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[[image]] Welcome to the National Aircraft Show of 1953! The three-day program observes two great anniversaries: We pay tribute to the memory of Orville and Wilbur Wright who put together in Dayton the frail flying machine that started the Age of Powered Flight at Kitty Hawk, fifty years ago. And we salute Ohio on the 150th anniversary of her statehood--Ohio, "Mother of Presidents," mighty in the enterprise of her people, and in the products of her soil and factories. This is the first National Aircraft Show. It has evolved from and succeeds the famous National Air Races, first flown in 1929. The new 1953 program carries on with the most thrilling air spectacles and with them combines a great array of exhibits. This sets the pattern for future National Aircraft Shows-a vast annual demonstration, both in the air and on the ground, in which industry and the Air Services join hands. Each year the National Aircraft Show will unfold in this way a dramatic review of just how well Uncle Sam is doing in the air to guard our freedom in a dangerous world, and how well we are advancing in the vital field of commercial air transportation. Each year as now the press, radio, television and air technicians of the country will be on hand to observe this progress and report it to the world. I'm sure you will not be disappointed these three days! The mighty new jets and propeller planes performing before your eyes and the ground exhibits tell the story. America has awakened form the complacency that followed World War II. The magnificent performance of our Sabre jets over Korea gave first evidence that we are catching up. The management of the National Aircraft Show is greatly indebted to many organizations-the men of the Air Services, including those from nearby Wright-Patterson Field; the City of Dayton; the Dayton Chamber of Commerce; the officials of Dayton Municipal Airport; the Ohio National Guard; the press, broadcasting stations and aviation magazines; the industrial concerns that have prepared ground displays; TWA, Allison Division of General Motors and Southern Ohio Aviation Service who vacated their hangers for exhibitors; and the commercial airlines operation at this airport, which have cooperated with us to the fullest degree. This splendid help has made our three-day program possible. I'm glad you have come to this show, and hope it will give you a new pride in the air power and security your tax dollars are helping to provide. F.C. Crawford President NATIONAL AIRCRAFT SHOW President AIR FOUNDATION, CLEVELAND