EEPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 9 



The Eegents also authorized the secretary to appoint an advisory 

 committee; to add, as means are provided, other laboratories and 

 agencies; to group them into a bureau organization; and to secure 

 the cooperation with them of the Government and other agencies. 



In accordance with the above general plan an advisory committee 

 was organized at a meeting convened at the Institution on May 23, 

 1913. The official status, organization, agencies, resources, and 

 facilities of this committee were set forth in a statement in m}^ last 

 report. 



The first year's work of the laboratory was to arrange a com- 

 prehensive program of operations, devise ways and means of carry- 

 ing on investigations and publishing reports, conduct such active 

 experiments as were possible with the means immediately available, 

 and to secure and arrange in the library the best aeronautical 

 literature. 



The reports of the committee thus far published have appeared 

 as individual papers in the Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. 

 The first of these recounts the organization of the advisory commit- 

 tee and the resources of the Langley laboratory. The first technical 

 publication sets forth the results of experiments made at the model 

 tank at the Washington Navy Yard. Another report describes the 

 organization and equipment of the leading aeronautical laboratories 

 of England, France, and Germany. Some of the reports of the 

 committee are as yet confidential or incomplete. The library has 

 been furnished with the chief aeronautic periodicals and the best 

 books thus far published. 



The rehabilitation and successful launching of the Langley aero- 

 plane (called "aerodrome" by Prof. Langley), constructed over 

 a decade ago, was accomplished in May, 1914. The machine was 

 shipped from the Langley laboratory to the Curtiss aeroplane fac- 

 tory in April. It was recanvassed and provided with hydroaero- 

 plane floats, and was launched on Lake Keuka on May 28. . With 

 Mr. Glenn H. Curtiss as pilot it ran easily over the water, rose on 

 level wing, and flew in steady poise 150 feet. Subsequent short 

 flights were made in order to secure photographs of the craft in the 

 air. Then Mr. Curtiss was authorized, in order to make prolonged 

 flights without overtaxing the bearings of the Langley propulsion 

 fixtures, to install in its place a standard Curtiss motor and pro- 

 peller. At the close of the fiscal year the experiments were still 

 making satisfactory progress. 



The tests thus far made have shown that the late Secretary Lang- 

 ley had succeeded in building the first aeroplane capable of sustained 

 free flight with a man. It is hoped that further trials will disclose 

 the advantages of the Langley type of machine. It may be recalled 

 that this man-carrying aeroplane was begun in 1898 for the War 



