The engines about which this paper is written are called "Liberty." They came in series of 4, 6, 8, and 12 cylinders and were developed for interchangeability of parts and ease of production. Without doubt, the Liberty engine was America's greatest contribution to the Allied cause in World War I and to American aviation during the postwar period. Designed in six days during late May and early June of 1917, the engine was still in active use by the Army Air Service in 1936.

But the name was not always "Liberty." It was originally the U.S.A. Standardized Aircraft engine, but, when the name "Liberty" was suggested by Admiral D. W. Taylor in the early part of the period of production, it immediately caught on, and, though there was already a Liberty truck on the market, no other name would do for the new engine.

The Liberty became a legend in its own time and was known even by some members of a new generation of fighting men in World War II. The author, in fact, in 1945 tested a 45-foot Sparkman and Stevens aircorps rescue boat powered by two 500 hp Vimalert conversions of the famous Liberty engine.

The name "Liberty," as associated with the engine, was given the distinction of being registered as the trademark of the U.S.A. Standardized engines by the United States Government on 17 June 1919, under certificate of registration number 125,853. This is the first instance of the United States Government registering a trademark under its own laws or the laws of any other country.

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In this second number of the Smithsonian Annals of Flight, Robert B. Meyer Jr., curator and head of the flight propulsion division, tells the story of the first oil-burning engine to power an airplane, the Packard diesel engine of 1928, now in the collections of the National Air Museum. The author's narrative, well illustrated with drawings and photographs, provides a historical background for the development of the engine, and a technical description that includes specifications and details of performance. It also contains comments from men and women who flew planes powered by the Packard diesel. The author concludes with an analysis of the engine's advantages and disadvantages.

In this first number of the Smithsonian Annals of Flight, Louis S. Casey, Curator and Head of the Flight Craft Division, tells of the first successful nonstop coast-to-coast flight—that of the historic T-2 airplane now in the collections of the National Air Museum. The author's narrative describes the two attempts that preceded the flight, and he provides a technical description of the T-2 well illustrated with drawings and photographs, plus a complete geneology of the plane.

In recording and developing the history of the flight, the author quotes recent letters from the pilots, Col. Oakley G. Kelly and Col. John A. Macready, concerning their experiences on the historic flight. The technical analysis of the T-2 includes detailed descriptions of the planes from which it was evolved—the D-VIII, F-II, F-III, and, finally, the F-IV that was modified into the T-2. The descriptions are supported by 11 drawings giving dimensions and construction details for each of the above-mentioned aircraft.

Also discussed is the relationship of the builder of the T-2, Anthony H. G. Fokker, and his chief constructor, Reinhold Platz, who was responsible for essential parts of its design, principally the full-cantilever wing that contributed so much to its success as an airplane.

In this fifth number of Smithsonian Annals of Flight Leonard S. Hobbs analyzes the original Wright Kitty Hawk Flyer engine from the point of view of an aeronautical engineer whose long experience in the development of aircraft engines gives him unique insight into the problems confronting these remarkable brothers and the ingenious solutions they achieved. His review of these achievements also includes their later vertical 4- and 6- cylinder models designed and produced between 1903 and 1915.

The career of Leonard S. (Luke) Hobbs spans the years that saw the maturing of the aircraft piston engine and then the transition from reciprocating power to the gas turbine engine. In 1920 he became a test engineer in the Power Plant Laboratory of the Army Air Service at McCook Field in Dayton, Ohio. There, and later as an engineer with the Stromberg Motor Devices Corporation, he specialized in aircraft engine carburetors and developed the basic float-type to the stage of utility where for the first time it provided normal operation during airplane evolutions, including inverted flight.

Joining Pratt & Whitney Aircraft in 1927 as Research Engineer, Hobbs advanced to engineering manager in 1935 and in 1939 took over complete direction of its engineering. He was named vice president for engineering for all of United Aircraft in 1944, and was elected vice chairman of United Aircraft in 1956, serving in that capacity until his retirement in 1958. He remained a member of the board of directors until 1968. Those years saw the final development of Pratt & Whitney's extensive line of aircraft piston engines which were utilized by the United States and foreign air forces in large quantities and were prominent in the establishment of worldwide air transportation.

In 1952 Hobbs was awarded the Collier Trophy for having directed the design and development of the J57 turbojet, the country's first such engine widely used in both military service and air transportation.

He was an early fellow of the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences (later the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics), served for many years on the Powerplant Committee of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, and was the recipient of the Presidential Certificate of Merit.

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This, the fourth number of Smithsonian Annals of Flight, was the Fourth Lester B. Gardner Lecture, delivered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, March 8, 1962, and at the Smithsonian Institution, October 5, 1962. Subsequently it was published in the General Appendix to the Annual Report . . . of the Smithsonian Institution . . . for the Year Ended June 30, 1962 (1963).

As presented here, the text has been revised, enlarged, and updated. Its 72 illustrations, many of them new, include a number of engines, aircraft, and the materials in the collections of the National Air and Space Museum.

With it, for the first time, appears the bibliography which accompanied the original manuscript and which, for lack of space, could not then (1963) be printed. This has since been edited and expanded to approximately double its original length by Dr. Richard K. Smith while he was serving on the Museum staff. Its nearly 600 entries, most of them contemporary accounts, cover the whole range of engine development and related activities from the early beginnings. This bibliography should be a useful and welcome tool, both for the airplane enthusiast and for the historian of aviation technology.

The active connection of the author, C. Fayette Taylor, with aircraft power started with his appointment in 1917 as officer-in-charge of the (aircraft) Power Plant Laboratory of the United States Navy, Washington, D.C. Here the engines of World War I, both foreign and domestic, were tested and improved. From 1919 to 1923 he was engineer-in-charge of the Power Plant Laboratory of the Army Air Service at McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio. Pioneer work on engines and fuels was done during this period. From 1923 to 1926 he was engineer-in-charge of design, and for a short while chief engineer at Wright Aeronautical Corporation, Paterson, New Jersey, concentrating on the development of air-cooled radial engines. Since 1926 he has been Professor of Automotive Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, retiring from active duty there in 1965. He is still an active consultant in the field of internal-combustion engines.

Professor Taylor is author, with Charles Chatfield and Shatswell Ober, of The Airplane and Its Engine (McGraw Hill, 1928, 1932, 1936, 1940, 1948); with E. S. Taylor, of The Internal Combustion Engine (International Textbook Co., 1938, 1948, 1961); and of The Internal Combustion Engine in Theory and Practice (M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, Mass., 2 vols., 1960, 1968).

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