Letter Directing the Air Coordinating Committee To Make Plans for Observing the 50th Anniversary of the Wright Brothers flight.

Dear Mr. Davis:

The world's first powered flight in a craft heavier than air was made by the Wright Brothers on December 17, 1903 at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The importance of aviation to our nation and to the world makes it particularly fitting that the fiftieth Anniversary of this epochal event be observed in an appropriate manner. Accordingly, I direct the Air Coordinating Committee to develop and coordinate plans for the participation of the government in the observance of this anniversary.

The rapid progress and growth of aviation has resulted as a combination of the efforts of government and industry; its impact on our economic, social, and cultural life has been profound. In the formulation of your plans, it is therefore appropriate that the Committee coordinate them with representatives of the aviation industry and other interested groups.

It is well known that the wartime potential of aviation is great, but the power of aviation for peace is infinitely greater, and it is the peacetime progress of aviation which most truly typifies the spirit of this republic.

Sincerely yours,

HARRY S. TRUMAN

[The Honorable Thomas W. S. Davis, Acting Chairman, Air Coordinating Committee, Washington 25, D.C.]