116 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1949 
Air Museum. Some additional floor space within this building, ad- 
jacent to that containing the Air Force collection, together with two 
two-floor structures erected therein and suitable for office use, was 
acquired at the same time. 
Immediately following this transaction the bureau installed a field 
organization to operate the facility, consisting of an associate curator 
in charge, an aircraft technician, and a guard force to patrol the area 
24 hoursa day. Until February 1, 1949, the military personnel of the 
Air Materiel Command of the U. 8S. Air Force, which had been 
detailed to care for the Air Force collection, remained on duty to assist 
the bureau’s organization in readying itself to assume its responsibil- 
ities. With this accomplished, three programs of work were initiated: 
(1) The rearrangement by classes of the aeronautical materials packed 
in boxes and crates; (2) the cleaning and sealing of all openings of 
assembled aircraft and rust-proofing of component parts; and (3) 
the inspection and inventory of all items composing the collection 
preparatory to its transfer from the Air Force to the Air Museum. 
On May 1, 1949, the inventory was completed and the transfer was 
effected of 1,366 aeronautical objects including 97 aircraft to the Air 
Museum. The preservation work was in progress at the end of the 
year. 
While these activities were in progress the bureau took steps to 
provide the maximum protection of the materials in storage. In 
addition to the acquisition of hand fire extinguishers installed in fixed 
positions over the area and of larger extinguishers mounted on hand 
trucks, an intercommunicating system was selected and a contract 
let for its installation at 12 stations distributed strategically over the 
Museum’s storage area. This will enable a guard on patrol to com- 
municate quickly with the administration office in any emergency. 
The bureau also designed and contracted for the construction and 
erection of a high wire fence to enclose the major part of the area. 
These projects were in progress at the end of the year. 
PLANNING 
MUSEUM SITE AND BUILDING 
During the year the bureau continued the investigation of sites and 
a building for the Air Museum. For this purpose it had the valuable 
cooperation of the Federal Works Agency, Public Buildings Adminis- 
tration, Office of Design and Construction, through an arrangement 
involving the transfer of funds. 
Planning and designing a museum building for aircraft and aviation 
collections involves factors not usually encountered in museum struc- 
tures. For example, although the history of practical aviation spans 
a comparatively short period of years, the steps in its development 
