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COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

CLARENCE CANNON, Missouri, Chairman

JOHN H. KERR, North Carolina
GEORGE H. MAHON, Texas
HARRY R. SHEPPARD, California
ALBERT THOMAS, Texas
MICHAEL J. KIRWAN, Ohio
W. F. NORRELL, Arkansas
ALBERT GORE, Tennessee
JAMIE L. WHITTEN, Mississippi
GEORGE W. ANDREWS, Alabama
JOHN J. ROONEY, New York
J. VAUGHAN GARY, Virginia
JOE B. BATES, Kentucky
JOHN E. FOGARTY, Rhode Island
HENRY M., JACKSON, Washington
ROBERT L. F. SIKES, Florida

ANTONIO M. FERNANDEZ, New Mexico
WILLIAM G. STIGLER, Oklahoma
E. H. HEDRICK, West Virginia

PRINCE H. PRESTON, JR., Georgia

OTTO E. PASSMAN, Louisiana

LOUIS C. RABAUT, Michigan

DANIEL J. FLOOD, Pennsylvania

CHRISTOPHER C. MCGRATH, New York

SIDNEY R. YATES, Illinois

FOSTER FURCOLO, Massachusetts

FRED MARSHALL, Minnesota
WINFIELD K. DENTON, Indiana
JOHN J. RILEY, South Carolina

ALFRED D. SIEMINSKI, New Jersey

JOHN TABER, New York

RICHARD B. WIGGLESWORTH, Massachusetts
KARL STEFAN, Nebraska
BEN F. JENSEN, Iowa

H. CARL ANDERSEN, Minnesota
WALT HORAN, Washington
GORDON CANFIELD, New Jersey
IVOR D. FENTON, Pennsylvania
LOWELL STOCKMAN, Oregon
JOHN PHILLIPS, California

ERRETT P. SCRIVNER, Kansas

FREDERIC R. COUDERT, JR., New York

CLIFF CLEVENGER, Ohio

EARL WILSON, Indiana

NORRIS COTTON, New Hampshire

GLENN R. DAVIS, Wisconsin

BENJAMIN F. JAMES, Pennsylvania
GERALD R. FORD, JR., Michigan
FRED E. BUSBEY, Illinois

GEORGE B. SCHWABE, Oklahoma

GEORGE Y. HARVEY, Clerk
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SUBCOMMITTEE ON INDEPENDENT OFFICES APPROPRIATIONS

ALBERT THOMAS, Texas, Chairman

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J. E. GRAF, ASSISTANT SECRETARY

J. L. KEDDY, ASSISTANT SECRETARY

C. W. MITMAN, ASSISTANT TO THE SECRETARY FOR THE NATIONAL AIR MUSEUM

P. E. GARBER, CURATOR, NATIONAL AIR MUSEUM

TRANSFER OF NATIONAL AIR MUSEUM COLLECTIONS AT CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Mr. GORE. The committee will come to order.

The committee has learned with sadness and regret of the illness, which we hope is entirely temporary, of the distinguished and able chairman of this subcommittee, the Honorable Albert Thomas.

I think it is the consensus of opinion of this committee that no abler committee chairman can be found in the entire Congress, and I can supplement that by saying I have seen no abler chairman or gentleman in the Congress in my 13 years. The committee wishes him speedy and complete recovery.

The committee is pleased to have before it Dr. Wetmore, and members of his staff in connection with a proposal as contained in House Document No. 204, which will enable the Smithsonian Institution to use its 1952 appropriation to move a portion of the national aeronautical collection now stored near Chicago to some other location. Dr. Wetmore, the committee will be glad to hear whatever general statement you would like to make with respect to this request.

GENERAL STATEMENT

Dr. WETMORE. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, the request as submitted here covers authorization only in the appropriation language for the fiscal year 1952.

We need this authority because of an emergency which has arisen within the past month. Briefly the situation is this:

The National Air Museum is an activity in which the late General of the Air Force H. H. Arnold was very deeply interested, was much concerned about the preservation of those items that relate to the history of aviation, particularly in our own country.

At the close of the war General Arnold had assembled in a building, known as T-6, at the Chicago International Airport, Park Ridge,

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Ill.—a building which had been used during the war for the assembling of Douglas bombers-various specimens of aircraft, engines, and components relating to the aviation industry, particularly as developed in the United States, with the idea that this material would be an addition to the collection already in the Smithsonian Institution, as a foundation for the National Air Museum. The National Air Museum was established by act of Congress Aug. 12, 1946, largely through the interest of General Arnold and the Air Force.

In 1947 the Air Force turned over to us the custody of this collection stored at the Park Ridge plant. We began immediately to inventory, to screen, and to select those specimens that would be of permanent importance to aviation history. We now have reduced the collection very considerably to those items that are of sufficient importance to merit permanent preservation.

Storage has continued in this building, T-6, until suddenly we have been informed, because of the exigencies of the present situation, that the Air Force would find it necessary to make use of this building again for aircraft manufacture.

We were served with formal notice, on July 12, 1951, that we would be required to vacate this building as promptly as possible. The schedule of progressive evacuation laid out for us is to be completed by January 15, 1952. We were occupying in the beginning approximately 280,000 square feet of space; and we have reduced that to about 150,000 square feet. Our present problem is to find 150,000 square feet of space that will provide satisfactory storage for this highly valuable collection.

The order to vacate has made it necessary for us to move quickly. Mr. GORE. How quickly?

Dr. WETMORE. By January 15, 1952. We believe we can accommodate a part of these collections on a tract of land that is now under the control of the city of Chicago about a mile distant from the present site. The remainder we may be able to house at various other places. For the occupancy of this area that I have mentioned under the control of the city of Chicago, we would be required to weatherproof several wooden sheds used for temporary storage during the war, to set up fences and make other protective arrangements.

To do that we require the authorization submitted here before you today. We have made as careful an estimate as we can as to cost, and we will use the funds we have available, which will include savings on rent for building T-6, together with other money that we have been using in that operation. From our best present estimates, we believe that funds now included in the appropriation for 1952 will be sufficient for this work.

It is barely possible we may have to return sometime next year for a small supplemental appropriation, but at this moment I do not believe so. I think the authority is all we will require.

Mr. GORE. You are asking for the appropriation of no new money? Dr. WETMORE. That is correct, sir; simply for the authority to use money already in the appropriation bill as I have indicated.

Mr. GORE. Is the plan of the Institution eventually to house these relics and specimen in the city of Washington?

Dr. WETMORE. Or adjacent to the city, somewhere in the metropolitan area of Washington.

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