A. Francis Arcier Collection
Acc. XXXX-0072

Born in London, Alex Francis Arcier was an aviator, scientist, designer and engineer whose pioneering work in aviation design spanned six decades. Among his designs are the Barling Bomber and the Fokker TriMotor. He later supervised glider production for Waco during World War II, and served as Chief Scientist for U.S. Air Force Intelligence at Wright-Patterson AFB until his retirement in 1963. 3 cu. ft. (6 boxes)

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George W. Beatty Collection
Acc. 1989-0013 and 1991-0069

A pioneering early flight instructor and test pilot, Beatty has the distinction of being the first pilot to land on the island of Manhattan. 1 cubic foot (2 boxes).

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The Giuseppe M. Bellanca Collection
Acc. 1993-0055

Aircraft designed by Giuseppe Bellanca attracted the attention of many "Golden Age" aviators, including Charles Lindbergh. The Bellanca Collection contains not only the personal and professional papers of this important aeronautical engineer and pilot, but also the corporate records of the Bellanca Aircraft Corporation. 248.50 cubic feet (177 boxes).

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Morten S. Beyer Papers
Acc. 2007-0060

Morten S. Beyer (b. 1921) was one of the first aviation consultants and the author of articles and newsletters analyzing the economic trends of aviation. Beginning in 1943 Mr. Beyer worked with many large airline companies, establishing many of the standards and procedures we still follow today. In 1974, Beyer established AVMARK, an aviation international consulting company. As a regular feature he established one of the first aviation newsletters. He also published a book of Transport Aircraft Values (TAV), which forecast aircraft values twenty years in to the future, using a formula that accounted for inflation, fuel price fluctuations and labor cost variables. This formula became a standard for aircraft appraisals and made Beyer a trusted appraiser and marketing expert. Beyer retired in 2003. This collection consists of 15 cubic feet of documents relating to the aviation career of Morten S. Beyer, documenting both his time with various airlines and his career as an aviation consultant. The following types of material are included: speeches, cartoons, correspondence, financial reports, newsletters, conference programs, newspaper articles, scrapbooks, and aviation market research reports. Collection size 15.52 cu. ft. (36 boxes)

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Arthur Raymond Brooks Collection
Acc. 1988-0051, 1989-0104, 1991-0046

Arthur Raymond Brooks (1895-1991) was a fighter pilot for the U.S. Army Air Service during World War I and later, a civil aviation pioneer. During the war, he became an ace by shooting down six German aircraft. After leaving military service in 1922, Brooks helped establish the Florida Airways Corporation, surveyed air routes for the Department of Commerce's Aeronautics Branch and contributed in the development of ground-to-air radiotelephone communications while working for Bell Telephone Laboratories. He lived long enough to be the last surviving American ace of World War I. This collection consists of official military documents, correspondence, reports, handbooks, photographs, brochures, programs, magazines, newsletters, newspaper clippings, diaries, notes, transcripts, logbooks, books and miscellaneous materials. Collection size is 13.72 cubic feet (31 boxes).

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David M. Brown Collection
Acc. 2006-0013

David M. Brown (1956-2003) was a U.S. Navy officer, flight surgeon, naval aviator and Space Shuttle astronaut. In 1996, he was selected as an astronaut candidate by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Eventually, Brown was assigned a flight aboard Space Shuttle Columbia for the STS-107 mission. On February 1, 2003, after the successful in-space mission and only minutes from its scheduled landing at the Kennedy Space center (KSC), Cape Canaveral, Florida, the orbiter suffered structural failure upon reentry into the atmosphere and disintegrated over Texas and Louisiana. Brown, as well as the other six members of the STS-107 crew, was killed in the accident. This collection consists of correspondence, technical manuals, checklists, handbooks, photographs, U.S. Navy/NASA documents, memoranda, drafts, worksheets, reports, briefings, handouts, notes, invitations, programs, pamphlets, books, booklets, guidebooks, magazines, journals, miscellaneous materials, certificates, passports, day planners and yearbooks. Collection size is 11.76 cu. ft. (33 boxes).

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Charles W. Chillson Collection
Acc. XXXX-0008

Winner of the 1947 Collier Trophy for his work with propellers and an expert in rocket propulsion, Charles Chillson was closely affiliated with the American Rocket Society (ARS). This collection includes correspondence with Wernher von Braun and Esther C. Goddard and with organizations such as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the British Interplanetary Society, the International Astronautical Federation, and the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences. 3.5 cubic feet (8 boxes)

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A. Scott Crossfield Papers
Acc. 2006-0041

Albert Scott "Scotty" Crossfield, Jr. (1921-2006) was an aviator, U.S. Navy veteran, and aeronautical engineer best known for his work as a test pilot with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), where he made history on November 20, 1953 in the Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket as the first pilot to exceed Mach 2, and for his involvement, both as Project Pilot and as a Design Specialist, on the North American X-15 program. Crossfield was also an executive at Eastern Airlines for several years before leaving to serve as Senior Vice President for Hawker Siddeley Aviation's U.S. subsidiary branch (an office he helped establish). After leaving Hawker Siddeley, Crossfield served for many years as an independent technical advisor to the U.S. Congress. In the later part of his life, Crossfield traveled extensively to give talks, attend events, and make various professional appearances. Crossfield was killed in 2006 when the plane he was piloting was caught in a thunderstorm. This collection consists mainly of correspondence, photographs, records relating to various organizations in which Crossfield was active, writings by Crossfield, news clippings, flight reports, and business records, as well as audio tapes and film. Collection size is 18.71 cubic feet (42 boxes).

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Glenn H. Curtiss Collection
Acc. XXXX-0053

Glenn H. Curtiss (1878-1930) was an early aviation pioneer and founder of the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Corporation. In July 1908, he won the Scientific American trophy for the first public airplane flight of one kilometer in the U.S. with his June Bug. During World War I, Curtiss' factories manufactured aircraft for the U.S., Britain and Russia. Some of these airplanes included the famous Curtiss JN-4 Jenny trainer, as well as the Navy-Curtiss type flying boats. One such Curtiss machine, the NC-4, made the first transatlantic flight in May 1919. By the 1920s, Curtiss was concentrating on producing racer airplanes, amphibian aircraft with retractable landing gear and fighters for the U.S. Army. This collection consists of correspondence, miscellaneous corporate materials, reports, photographs, menus, programs, tributes, books, journals, newsletters, newspaper clippings, patent materials, a scrapbook and legal materials. Collection size is 2.70 cubic feet (6 boxes).

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Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. Collection
Acc. 1992-0023

Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. (1912-2002) was the commander of the 99th Fighter Squadron and 332d Fighter Wing (better known as the "Tuskegee Airmen") during World War II before going on to become the first black general in the United States Air Force. After his retirement from the Air Force in 1970 Davis became the Director of Public Safety in Cleveland, OH, the first Director of Civil Aviation Security for the U. S. Department of Transportation, and the Assistant Secretary of Transportation for Environment, Safety, and Consumer Affairs during the Nixon and Ford Administrations. This collection consists of correspondence, press clippings, and photographs gathered by the Davises, particularly after Davis left military service.

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James H. Doolittle Scrapbooks
Acc. XXXX-0501

James "Jimmy" Doolittle (1896-1993) enjoyed a career of unusual impact. A flying instructor during World War I, he became known for his skill as a pilot. In the years between the wars, he won several trophy races and set many records. His work with instrument ("blind") flying would be of great importance to aviation. Returning to service in World War II, Doolittle led the April 1942 raid on Tokyo from the USS Hornet. 10 cubic feet (9 boxes)

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Charles Stark Draper Certificates
Acc. 2001-0019

Charles Stark Draper (1901-1987) was the leading figure behind the use of inertial navigation in aircraft, spacecraft, ballistic missiles and submarines. In 1939, Draper joined the faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and helped establish the school's Instrumentation Laboratory. During the next thirty years, he performed research and directed the Instrumentation Laboratory, developing systems such as the gyroscopic shoebox gunsight that led to the derivative Mark 14 gunsight used by U.S. Navy shipboard antiaircraft weaponry in World War II. Draper also developed inertial guidance systems utilized in the Polaris, Poseidon, Trident I and II submarine launched missiles, as well as the Atlas and Titan launch vehicles. During the 1960s, he and his Laboratory created the inertial navigation system employed by the Moon-bound spacecraft for the Apollo program. This collection of memorabilia consists of certificates, diplomas, citations and awards bestowed upon Charles Stark Draper, as well as several photographs and a photographic copy of a filed patent for a lead angle computer for gunsights. Also included are certificates awarded to him by the Arthur Murray Studio for his performances in dance. Collection size is 1.36 cubic feet (3 boxes).

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Hugh L. Dryden Certificates
Acc. 2001-0021

Hugh L. Dryden (1898-1965) was an aerodynamicist by training, a career civil servant and a government official. In 1918, Dryden went to work for the National Bureau of Standards. Two years later, he was made chief of the aerodynamics section of the Bureau. By the time he left the Bureau in 1947, he was its associate director. That same year, he accepted the position of director of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). One of the more notable projects he undertook at NACA was to supervise the development of the X-15 experimental rocket plane. In 1958, he was appointed as the first deputy administrator of a new government agency that replaced NACA--the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Dryden stayed on at NASA in this capacity until his death in 1965. This collection of memorabilia consists of certificates, diplomas, awards and a few miscellaneous items (sheets of commemorative postage stamps, magazine articles, a photograph and a caricature drawing). Collection size is 1.48 cubic feet (3 boxes).

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James C. Elms Collection
Acc. 1993-0047

In 1963, after many years in private industry, James C. Elms (1916 - 1993) was recruited to join the senior staff at NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center. He subsequently served in a variety of other administrative positions within NASA, culminating in his directorship of the Electronics Research Center. The Elms Collection consists of correspondence, speeches, notes, newspaper articles and congressional hearings.

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Garland Fulton Collection
Acc. XXXX-0101

Captain Garland Fulton, USN (1890-1974) was one of the Navy's leading proponents of lighter-than-air (LTA) flight. After graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1912 and duty with the fleet, Fulton entered the Naval Construction Corps in 1915. In May 1918, Fulton asked to be assigned to aeronautical engineering duties in the Aviation Section of the Navy's Bureau of Construction and Repair. Fulton transferred to the Bureau of Aeronautics when that organization was founded in 1921. In 1922, he was sent to the Zeppelin works in Friedrichshafen, Germany, to serve as Inspector of Naval Aircraft during the construction and test flights of the LZ 126 rigid airship, later named the USS Los Angeles (ZR-3). Fulton later oversaw the design and construction of the USS Akron (ZRS-4) and the USS Macon (ZRS-5), and worked actively to help further the acceptance of large airships in both the Navy and in commerce. Under Fulton's guidance, expansion of the Navy's non-rigid airship (blimp) program was initiated in the years prior to the United States' entry into World War II.

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Glen A. Gilbert Collection, 1935-1982
Acc. XXXX-0187

Glen A. Gilbert (1913-1982), pilot, administrator and aviation consultant, played a key role in the development of the United States and international Air Traffic Control (ATC) System. He helped develop and operate collision-avoidance procedures for aircraft operating under instrument conditions until this service was taken over by the federal government. Mr. Gilbert represented the United States at a number of international conferences on aviation and played a key role in the formation of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in 1944. This collection contains seven bound volumes of Gilbert's written work. Collection size is 1.5 cu. ft. (3.5 document boxes)

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Edgar S. Gorrell Collection
Acc. XXXX-0057

Edgar S. Gorrell (1891-1945) was a pilot and an advocate for aviation safety. He served in the military from 1912-1920, eventually achieving the rank of Colonel and the position of Chief of Staff for the Air Service. He then spent sixteen years in the automobile business before being named president of the Air Transport Association of America in 1936. This collection mainly pertains to Gorrell's work for the Air Transport Association of America, with the material including his correspondence and speeches, the Congressional hearings and reports for the bills he advocated, and publications and newspaper articles about him and his career. Also in the collection are several photographs and photograph albums from World War I. 3.59 cubic feet (9 boxes).

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William J. Hammer Collection
Acc. XXXX-0074

William J. Hammer (1858-1934) was an associate of Thomas Edison and early aviation supporter and enthusiast. From 1879 to 1890, Hammer worked for Edison in a variety of progressively more responsible positions. Starting in 1890 and continuing until 1925, he worked as an independent consulting electrical engineer. While employed in many scientific and engineering duties, Hammer had a particular passion for aeronautics. Beyond paying careful attention to the rapid progress made in this field at the turn of the twentieth century, he also played an active role as participant and supporter. He attended and officiated over many balloon, airship and airplane exhibitions and races. Hammer was a member of the Aero Club of America and a director of the Aeronautical Society. He served as expert and secretary of the Aeronautics Committee on the Hudson-Fulton Celebration Commission of 1909 and wrote the contracts for Wilbur Wright and Glenn Curtiss to fly their airplanes for this event. As a friend of the Wrights Hammer testified as an expert witness on their behalf during various patent litigation suits. He also knew and interacted with , among others, Samuel Langley, Alberto Santos-Dumont, Henri Farman and Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin. Hammer also developed radium-based luminous compounds and used them on aircraft instruments so pilots could more easily view their cockpits' dials and gauges. This collection consists of correspondence, reports, handbooks, drawings, brochures, programs, leaflets, magazines, articles, newspaper clippings, photographs and miscellaneous materials. Collection size is 5.66 cubic feet (13 boxes).

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Gerard Post Herrick Collection
Acc. XXXX-0097

Gerard Post Herrick (1873-1955) was a lawyer and engineer who is credited as the inventor of the convertible aircraft. This collection consists of correspondence, press clippings, and engineering drawings relating to Herrick's work, particularly the Herrick Vertoplane/Convertoplane series. 11.62 cu. ft. (8 boxes, 5 drawers)

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Reimar and Walter Horten Interviews
Acc. 1999-0065

Walter (1912-1996) and Reimar (1915-1993) Horten were two largely self-taught aircraft designers. Their interest in aircraft began as early as 1925 when they joined a fliers club in Bonn, Germany. In 1932, Reimar and Walter commenced work on their first piloted all-wing sailplane, the Ho I. Prior to World War II, the brothers improved upon the Ho I glider, creating other models including the Ho II, Ho III and Ho IV. During the war, they continued their projects, developing many enhanced versions of their original flying wing. This included the Ho 229, the first functional jet-propelled flying wing. After the war, Reimar moved to Argentina where he continued with his unorthodox aeronautical designs while Walter remained in Germany. This collection contains interviews with the Hortens taped by David Myhra. The collection consists of 60 original audiotapes donated by Mr. Myhra. The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) Archives had the original audiotapes remastered onto 61 master reel-to-reels and 120 CD-Rs. Also included in this collection is a box of transcriptions for some of these audiotapes. These transcriptions are unidentified and consequently, cannot be matched to the correct audiotapes. Collection size is 8.03 cubic feet (20 boxes).

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Jerome Clarke Hunsaker Papers
Acc. XXXX-0001

Jerome Clarke Hunsaker (1886-1984) was an aeronautical engineer and designer who was instrumental in the design of the Curtiss NC-4 and the USS Shenandoah, the construction of the USS Akron and the USS Macon, and the development of the modern wind tunnel. 8 cubic feet (28 boxes).

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Ernest Jones Aeronautical Collection
Acc. XXXX-0096

Editor of the first journal of American aviation journal and Chief Information Officer for the American Expeditionary Forces, Jones pursued throughout his lifetime the completion of a comprehensive history of American aviation. 12 cubic feet (39 boxes).

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Hattie Meyers Junkin Papers (1906-1982)
Acc. XXXX-0171

One of the first women to earn a glider class C license, the life of Hattie Meyers Junkin was inextricably bound with the history of the Waco Aircraft Company. 3.3 cubic feet (12 boxes).

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Hildegard Korf Kallmann-Bijl Collection
Acc. 1989-0042

Dr. Hildegard Korf Kallmann-Bijl (1908-1968) was a pioneer in atmospheric physics as it related to orbital trajectories. She developed the "Kallmann Atmosphere" model, which successfully predicted the lifespan of satellites in orbit. The model, combined with her later work "the International Reference Atmosphere," made possible the accurate prediction of the landing site for a space craft returning from orbit. The collection contains copies of published and unpublished technical papers, correspondence, awards, handwritten notes, calculations, newspaper articles, photographs, and negatives. 2.8 cubic feet (7 boxes).

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Clement Melville Keys Papers
Acc. XXXX-0091

Clement Melville Keys (1876-1952) was a financier and corporate organizer who headed the Curtiss group of companies and founded the first transcontinental air service, Transcontinental Air Transport. This collection consists primarily of Keys' business records and correspondence from the 1920s and early 1930s.

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A. Roy Knabenshue Collection
Acc. XXXX-0136

Roy Knabenshue was the first person to successfully pilot a dirigible in the United States and would accomplish many more "firsts" during his long career. This intrepid airship racer (Balloon License 31, Dirigible License 4) went on to manage the Wright Exhibition Team and survey aerial routes of the National Parks Service. 3 cubic feet (8 boxes).

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Frank Purdy Lahm Collection
Acc. 1986-0044

Cavalryman, balloonist, and the U. S. Army's second pilot, Frank Purdy Lahm (1877-1963) was a central figure in the pioneering days of military aviation. Trained as a pilot by Wilbur Wright, Lahm later commanded both lighter-than-air (LTA) and aviation units during World War I, and was instrumental in establishing the Air Corps Training Center (later Randolph Field) in San Antonio, Texas, training the young pilots who would lead the Army Air Forces in World War II. 1.09 cubic feet (1 box).

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Samuel P. Langley Collection
Acc. XXXX-0494

Samuel Pierpont Langley (1834-1906) was an astronomer and pioneer of aeronautical research. He served as the third Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution (1887-1906). In 1886, Langley became interested in the study of aeronautics. Starting in 1890, Smithsonian staff built a series of powered aircraft of his design called the Aerodromes. In 1903, two test flights of his manned Great Aerodrome failed, the final attempt made one week before the successful first flight of the Wright brothers' Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on December 17. The Langley Collection consists of the notes, drawings, photographs and correspondence from Langley's aeronautical work. It also includes manuscript material from the Langley Memoir on Mechanical Flight, published posthumously. 24.28 cubic feet (64 boxes)

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Mandel Lenkowsky Early Vertical Flight Development Collection
Acc. 1989-0099

Mandel Lenkowsky worked for the Army Air Corps and was involved in the development of the early helicopter. The Lenkowsky Early Vertical Flight Collection contains correspondence, parts of an unpublished manuscript, notebooks of scientific and mathematical notes, periodicals, published reference materials about experimental, military, and commercial vertical flight from the 1930s to the 1940s, and photographs. 1.5 cubic feet (4 boxes).

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Willy Ley Collection
Acc. XXXX-0098

Willy Ley (1906-1969) was a German-born, world-renowned expert in and proponent of rocketry and space travel. After helping to found Germany's early spaceflight club, Verein fur Raumschiffahrt or VfR (Society for Space Travel), as well as writing books and numerous articles regarding rocketry and space travel, Ley immigrated to the U.S. in 1935. During World War II, he became a leading expert in rocketry. He continued to write books on this topic, most notably, Rockets, Missiles & Space Travel (first published in 1944). Other highly successful titles that Ley produced during the 1950s and 1960s included The Conquest of Space, The Conquest of the Moon (written with Wernher von Braun and astronomer Fred Whipple) and Beyond the Solar System. Ley, along with von Braun, artist Chesley Bonestell and others, collaborated on a series of space-themed issues of Collier's (1952-54) that helped to foster support for future U.S. missions to earth orbit, the moon and the planets. This collection consists of correspondence, book and article contract materials, galley proofs, manuscript and article drafts, notes, articles, lecture invitations and brochures, photographs, drawings, newspaper and press clippings, book reviews, personal bills and receipts, business cards and travel memorabilia, pamphlets, magazines, newsletters, books, reports, journals, directories, certificates, citations and a scrapbook. Collection size is 48.29 cubic feet (107 boxes).

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Charles M. Manly Papers
Acc. 1999-0004

In 1898, Smithsonian Secretary Samuel P. Langley hired Charles Matthews Manly (1876-1927) of Staunton, Virginia, a Cornell University senior majoring in electrical and mechanical engineering, to serve as Langley's assistant in his aeronautical research. Manley supervised the design and construction of Langley's Great Aerodrome, the large manned aircraft being built under the sponsorship of the Army's Board of Ordnance and Fortification. Manly piloted the Great Aerodrome on its two unsuccessful launch attempts in 1903. After leaving the Smithsonian in 1905, Manly served as a consulting aviation engineer. Manly also completed and edited Langley's Memoir on Mechanical Flight which was published by the Smithsonian in 1911. Manly was granted over fifty 50 patents relating to automotive transportation, power generation, and transmission. In 1929, Manly was posthumously awarded the Langley Medal for outstanding aeronautical achievements. This collection consists of material relating to Manly's aeronautical career, specifically his work with Samuel Langley's Aerodrome and his work on the preparation of the Langley Memoir on Mechanical Flight.

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Thomas DeWitt Milling Collection
Acc. XXXX-0133

One of the United States Army's first two regular pilots (the other was H. H. "Hap" Arnold), Milling set many aviation records and was dubbed "one of the foremost aviators of the world." He later became instrumental in the burgeoning field of flight instruction and earned America's Distinguished Service Medal as well as France's Legion of Honor. 1.5 cubic feet (4 boxes).

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George Henry Mills Collection
Acc. 1994-0022

Commander of the U.S. Navy's blimps during World War II and a member of the Navy's inner circle of advocates of lighter-than-air flight, Mills flew as an observer on board the Graf Zeppelin and on the Hindenburg, and survived the crash of the USS Macon. He was promoted to the rank of Commodore in 1943. 14.59 cubic feet (31 boxes).

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Joseph D. Mountain Collection
Acc. 1991-0079

Joseph Dunlap Mountain's (1902-1970) long and varied career included service in the U.S. Army Air Corps and Air Force, oil and gold prospecting in Saudi Arabia, and work in the nascent computer industry. Mountain's photographs made during a California-Saudi Arabian Standard Oil Company (now Saudi Aramco) expedition in 1934-'35 include portraits of Eid al-Fitr dancers, market scenes, camel caravans, Saudi hunters with their hawks, and pearl fishermen and their dhows. His images portray the desert kingdom at the very edge of the tremendous changes that the oil economy brought to the Gulf.

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Arthur Nutt Collection
Acc. 1987-0115, 1988-0055, 1988-0059

Arthur Nutt (1895-1983) was an aeronautical engineer specializing in engine design. During his years as chief motor engineer with the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Corporation (CAMCo), he was responsible for the development of such aircraft engines as the D-12, V-1400 and R-1454. After the merger of CAMCo with the Wright Aeronautical Corporation in 1930, Nutt worked for Curtiss-Wright as vice president of engineering. Later, he was director of aircraft engineering for the Packard Motor Car Company, founder of his own engineering sales firm and then vice president of engineering for the Lycoming Division of AVCO Manufacturing Corporation. This collection consists of correspondence, reports, photographs, handbooks, instructions, manuals, parts lists, blueprints, brochures, speeches, magazines, newsletters, biographical notes, autobiography and miscellaneous materials. Collection size is 5.57 cubic feet (15 boxes).

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Richard Porter Collection
Acc. 1997-0037

Richard Porter (1913-1996) was an electrical engineer and expert in the fields of rocketry and space travel. In 1937, the General Electric (GE) Company hired him as a student engineer after receiving his Ph.D. from Yale University. This was the start of a very long affiliation between Porter and the corporate giant. During World War II, he was directly involved in the U.S. effort to identify and debrief top German rocket scientists. He was also instrumental in evacuating these rocket specialists to the U.S. - an undertaking known as Operation Paperclip. In 1953, GE placed Porter in overall charge of the company's guided missiles department. From that time onward, he stayed heavily engaged in the rocketry field. This included heading a panel of scientists tasked with developing a U.S. space program in time for the International Geophysical Year (IGY) of 1957-58. This collection consists of correspondence, memoranda, meeting minutes, reports, notes, speeches, photographs, brochures, pamphlets, programs, magazines, newsletters, papers, articles, newspaper clippings and miscellaneous materials. Collection size is 8.03 cu. ft. (22 boxes).

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Eric Preece Engine Collection
Acc. XXXX-0502

Eric Preece was an engineer with the Wright Aeronautical Corporation (WAC) of Paterson, New Jersey. Mr. Preece served as the manager of Experimental Manufacturing prior to his promotion to Production Manager of WAC's Plant 7 in 1943. He was also an active member of the American Society of Tool Engineers, serving as the Public Relations Chairman and later as chapter president. This collection traces Preece's engineering work with WAC, and includes the following types of materials: correspondence, memoranda, technical drawings, minutes of meetings from both the WAC Gear Committee and the American Society of Tool Engineers, descriptions of various projects and equipment, photographs, reports, catalogues, brochures, manuals, notebooks, and personnel information. The original arrangement of this collection was maintained.

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Blanche Stuart Scott Collection
Acc. XXXX-0062

Glenn Curtiss' first and only female student, Scott became America's first female professional flyer and was billed as the "Tomboy of the Air" while touring with the Curtiss Exhibition Team. She became a test pilot for Glenn L. Martin, flying Martin prototypes before final blueprints for the aircraft were drawn up. 1 cubic foot (2 boxes).

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Elton Ross Silliman Papers
Acc. 1989-0050

Elton Ross Silliman was an airline executive and manager in Latin America for Aerovias Centrales, S.A., Pan American Airways (PAA), Inc. and PAA subsidiary, Compania Mexicana de Aviacion, S.A. (CMA). During 1931-32, he organized Aerovias Centrales, S.A. in Mexico. He joined PAA in 1933 as the company's special representative in Central America, Panama, Venezuela and the Dutch West Indies. In 1943, Silliman became general manager for CMA. He retired from this position in the 1960s. This collection consists of correspondence, handbooks, newspaper clippings, PAA and CMA expense and financial reports, photographs and miscellaneous materials. Collection size is 1.35 cubic feet (3 boxes).

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Betty Skelton Collection
Acc. 2002-0002

Betty Skelton was an aviatrix in the 1940's. She held multiple records in the field and upon retiring became a race car driver and automotive test driver. By the mid 1950's she had branched out and become an advertising executive for Campbell-Ewald, the firm that handled advertising for Chevrolet. In 1959, she trained with the Mercury 7 astronauts, undergoing the same tests as the astronauts. She married Donald Frankman in 1965 and eventually moved to Florida and began a fourth career as a real estate agent. Betty donated her famous plane, "Little Stinker" to the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) in 1985. It currently hangs at the entrance to NASM Steven F Udvar-Hazy Center in Dulles Virginia. This collection consists of news clippings, photographs, magazine and four scrapbooks. Collection size is 4.23 cubic feet (11 boxes).

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Charles Ingram Stanton, Sr. Collection
Acc. 1987-0076

Charles Ingram Stanton, Sr. had a long career in U.S. Government service, including tenures as the Superintendent of Operations, United States Air Mail Service and Assistant Administrator and Director of the Bureau of Federal Airways, U.S. Civil Aeronautics Authority. This collection contains his personal and professional papers.

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Paul Studenski Collection
Acc. 1989-0012

Born in St. Petersburg, Studenski studied law and medicine before earning the 292nd license from L'Aero Club de France. He immigrated to the United States in 1911 and exercised his prodigious flying skills as instructor, test pilot and exhibition pilot before retiring from flying to distinguish himself in the fields of economics and government service. 1 cubic foot (2 boxes).

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Louise McPhetridge Thaden Collection
Acc. XXXX-0006, 1986-0042, 1986-0188

Louise McPhetridge Thaden (1905-1979) was one of the United States foremost female aviators during the late 1920s and 1930s. She achieved several records including Altitude (1928), Solo Duration (1929), Speed (1929), Refueling Duration (1932), Light Plane Speed (1936), East-West Speed (1936), Inter-City Distance Speed (1937), and 100 km Speed (1937), and won the first National Woman's Air-Derby (1929) and the Bendix Transcontinental Air Race (1936). She later worked with the U.S. Department of Defense, Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS) and co-founded the Ninety-Nines, an international organization of licensed women pilots. This collection contains newspaper and journal articles, personal letters and business correspondence, writings, photographs, and scrapbooks, all relating to her aviation career. 3.38 cubic feet (10 boxes).

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Mary E. "Mother" Tusch Collection
Acc. XXXX-0128

The Mary E. "Mother" Tusch Collection reflects her interest in aviation. The bulk of the collection is from the early 1900s to the late 1950s and consists of 12 boxes that contain photography, family documentation, news clippings and scrapbooks. There are formal group and individual photographs as well as informal personal photographs of servicemen whom she had befriended and images signed by such famous aviators as Ruth Law and Earle Ovington. The collection also contains photographs of the famous wallpaper from her Berkeley home which was signed by such aviation notables as Charles Lindbergh and Edward Rickenbacker.

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Ralph Hazlett Upson Collection
Acc. XXXX-0177

Winner of the Eighth Gordon Bennett Cup and designer of the all-metal airship ZMC-2, Upson's extraordinary career spanned the range of aerospace history from lighter-than-air flight, though the development of the airplane and into space exploration. 7 cubic feet (21 boxes).

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E. D. "Hud" Weeks Collection
Acc. 1985-0004, 1985-0006

Hud Weeks, pilot and restorer of early aircraft, exchanged correspondence with many early aviators and possessed a strong interest in the career of the exhibition pilot Lincoln Beachey. 1 cubic foot (4 boxes).

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Fred E. Weick Autobiographical Transcripts
Acc. XXXX-0425

Aeronautical engineer Fred E. Weick (1899-1993) had a profound effect on light aircraft development. He was responsible for the development of NACA's low-drag cowling for radial engines, introduced the concept of "fifty foot obstacle clearance" as a measure of aircraft take-off performance, and was instrumental in the development of several aircraft, including the Piper Pawnee and Piper Cherokee.

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Lee Ya-Ching Papers
Acc. 2008-0009

Lee Ya-Ching was a Chinese aviatrix in the 1930's and 1940's. Beginning her flying career in Switzerland in 1934, Ms. Lee was the first woman to receive a pilot's licenses from the Ecole Aero Club de Suisse, the Boeing School of Aeronautics and the government of China. In partnership with several other pilots, Ms. Lee opened a civilian flying school in Shanghai. Despite being instrumental in the formation of a Chinese air force prior to World War Two, Ms. Lee found she was not allowed to fly for her country when Japan invaded. Finding other ways to serve her country, Ms. Lee helped form hospitals and flew Red Cross planes from Hong Kong to Canton. Wishing to do more, Ms Lee embarked on a goodwill tour of the United States, Canada and South America, raising money for the war effort in China. Following the war, Ms. Lee returned to China, where she receded from public life. This collection consists of news clippings, photographs, magazines and three scrapbooks. The majority of the collection is in English; however, there are significant occurrences of Chinese, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Dutch. Collection size is 11.9 cubic feet (22 boxes).

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