completed the year in 
good condition. 
ADVISORY BOARD 
In April of this year the Board experienced a change in membership 
as a result of the retirement of its U. S. Air Force representative, 
Maj. Gen. E. M. Powers. General Powers had served on the Board 
since its inception late in 1946, having been designated to the office 
by General Spaatz. His wise counsel during the formative days of 
the establishment of the National Air Museum was most helpful. To 
succeed him on the Board, Gen. H. H. Vandenberg, Chief of Staff, 
Department of the Air Force, designated Maj. Gen. Grandison 
Gardner who met with the Board for the first time at its sixth meeting 
in June 1949. 
During the year three meetings of the Advisory Board were held 
in Washington, on August 26, 1948, December 20, 1948, and June 29, 
1949. Deliberations in these meetings were directed principally to- 
ward the advancement of the Air Museum’s major projects, namely, 
the acquisition of a building site and a suitable museum building in 
the Washington area. 
As directed by the Board at its August 1948 meeting, the study of 
a suitable museum building was continued this year in cooperation 
with the Public Buildings Administration. 
STORAGE OF MUSEUM MATERIAL 
In accordance with a resolution adopted by the Advisory Board 
last year, the bureau completed negotiations on November 1, 1948, 
to take over the storage operations of that portion of one of the former 
Douglas Aircraft buildings (T-6) at the Chicago Orchard Airport, 
Park Ridge, Ill., containing the collection of aeronautical museum 
material stored there by the United States Air Force for the National 
