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[[pre-printed]] SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION [[page number, aligned right]] 879 [[/page number, aligned right]] [[/pre-printed]] [[pre-printed in fine print, parallel to left margin]] MADE BY BAKER-VAWTER CO. [[/pre-printed left margin]] machines. It was entitled the"Langle[[overtyped]]t[[/overtyped]]y Medal" to commemorate the pioneering work of Samuel Pierpont Langley, third Secretary of this Institution, who on May 6, 1896, first accomplished a half-mile flight of a power-driven heavier-than-air aeroplane model of 13 feet wing stretch. The Medal was established "To be awarded for specially meritorious investigations in connection with the science of aerodromics and its application to aviation". Hitherto it has been awarded as follows:- February 10,1910, to Wilbur and Orvill[[overtyped]]l[[/overtyped]]e Wright; May 6, 1913, to Gustave Eiffel and to Glenn H. Curtiss; June 11, 1927, to Charles A. Lindbergh; December 12,1930, to Charles M. Manly (posthumously). Your [[overtyped]]u[[/overtyped]]investigations in connection with the science of aviation have included severe tests of aeroplanes, their navigating instruments, and the possibilities of using them for geographical explorations. In these enterprises you have made the non-stop west-east passage of the Atlantic, the first non-stop flight to the North Pole, and the first non-stop flight to the South Pole. You have explored and photographed great regions of the globe hitherto unseen by man. It gives me great pleasure to present to you, Admiral Byrd, the Langley Gold Medal for Aerodromics, in recognition of your outstanding investigations relating to the application of the science of aerodromics to geographical exploration. Admiral Byrd accepted the Medal, and replied as follows:- Justice Hughes, of all living men there is no one from whose hands I would rather receive this [[overtyped]]N[[/overtyped]]Medal than yourself. It is because I admire you so very thoroughly for your greatness and your nobility. Then, also, because you befriended me when I badly needed help. You broke your rule and accepted the chairmanship of the committee that helped us during the very critical period of preparation for our Antarctic Expedition. We were sliding down the rope that led to failure when we went to you and you gave a helping hand. Naturally, I can never forget that nor fail to feel keenly about it. I must admit, Justice Hughes, that what you said about me moves me. I know that I do not begin to deserve it, but (to quote your own words used when you were praised) "I am human enough to like it". I am well aware what this honor means, and I am deeply grateful to the Board of Regents for con[[overtyped]]s[[/overtyped]]cluding that I deserve it. But I do not, and cannot, take it as an individual and personal matter. In honoring me you honor our whole expedition, and so every member of it. I accept this honor, therefore, as their representative, and I shall communicate with all the men in my command and pass on this honor to them. All fliers have the deepest respect for the work of Professor Langley. My own feeling of respect is so profound that this rare Medal is doubly precious to me in bearing his name. His work was epochal in the evolution of aviation, and may I remark here that I believe that all age-old things in a state of civilization must follow the great law of evolution as do all^[[/]]things in a state of nature. Do we not, perhaps, sometimes lose sight of this fact? Aviation,then, must evolve, must go forward by gradual steps of evolution. Perhaps for a while aviation was pushed forward a bit too fast, and so suffered some, but now the evolution seems to be going forward in proper steps. But here is the big point - because space is practically unlimited, the evolution of aviation has fewer limits than ground-held things.
Transcription Notes:
Really good transcript. Mostly added notes about strikethroughs/ overwrites.
- Put note about fine print to help reader locate text.
