ORVILLE WRIGHT - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 05/29/1930 - HFSID 266277

ORVILLE WRIGHT
He signs a typed 1930 letter, warning that "we are in for a lot of trouble" if officials at US air competitions keep applying an out-dated set of rules.
TLS: "Orville Wright". 1¼ pages, separate sheets, 7¼x10½. Dayton, Ohio, 1930 May 29. On personal letterhead to Dr. G.W. Lewis, National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, Washington, D.C. In part: "I feel that if we are going to allow inexperienced people to officiate at trials for American and F.A.I. records, we must in some way call their attention to each individual requirement, and have a definite answer as to whether the requirements have been complied with. I am in receipt of a pamphlet from N.A.A. Headquarters on 'Suggested Rules for Forming a Contest Committee Conducting Race Meets, Air Tours, World Record Trials, Etc.'...It would seem that this whole pamphlet is based on the old Aero Club of America Rule Book, which contained the F.A.I. regulations up to about 1922. But I understand that those rules were entirely superseded by the regulations adopted by the Bureau of the F.A.I. at its meeting of the 5th of January, 1924...If the officials conducting record trials use this pamphlet as their sole guide, I am afraid we are in for a lot of trouble, as many of the requirements of the F.A.I. rules are not included in it...." The F.A.I. was the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. The N.A.A. was the National Aeronautics Association. The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was created by President Woodrow Wilson on March 3, 1915. The committee's mission was to "direct and conduct research and experimentation in aeronautics, with a view to their practical solution". NACA provided policy recommendations on America's aviation system until October 1, 1958 when it was incorporated into the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), formed largely in response to Soviet space achievements. The major focus of NASA was space research, but aeronautics remained as the first "A" in its name. President Wilson had created NACA in an effort to organize American aeronautical research and raise it to the level of European aviation. ORVILLE WRIGHT was a charter member of NACA's Executive Committee. In this letter, Wright advises DR. LEWIS that six years earlier, in 1924, the European aeronautics association, the FAI, revised their rules relating to world record trials and that the American aeronautics association, the NAA, was still using a 1922 rule book. Wright concludes that "we are in for a lot of trouble" if the U.S. officials conducting record trials use the old rule book. Orville Wright served as a member of NACA until his death in 1948. GEORGE WILLIAM LEWIS (1882-1948) became the first Executive Officer of NACA in 1919. In 1924, he was given the title Director of Aeronautical Research, a position he held until 1947. Heavily dampstained and soiled (text completely legible, dark bold signature). File holes at left margins. Staple holes and rust stains at upper left corners. On first page, pencil note (unknown hand) at upper left margin and 2 receipt stamps at upper right blank area.