Exhibition Statement Exhibition Abstract

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NASM EPPIC Proposal Revised February 7, 2015

Exhibition Statement After the aircraft changed the world, the world changed the aircraft.

Exhibition Abstract Why do airplanes look the way they do? Airplanes are built to fulfill requirements set forth by customers, both military and civilian, for the creation of working flying machines capable of fulfilling specific work requirements for speed, payload, range, altitude, and endurance. They are the logical expression of the labor of designers and engineers using the best techniques and materials available to them at the time.

Invented in the United States by Wilbur and Orville Wright, the airplane changed humankind’s perception of the world, bringing to reality the age-old dream of powered flight. Initially designed simply to solve the problem of heavier-than-air powered flight, the airplane revolutionized the world, becoming one of the transformative technologies of the 20th century. Using the best materials and technologies available at the time, the classic wood and fabric biplane with externally braced biplanes wings emerged as the design configuration of choice. This form was highly successful for a time, capable of carrying decent loads reasonable distances at speeds below 150 miles per hour. The potential of the airplane was made clear during the First World War but it was far from realized. Performance reached a plateau; it would take a combination of innovations in structures, powerplants, and especially materials for the airplane to become a practical and widely accepted tool of modern society. It would now take the vastly expanding requirements of the world to change the airplane into the ubiquitous tool of modern society that it has become.

The second aeronautical revolution entailed the technological innovations necessary to reinvent the airplane as a practical tool for commerce and war. This would require that these new designs become faster, larger, and more powerful. This encompassed the use of newer more predictable materials, new technologies to improve safety and performance, new powerplants and propellers, and new structures. This revolution occurred during the 1920s and 1930s and succeeded in producing the first so-called modern aircraft using methods and materials that are little changed today.

The third revolution occurred immediately after the conclusion of the Second World War and involved a new propulsion technology – the jet engine. Coupled with the aerodynamic innovation of the swept wing initially developed in Germany, jet-powered aircraft dramatically increased productivity by dramatically increasing the speed, payload, and range of contemporary aircraft. That revolution was essentially over by 1960, since then aircraft development has been a constant struggle to gain incremental, evolutionary improvements. In 1960 it took six hours to fly from New York to San Francisco. Today, the flight time is the same.

The exhibition will examine in detail how the airplane was developed and reinvented into the recognizable form it takes today. “Reinventing Flight” will introduce the visitor to this technology that is taken for granted but has transformed the planet in a myriad of ways, known and unknown. It is the story of the modern airplane.

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Scope, Unit Topics, and Discussion of Major Elements in Each Unit Unit 100 Introduction “The Vegetable Airplane”

Almost all of the combat aircraft built during the titanic struggle of the First World War were constructed from organic fabric and wood, particularly spruce, which is well known for its excellent strength and lightness. The properties of wood were well-understood from centuries of use in countless building projects. Most aircraft designers were well versed and comfortable in its use. If wood was so widely accepted, then why was it so quickly replaced? This unit examines how the first generation of aircraft were made and why. Biplanes are light and immensely strong; with low horsepower engines the high drag of this configuration is not a factor limiting its performance. As aircraft designs evolved quickly, the limited lifespan of fabric and wood was not critical. This first generation proved that aviation had the potential to change warfare and commerce but that the airplane still needed significant improvements in order to become a practical, widely accepted tool. ARTIFACTS: Wing off a Standard J-1, Le Rhone rotary engine, newly built fabricated wing section/fuselage, World War I models Unit 200 Airframe: Structure and Materials

For subsequent aircraft to become practical, they had to be bigger, stronger, but feature a lighter airframe relative to the overall weight of the aircraft. While wood was the original material of choice, it was unpredictable and vulnerable to temperature and humidity extremes. Most metal was either too soft or too heavy until the discovery of duralumin, an aluminum alloy as light as aluminum but almost as strong as steel. Duralumin was widely used on German airships before and during World War I and would have been more widely used except that it was vulnerable to rapid corrosion. It was not a suitable material until after 1927 when an anodization process together with the creation of Alclad made the aluminum alloys the material of choice for its strength and lightness.

During this time lighter and stronger construction methods became accepted. Monocoque – i.e. “single shell” construction resulted in a hollow fuselage which could carry a larger load unencumbered by wires and cross bracing while the aluminum alloy sheet metal skin could now help carry the weight of the structure itself. When combined with the cantilevered wing which was internally braced also with stressed skin construction, the road was paved for sleeker, stronger and larger designs. The monocoque design itself made possible the eventual pressurization of aircraft which allowed airliners to fly into the stratosphere at much higher speeds with concurrent improved smoothness and comfort for passengers.

ARTIFACTS: Boeing P-26A, Hughes 1B, North American F-86, Lockheed Vega “Winnie Mae,” monocoque aircraft cross section (may need to be fabricated)

Unit 300 Aerodynamics

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For larger aircraft to fly faster and more efficiently, they required better airfoil shapes and lower drag features. In efforts to streamline aircraft designs and to reduce the drag resulting from the external wire bracing of the wings of traditional wood and fabric aircraft, the Germans, particularly Dr. Hugo Junkers, pioneered the internally supported, cantilevered monoplane. The cantilevered wing eliminated an extra wing as well as external struts and bracing wires. Retractable landing gear and enclosed cockpits smoothed the airflow around the airframe. New engine cowls streamlined the air flow around bulky radial engines reducing drag and increasing performance. Wing flaps decreased takeoff and landing runs allowing aircraft to carry greater payloads into more airfields.

Research on a large scale was conducted by state-run aeronautical laboratories equipped with numerous large and small wind tunnels to test current theories. Engineers at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in the U.S. were among the leaders in the 1920s and 30s publishing comprehensive tables of airfoil data and working tirelessly to develop better wings and lower drag. Other innovations, such as wing fillets reduced drag on larger aircraft of the mid-1930s. After World War II German-designed 35 degree swept wing became the model for the next generation of high-speed wing planforms for America’s leading bombers and jet airliners. Subsequent research expanded into transonic and supersonic regions that have had a lasting effect of contemporary aircraft performance.

ARTIFACTS: Boeing P-26A, Hughes 1B, North American F-86, Lockheed Vega “Winnie Mae,” NACA cowling.

Unit 400 Powerplants and Propulsion

During the early 1920s, the only engines producing enough horsepower for huge performance aircraft were bulky, unreliable water-cooled types. The U.S. Navy was anxious to find an engine that could produce sufficient power without the weight and maintenance problems of water-cooled motors. The aluminum Lawrance J series of engines seemed ideal for the task as they had no troublesome and heavy radiator, water pumps, or vulnerable cooling lines.

The Navy cajoled the Wright Aeronautical Company into purchasing Lawrance in 1923. By 1924, the Wright J-3 and J-4 air-cooled radial engines, better known as Whirlwinds, were in service. Incorporating Englishman Samuel D. Heron’s revolutionary sodium-cooled exhaust valves, which virtually eliminated the chronic problem of burned exhaust valves, the improved J-5 was the first aero engine to offer power and great dependability. This powerplant, the first truly reliable aero engine, made Charles Lindbergh’s epic non-stop solo 33 ½ hour transatlantic flight possible in 1927 with no problems.

Concurrently, water-cooled engines received a new lease on life with the development of ethylene glycol as a coolant additive. Sold under the trade name “Prestone,” ethylene glycol enabled engine designers to use much smaller radiators which greatly reduced the liquid-cooled engines’ drag problem. From this point onwards advocates of both engine types were able to produce advanced designs that emphasized the best characteristics of the engine type for the aircraft’s design requirement.

Neither of these engines could work efficiently however, until the development of the variable-pitch propeller. Spinning propellers translate the engine’s power into thrust. For years designers had a choice of either fine-pitched propellers which gave excellent acceleration but poor cruising speed or rough pitched propellers which gave slow acceleration but excellent cruising speeds. Usually compromise settings were used which were inherently inefficient. During the late 1920s and early 1930s engineers, particularly at the Hamilton Standard company developed mechanisms by which the angle of the propeller blades could be adjusted in flight which maximized takeoff

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performance which maximizing cruise. Acting similarly to an automobile’s transmission, the first generation of variable-pitch propellers was fitted to the Boeing 247 and immediately cut the aircraft’s takeoff distance by 25 percent and allowed the aircraft to maintain altitude on one engine – a feat not possible before.

The third aircraft design revolution took the design and construction of the practical piston-engined airplane and fitted it with a new kind of powerplant that produced exceptionally high speed and reliability – the jet engine. Pioneered by Germany and Great Britain during the 1930s and 1940s, the German-designed axial-flow engine came to dominate the civil and military market.

The evolution of reliable oils and powerful fuels is also integral to the story. Oil failure was a leading case of engine problems in the 1920s while the properties of gasoline were not fully understood. Intense research and development resulted in long lasting lubricants and powerful high octane gasolines, an advantage critical to the U.S. and Allied victory in World War II. The advent of the jet also brought with it the use of cheaper kerosene instead of highly refined gasoline, one more advantage that jet propulsion was able to demonstrate in the 1950s and 60s.

ARTIFACTS: Wright J-5-C Whirlwind air cooled engine, Liberty 12 Model A (Packard); Moss Turbosupercharged, V-12 Engine (water cooled) and radiator; Pratt & Whitney Wasp Jr. R-985-AN-14B "Dancing Engine;" fixed pitch, Standard ground adjustable, Hamilton Standard and Dowty variable pitch propellers; Heinkel He3s jet engine (von Ohain), Pratt & Whitney J-57 turbojet, Pratt & Whitney JT3D-1 Production Prototype Turbofan Engine.

Unit 500 Systems

For a large sophisticated machine such as an airplane to function as designed, it must also benefit from a complex political, economic, technological, and social infrastructure. For any industry to survive and flourish requires rules and regulation only national governments and organizations can provide. Basic rules of the road are vital to prevent chaos and provide stability for investors and a nervous traveling public. Agencies set safety standards for aircraft design and construction, aircraft operations and maintenance and crew training and proficiency. Government and business invest heavily in the technological infrastructure to develop new and improved communications and navigation systems that improve safety and efficiencies by reducing delays and coordinating air traffic. New instrument and techniques were developed that permitting first night flying and eventually all-weather flying, with the advent of auto pilots, instrument landing systems and sophisticated instruments for flying “blind.” Pressurization systems permit aircraft to “fly above the weather” resulting in smoother faster flights in higher altitudes.

World War II saw the rapid development of sophisticated passenger transport aircraft, particularly the Douglas and Lockheed series of four-engined transports. These excellent aircraft were too heavy to fly from the conventional grass and gravel landing field of the 1920s 30s. The problems was unexpectedly solved when the government built concrete runways around the nation and the world to support the war effort. This had a most beneficial effect on the airline industry in the immediate post-war years as these more efficient landplanes could now fly safely across the oceans and around the world. Airlines were no longer dependent upon flying boats for long-distance, overwater flights.

ARTIFACTS: Lockheed Vega “Winnie Mae,” Wiley Post pressure suit; Automatic pilot “Mechanical Mike;” Indicator, glide path; Compass, radio Type 1-81-A; Lockheed XC-35 pressurized aircraft artifacts if available

Include throughout the exhibit:

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Safety, social, political, people stories, as well as airplane successes and failures will be featured as case studies throughout the gallery highlighting pertinent points in the narrative. The five themes originally outlined in the forthcoming Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall will drive the conversation. These are: technology and science; power and politics; business and economics, people; and culture. This will ensure that this most technological of stories will have a human face and that it will also be well integrated into the key issues and events of the relevant times.

Exhibit Walkthrough This gallery is organized thematically, it is not intended to have the more conventional chronology of most historical interpretations. The subject is the creation of the modern aircraft, which appeared in the mid-20th century, as represented by the key artifact presented in the center of the exhibit, the North American F-86A Sabre. The Sabre represents the culmination of the work of three generations of engineers and designers all seeking to build a more efficient and usable airplane. The Sabre is the core around which the story of the creation of the modern airplane is told. That story involves an introduction and four separate yet inextricably intertwined concurrent narratives. The gallery opens with Unit 100 describing in detail the first generation of multi-wing wood and fabric aircraft which were powered by unreliable engines and inefficient propellers. It will highlight and explain the reasons behind their limited success and elaborate the subsequent requirements from business, government, and private consumers to develop larger, faster, more efficient designs. Section 100 will explain how these pressures to improve the airplane led to the creation of a new iteration of the airplane using new materials, technologies, science, and engineering which would eventually lead to what is defined today as the modern airplane: an all metal aircraft featuring a cantilevered wing, monocoque, stressed skin construction, enclosed cockpit, retractable landing gear, and a powerful engine. Each unit will highlight specific people who were leaders and pioneers in their respective fields as well as the organization and institutions that were most influential in facilitating the evolution and revolution of the airplane. Illustrations, animations, and aircraft case studies will highlight each section. When finished, the visitor will emerge from Unit 100 and immediately confront the F-86. This stunning incongruity of a sleek all metal high performance fighter immediately after learning about slow wooden biplane will pique the visitor’s intellectual curiosity and hopefully, force them to begin to ask questions as to how and why aviation technology got to this point so quickly and effectively. The answers, of course, surround them. The creation of the modern airplane involved the development of significant improvements in airframe structures and materials, aerodynamics, powerplants and propulsion, and systems. These developments occurred simultaneously and, not until they all converged in the early 1930s, was the creation of the modern airplane possible. Because these were concurrent breakthroughs, none of which could have succeeded without the other, the visitor will experience the freedom to explore any of these units in any order. There is no right or wrong way to experience this gallery. Each of the units will surround the F-86, which will rest in the center of the gallery floor. Several other aircraft will accompany significant parts of story while suspended above the audience. The pudgy and compact Boeing P-26 “Peashooter” will represent the transition period in aircraft design as its features both modern and obsolescent technology; it is an all metal monoplane with a monocoque fuselage with a reliable air-cooled engine, yet its metal wings are externally braced, the cockpit sits in the open, and the landing gear is fixed. It was not

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a poor design; instead it was an appropriate design that reflected the requirements of its customer, the U.S. Army Air Corps, while incorporating the lightest, strongest structure and highest performance possible based on the available technologies. The legendary Lockheed Vega “Winnie Mae” is ideally suited to this gallery; it is fervently hoped that it will become available from “Time and Navigation.” Designed by John K. “Jack” Northrop in 1927, the Vega is made of lightweight plywood with a cantilevered wing and a monocoque fuselage. It features a powerful radial engine and was the first production aircraft fitted with the revolutionary NACA engine cowling that decreased drag and improved cooling. This single innovation gave the Vega a 20 percent increase in performance. The “Winnie Mae” was flown by famed pilot Wiley Post on a series of record-setting flights including two around-the world trips, one of which was made solo while using the first practical autopilot and blind flying equipment. Later he set a transcontinental speed record flying this aircraft into the stratosphere where he used the jet stream to propel his aircraft at a speed of 340 miles per hour, twice the normal top speed. This was made possible because the engine was fitted with a supercharger to allow it to breathe at high altitude while Post wore the first pressure suit that allowed him to do the same. He invented the suit, with B.F. Goodrich Company, because, as strong as the Vega was, its wooden construction could not withstand pressurization – one of many important lessons we hope our visitors will take from this gallery. The final aircraft is separated from the P-26 by only three years but appears from another generation. The sleek Hughes 1B Racer (also known as the H-1) was the fastest landplane money could buy – literally – when entrepreneur Howard Hughes broke the airspeed record in 1935. With it smooth, close-fitting cowl around its powerful radial engine, mounted on an immaculate all metal monocoque fuselage, the 1B had an enclosed cockpit, and retractable landing gear, all to decrease drag and maximize speed. It also featured a perfectly formed cantilevered wing, surprisingly made of wood. This aircraft is testimony to the rational choices made by aeronautical engineers given the state of the art of their profession. In 1935, the airfoil shape of the wing could be made well but not as accurately as one carefully crafted from wood and covered in balloon cloth, doped, and polished to a perfect finish. The key aircraft in the exhibit aircraft represents the final significant step in the aircraft revolution. The North American F-86 was the preeminent U.S. fighter of the Korean War. It carried with it all of the technology of the modern aircraft combined with new technologies such as the swept wing and the axial-flow turbojet engine, both pioneered in Germany and in 1950 and today, the standard configuration of virtually every high performance aircraft today. Virtually every fighter, bomber, transport, and airliner flying today features a swept wing and axial-flow jet engines together with every other feature that defines a modern aircraft. Throughout the exhibit, however, the visitor will learn that “higher,” “faster,” “farther” is not always the best choice. Aircraft are designed and built to specific requirements to perform specific duties. Sometimes an “old” technology is still the best solution to a new question. How that aircraft appears is a function of a series of rational decisions and rational compromises based on available knowledge. This exhibit will help the visitor understand the origins of the modern aircraft and understand why they look the way they do.

Educational Objectives Reinventing Flight will ask the following questions that visitors should be able to answer about the Big Idea:

Why do planes look the way they do? (STEM/History/Politics/Economics/Technology) What is the process of engineering? (STEM/Technology/People)

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Who are some of the innovators of the modern airplane and what are their contributions? (STEM/History/People) In addition, these are learning objectives for each unit:

Visitors will be able to name typical (and perhaps surprising) materials used to build airplanes. Visitors will be able to name types of airplane construction. Visitors will be able to name different ways airplanes are powered. Visitors will be able to name at least two innovations that make airplanes more aerodynamic.

Audience Our key audience for this exhibition will be middle school students in grades 6 and above. By grade 6, students are starting to take specialized classes. By grade 8, students begin to explore the subjects that they will become passionate about—and can set them on their future career path. This exhibition explores, through the lens of the reinvention of the airplane, engineering design as a series of problems that can be solved by design. This topic is tailor-made to support current thinking in the teaching of science and engineering in the middle school level. Making this topic engaging for this challenging age group will ensure that the exhibition is exciting for a wide variety of visitors. Possible Interactives The team has considered both digital and mechanical interactives to best reach the numerous learning styles and generational experience of visitors. We want to stress that these are still in the development phase and the specific content and final number of interactives is subject to change. The interactives that are currently under consideration are: The Materials of Flight This mechanical interactive is an opportunity for visitors to compare the strength and weight of the materials used to build and sheath aircraft. The interactive would also focus on Duralumin and Alclad, which were important innovations.

Wings and Drag This mechanical interactive will demonstrate the different aerodynamic properties of the wire braced wing, cantilevered wing, and swept wing. Visitors will be able to see the reduction in drag when moving from the wire braced wing to the cantilevered wing. This could also be a computer interactive where you can test the strength of your wing.

Pick a Prop This mechanical interactive allows the visitor to discover the difference between a fixed prop and variable pitch prop. Visitors would be able to touch and manually operate the propellers. This could also be envisioned as an engineering design challenge computer interactive.

Design Your Airplane This computer interactive will challenge visitors to make decisions about materials, wing shape, propeller type, engine type, etc for a selected mission. After successfully completing the interactive, the visitor could then transmit a 3D-printable model of their airplane to themselves or potentially have one 3D printed in the museum shop.

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3D models We will have touchable 3D models of all major aircraft and other touchable models as necessary to support our key learning objectives.

Animations New animations will be essential to help us explain some of the complex concepts in the gallery. For example, we would like an animation to explain how engines work. We will need some computer stations where visitors can explore this content.

Digital Experience We envision digital components of the exhibition that visitors could access beyond the walls of the gallery, like the Design Your Airplane interactive where visitors could send themselves a 3D printable model of their airplane. With this gallery being a good fit for teaching middle school engineering, there will be a strong component of educational resources for teachers online.

We plan to integrate with the new NASM digital media strategic plan. The exhibit is full of personal stories, which will integrate well with the new NASM online experience. The stories we tell will connect to other NASM exhibits and artifacts on the Mall and at Hazy, both in the physical exhibition and digitally.

Analysis of Work Required for Display The current artifact list is indicative of the major artifacts thought to be relevant to this gallery. As is, it may be a little heavy on engines and propellers. Until the smaller artifacts are flushed out in relation to these larger ones and their availability, we cannot make a final decision. With the engines and one large aircraft designated for this gallery, a formal study may be needed to check the overall floor weight and hanging support load in conjunction with gallery above this one. The final artifact list will be dependent on the costs of contracting design, move and labor work with the fundraising efforts.

At this time PRU has not commented on the artifact list, but CPU has mentioned concerns on moving large unwieldy craft and the removal of hanging craft from Hazy as being potentially problematic. It is likely that we will need to obtain estimated costs using a contractor with input from Collections and PRU. We do know that two of the aircraft desired for the gallery have hung in the past or are hanging now, though they should be inspected and the hanging beams determined for suspension locations. The two hanging aircraft should be installed first, followed by the one displayed on the floor prior to any exhibits and other items

The engines have not been inspected by PRU or Conservation, though Conservation has provided estimated man-hours for probable cleaning and thorough documentation. It is to be determined if any engine requires work other than the two desired mechanical engines. These two engine will need work if it is decided to show their action. At this time, it is believed that motion of the engines will not be necessary. Again, the weight of the engines may require the need of a study for the floor load. The engines would all need to have stands built for display and should be placed in cases. It should also be determined if the propellers will be displayed on stands, wall and/or in cases. Protective display cases would be preferable as the dust and grime can be difficult to remove from fine woods and alloys if left on them too long.

There is not any intent to borrower artifacts for the gallery. We may need to manufacture or have manufactured some structures depicting wing and craft design in their early states. Probably part of the design process.

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A space suit type of mannequin is needed to be produced for the Wiley Post pressure suit and could take some time to create and dress. The suit is currently at MCI and has received detailed professional conservation treatment. Also, the suit will need to be displayed in a proper climate controlled case.

Any potential archival material used in this exhibit may need to be rotated on a regular basis for protection from light levels or eventually reproduced for display, if we obtain the necessary copyrights.

See attached document of major artifacts.

Draft Bubble Plan for Gallery Layout See attached pdf of the Bubble Plan.

Measuring Success During the script writing phase, we plan to test the themes, stories, artifacts, and interactives of the gallery with visitors either through the SI Office of Policy and Analysis (OP&A) or an outside evaluator/contractor. After opening, the team will engage OP&A or an outside evaluator in a summative evaluation of the final exhibition.

Key Participants Core Team: F. Robert van der Linden, Curator Ashley Hornish, Designer Ellen Folkama, Collections Francisco Torres, Project Management Mychalene Giampaoli, Educator

Curatorial Team: F. Robert van der Linden Roger Connor Evelyn Crellin John Anderson Jeremy Kinney Alex Spencer

2. Goals and Measurement Criteria Describe below the project/program benefits and outcomes, and provide criteria to measure success, benefit, or improvement. Outcomes could either be quantifiable results (increased dollars, increased number of attendees, decrease in hours, etc.) or intangible results (meeting a

Major artifacts under consideration for Reinventing Flight - Gallery 105

A19360030000 - Lockheed Vega "Winnie Mae"

A19750840000 - Hughes H-1 Racer

A19620066000 - North American F-86A Sabre

A19810155000 - Pratt & Whitney J57-P-29W Turbojet Engine, Cutaway

A19790005000 - Pratt & Whitney Wasp Major R-4360-59B, Cutaway, Radial Engine

A19810039000 - Heinkel (von Ohain) HeS 3B Turbojet Engine, Reproduction

A19290017000 - Wright Whirlwind R-790-A (J-5) Radial 9 Engine (Fokker Model C-2 Tri-motor "Question Mark")

A19320052000 - Propeller, Fixed-Pitch, Two-Blade, Wood, Hamilton Aero

A19350003000 - Standard Steel Propeller, ground-adjustable, two-blade, metal

A19601381000 - Hub, Propeller, 3-Blade, Cutaway, Hamilton Standard

A19660043000 - Liberty 12 Model A (Packard), Moss Turbosupercharged, V-12 Engine

A19761858000 - Pratt & Whitney Wasp Jr. R-985-AN-14B "Dancing Engine"

A19400003000 - Hamilton Standard 2E40 Propeller, controllable-pitch, two-blade, metal

A19540008000 - Laird LCDW 500 "Super Solution" Fuselage Airframe and Parts

A19721331000 - Pratt & Whitney JT3D-1 Production Prototype Turbofan Engine

A19300001000 - Le Rhône Model J Rotary, 9 Cylinder Engine

A19340022000 - Standard Steel, controllable-pitch, two-blade, metal

A19360036000 - Pressure Suit, Experimental, Wiley Post

Documents

Exhibition Statement Exhibition Abstract