Evening star., 1928-05-12
.L|NDBERGH PLANE
IS RtASSEMB[ED
Spirit of st. Louis May Be
Ready for Public View by
Tomorrow Afternoon.

/ The Spirit of ST. Louis, which was
brought 10 the Arts and Industries
Building of the Smithsonian Institu-
tion Yesterday afternoon in two Sec
Stions from Boiling Field. took form
this morning. and this afternoon every
thing was in readiness for swinging 1t
OF the floor to height of nine feet
by three powerful wires attached. TO
beams in the north hall Of the building,
Sixteen Boiling Field mechanics. un-
der direction of Lieut.. kellogg Sloan,
Engineering officer. and z. Mcclellan
Brown. civilian shop foreman, placed
the massive wing on the fuselage. Then
the connection points made by the
landing gear, wing struts and the wing
itself were covered with aluminium fair
Ing and fabric, which was then painted
an ALUMINIUM color.
The plane probably will be on eX-
hibition by /: 80 o'clock tomorrow aft
ernoon The building closes on Sun
days at'4:3o pm.
Tcwed to Smithsonian.
The trip to the Smithsonian began
at 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon. The
wing. strapped to a long scenery-haul-
ing wagon and towed by Boiling Field
tractor. led the way. followed by huge
Army truck with the fusellage in tow,
This was followed by an Army auto
mobile carrying Lieut.. kellogg Sloan,
engineering officer: 2. Mcclellan Brown,
shop foreman of the engineering de-
partment. and T F. Fahey, assistant
foreman.
From the field the procession moved
to Nichols avenue at a l0-mile-an- hour
rate. Traffic necessarily was slowed
down, as there was little opportunity
ior automobiles behind the procession
TO pass as the six motor cycle police
men from the Traffic Bureau--Sergt.
Williams in charge and Officers Sim
clair. Shockey. Shotter, RawlinSon and
Brown-guarded the two sections closely.
At eleventh and NJ streets southeast
wisps OF smoke were detected from the
hub Of the wheels on the spirit" and
q halt was declared. Crowds assembled
around the plane. and the officers were
kept busy making a clearance. In an
ticipation of hot boxes" proper pre-
cautions had been taken. The landing
gear was lacked up, the wheels re-
moved and the hot aXles hatned with
cool water by Fahey who applied a new
and thick coating Of grease. About II
minutes were lost in this operation. and
then everything went well until Ninth
and Pennsylvania avenue southeast was
reached, when another stop was made
and the wheel hubs were hathed with
cold water. although the wheels were
not removed.
Accident Is Averted.
As the avenue turns into B street
southeast at Second possible accident
was averted by Officer Brown, who
tagged a street car as 1t was making
the turn. The car appeared danger
ousIy close TO one of the wheels and
landing struts. The procession con-
finued d9wn B street and at Four -and-
a-half street and Maryland avenue
another stop was made while padding
between strap and wing was ad-
busted. From that point to the east
entrance of the Arts and Industrial
Building the journey was unevEntfui.
I All along the route people left their
homes and lined the curb as the famous
plane was trundled along. 1t was
identified instantly and was source Of
much interest At the east entrance
of the building a small crowd had
assembled for the unloading. Eighteen
strong armed airplane mechanics al the
field lifted 1t from the. truck and put 1t
: upright on the ground. Straps then
were inserted and II was carried with
nut difficulty into the building II was
aockeyed about as several sharp turns
were negotiated, and finally IN the
north hall it was deposited on three
vertical wing rests. Maj. Howard g.
Davidson. commandant of Boiling Field,
who joined the procession at Eleventh
and NJ streets southeast, heaYed a sigh
Of relief, explaining that his fears for
its safety were over once it waa out
Of the open. where a rnomentary gust
Of wind could render much trouble.
j The fuSeIage then was rolled in the
seast entrance, but before IL reached the
north hall It. had TO pass through two
marrow entrances These we're too
small TO permit the landing gear 10 be
attached TO the plane. but the situation
had been provided for and cradle
mounted on a fiat warehouse truck was
slipped under the fuSeiage. By lever
age principle the ship was hoisted about
three inches above the ground. the land
ing gear was removed and the body Of
the plane rolled into It's resting T,lace
without difficulty. The gear then was
restored and the workmen called il
day.