Over the next 50 years, as the technology continued to advance, and as the collection expanded to include artifacts related to rocketry and spaceflight, it became clear that the Museum was entering a new phase. The Smithsonian awarded him $5,000 to conduct his first practical experiments in rocketry, and eventually published his classic treatise, A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes. In 1916, Robert Goddard wrote to Secretary Charles Greeley Abbot requesting a grant to support his research. Well before spaceflight became a reality, the Smithsonian took a leading role in funding one of America's most important rocket pioneers. Garber Preservation, Restoration and Storage Facility in 1980.Ĭonstruction site of the National Air and Space Museum building on the National Mall, December 14, 1972. To honor his achievement, the location was named the Paul E. Garber had managed to save the collection. With the addition of several prefabricated buildings the site became the storage area for the National Air Museum. In response to the immediate need for space, Paul Garber, the National Air Museum's first curator, located 21 acres in Silver Hill, Md., a suburb of Washington, D.C. In 1951 as a result of the Korean War emergency, the Museum had to vacate the Park Ridge premises. Navy had a similar collection in storage for the Smithsonian at Norfolk, Va. Since there was no room left in the Arts and Industries Building or the "Tin Shed," WWII aircraft and other items such as engines and missiles were stored at an abandoned aircraft factory in Park Ridge, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. The legislation didn't provide for the construction of a new building however, and the collection soon outgrew the Museum's exhibition space. In 1946, President Harry Truman signed a bill establishing the Smithsonian's National Air Museum to memorialize the development of aviation collect, preserve, and display aeronautical equipment and provide educational material for the study of aviation. Affectionately known as the "Tin Shed," the new building opened to the public in 1920, and would remain in use for the next 55 years. The collections of the Museum were first housed in the Arts and Industries (A&I) Building, then after World War I, expanded to a Quonset hut erected by the War Department behind the Smithsonian Castle. One hundred years before, in 1876, a group of 20 beautiful kites was acquired from the Chinese Imperial Commission, seeding what would later become the largest collection of aviation and space artifacts in the world. It is no wonder then, that the Smithsonian's aeronautical collection began well before 1976, when the National Air and Space Museum was constructed on the Mall in Washington, DC. This demonstration eventually led to the birth of American aerial reconnaissance during the Civil War. In 1861, Henry made a pivotal contribution to American aviation when he invited Thaddeus Sobieski Constantine Lowe to inflate his hot air balloon on the Smithsonian grounds. The Smithsonian's connection to flight began with the birth of the Institution, first headed by Joseph Henry, a physicist, balloon enthusiast, and sky-watcher. Taken in 1938, this photo also shows a tank and artillery piece displayed by the front door.įeatured in National Air and Space Museum: An Autobiography The Early Years Built in 1918, the Aircraft Building housed most of the Museum's aviation collection for decades.
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