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Paul Edward Garber (August 31, 1899 - September 23, 1992) was the first head of theNational Air Museum of theSmithsonian Institution, inWashington, D.C. Through his work and effort, the most complete collection of historical aircraft in the world was gathered and preserved. It contains the sole survivors of many interesting historical aircraft types.[1]
Garber was born inAtlantic City, New Jersey, but spent his childhood in Washington, D.C., and grew up with clear memories of flight demonstrations by theWright Brothers atFort Myer, Virginia in 1909. He joined the Army at age 18 and served as a sergeant duringWorld War I. He was transferred from theD.C. National Guard to the Aviation Service in theU.S. Signal Corps. DuringWorld War II he was a commander in theUnited States Navy and later was in theNavy Reserve.
World War I ended before he started planned flight training. After the war he took a job as a ground crewman and messenger with theU.S. Postal Airmail Service. In 1920 he joined the Smithsonian and for the next 72 years worked for the preservation of the world's aviation heritage.[2]
In 1946 PresidentHarry S. Truman created the National Air Museum as a separate entity of the Smithsonian. Garber played a key role in the process and was assigned as a Curator to the Museum.
The presentNational Air and Space Museum building opened in 1976. Garber, as first curator and devotee, helped to assemble the most impressive collection of historic aircraft in the world for the Institution.[3]
The storage of that collection was not much of a problem prior toWorld War II - virtually everything that Garber collected was on display at theArts and Industries Building or on loan to another museum. But when he returned from service as a naval officer, he faced an entirely new set of problems. Gen.Henry H. "Hap" Arnold, commander of theU.S. Army Air Forces, presented the Smithsonian with a collection of U.S. and enemy aircraft. When Paul Garber accepted responsibility for this vast collection, it was stored in an abandoned airplane factory in suburbanChicago, now the site ofO'Hare Airport. The U.S. Navy had a similar collection of historic aircraft in storage for the Smithsonian atNorfolk, Virginia. The crisis came with theKorean War, when theU.S. Air Force needed the factory and began to force the Smithsonian out the door.
Determined to safely relocate the treasures to the Washington area, Garber searched in vain for empty warehouse space in the vicinity of the nation's capital. He then persuaded a pilot friend to assist him in conducting an aerial survey of theMaryland andVirginia suburbs from the cockpit of aPiper J-3 Cub. His search revealed 21 acres (85,000 m2) of woodland inSuitland. The National Park and Planning Commission, which controlled the land, was more than pleased to turn it over to the Smithsonian in 1952.
"When I first went out there and walked around," Garber later commented, "my only companions were the bullfrogs and mockingbirds." There was no budget for this project. "I had to scrounge," he recalled with pride.
His powers ofpersuasion were legendary. Army engineers at nearbyFort Belvoir provided abulldozer to clear trees and brush from the site. Garber persuaded a local contractor to donate any excess cement remaining aboard his trucks at the end of the workday.Navy officials agreed to provide, at cost, the first of theprefabricated buildings that would soon dot the site.
In 1966 The First Flight Society created the Paul E Garber First Flight Shrine.The shrine started as a portrait gallery of aviation luminaries who have been honored onWright Brothers Day annually. A new portrait is unveiled during the December 17th celebration at theWright Brothers National Memorial each year. The shrine is located within the WBNM Visitor Center inKill Devil Hills, North Carolina.[4]
"I'll beg or do whatever is necessary to get the old, famous airplanes for display at the museum."
Paul E. Garber spent his later years giving programs and relating the stories about the beginning and progress of flying history. He came to be a leading figure of theSmithsonian Kite Festival (now renamed the Blossom Kite Festival), Smithsonian's annual kite-flying celebration held on theNational Mall in downtownWashington, D.C. He was also instrumental in getting a DC law changed. Previously it had been illegal to fly a kite on the Mall. He was also a talented aircraft model maker. The Smithsonian'sPaul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration, and Storage Facility was named for him before his death.
He died in his sleep on September 23, 1992, at the age of 93.[1]
Garber's final resting place is inArlington National Cemetery. He was preceded in death by his wife Irene and survived by two sons, James Paul and Edward Williams and a daughter Barbara Jane (passed in 1993).
Paul E. Garber, whose childhood fascination with a kite inspired a lifelong love of aviation that led to the founding of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, died on Wednesday at the Arlington Hospital in Arlington, Va. He was 93 years old and lived in Arlington.
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