120 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1949 
Swoose was acquired by the city of Los Angeles as a war memorial. 
In 1948 the city, through Mayor Fletcher Bowron, presented the plane 
to the National Air Museum, and with the cooperation of Grover 
Loening and Maj. Gen. E. M. Powers of the Advisory Board, arrange- 
ments were made for the reconditioning of the plane by the Air Force. 
In due time this was accomplished under the direction of the Swoose’s 
wartime flight engineer, Captain Boone, and in April 1949, with its 
wartime pilot, Col. Frank Kurtz, at the controls, the plane was flown 
to the Chicago Orchard Airport and delivered there to the Museum’s 
storage facility. The Air Force cooperated not only in this spectacular 
delivery but also in the tremendous project of transferring its huge 
collection of trophy aircraft and accessories to Museum custody. 
The screening, cataloging, and arrangement of this stored collection 
at Park Ridge was under way as the year closed. 
The historic and trophy aircraft and engines which are being 
assembled for the Museum by the Department of the Navy are 
stored at Norfolk, Va. During the year the curator inspected this 
facility, checking the condition of the NC—4’s wings and other parts, 
the Japanese ‘‘Emily,’”’ the German Dornier 335 which had recently 
been moved there, and the service types which are in ‘‘canned”’ con- 
tainers. All were in good condition. 
Acknowledgments are made to Eastern Air Lines for earmarking 
one of its first DC-3’s for the collection, to the Civil Aeronautics 
Administration for reserving its famous Boeing 247—D for the Mu- 
seum, and to the Martin Aircraft Company for the gift of a half-scale 
flight prototype of the PBM ‘“Mariner.”” These will be stored tem- 
porarily by the donors. 
INFORMATIONAL SERVICES 
Interest in the Museum is widespread, and its services to the 
industry, Government departments, students, research workers, his- 
torians, authors, craftsmen, and the air fraternity in general are daily 
becoming more in demand as reflected in the numbers of inquiries 
and requests received by letter, personal visit, and telephone. Radio 
programs in which the Museum participated included, Information 
Please, We The People, and the Air Force Hour. The curator told 
the story of the Swoose over the radio both in Los Angeles and Omaha, 
and television programs illustrated the Kitty Hawk, Gulfhawk-2, the 
NC-4, and the Museum’s model collection. 
The Bureau of Ordnance, Department of the Navy, borrowed a 
number of the Museum’s scale models to be used as patterns for re- 
search problems; the Interior Department was assisted with aero- 
nautical details in some of its museum dioramas; the Public Schools 
of the District of Columbia received help in conducting their aero- 
