Daniel Rocha <[email protected]> wrote: So, I'd like to know about the NACA period of Orville. Maybe he had an > important part in putting the whole thing to catch up with Europe. >
I do not think he played a leading role in anything. He was a timid person. However, he was serious and intelligent and I do not think he would have been content to act as a mere figurehead. Pres. Wilson appointed him in 1920. I do not think he would have accepted the appointment if he did not want to contribute. Tom Crouch, in "The Bishop's Boys" describes his role in the NACA and the Guggenheim foundation: Orville remained a member of the NACA longer than anyone else in the history of the committee. His record of attendance at the annual and semiannual meetings over a period of twenty-eight years was exemplary, yet his personal contributions had no special impact on the NACA program. He concentrated on those issues of greatest interest to him, such as championing the cause of the small inventors who wrote in search of advice or assistance. He participated in discussions but rarely exercised leadership. . . . His service on the board overseeing the operation of the Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics folÂlowed a similar pattern. The single most important privately funded effort to improve the quality of American aeronautical enterprise during the interwar years, the Guggenheim Fund began operation in 1926 and went out of business in 1930. . . . The members of the Guggenheim board funded pioneering research leading to the development of early "blind-flying" instruments and sponsored the most important of all U.S. aircraft safety competitions. The fund was short-lived but had an extraordinary impact. Through his faithful attendance at meetings and his participation in the deliberÂations of the board, Orville helped to shape a program of lasting importance. His name was a distinct asset to the work of the fund. As in the case of the NACA, however, he rarely exercised leadership on the Guggenheim board. - Jed
