This collection documents Cyrus Bettis' aviation career.
Cyrus Bettis (1893-1926) was one of the leading Army Air Service pursuit pilots in the early to mid-1920s. Born in Carsonville, Michigan, Bettis entered the Army as a flying cadet in February 1918. He attended the school of Military Aeronautics at the University of Illinois and was sent to Camp Dick, Dallas, Texas in April of that year. He finished his flight training and was commissioned second lieutenant, Air Service (Aeronautics) on September 11, 1918. On July 1, 1920, Bettis was commissioned in the Regular Army and promoted to first lieutenant. During the International Air Races in 1924, Lt. Bettis won the John L. Mitchell Trophy Race. Bettis won the October 1925 Pulitzer Trophy competition and established a world record of 249,342 miles per hour, flying the Curtiss R3C-2 Racer in its land plane configuration. Bettis was also the backup pilot for the 1925 Schneider Trophy competition and flew the R3C extensively in its float plane configuration. Bettis, along with Lt. James Doolittle, was awarded the Mackay Trophy for 1925. Bettis died at the Walter Reed General Hospital in Washington, DC on September 1, 1926, as a result of injures he received in an aircraft accident on August 23, 1926, when in heavy fog he crashed into a mountainside near Bellefonte, Pennsylvania.
Identifier
NASM.2018.0066
Date
1893 - 1926 (1925-26)
Provenance
Stuart and Martha S. Lehman, Gift, 2018, NASM.2018.0066
Extent
0.9 Cubic feet (One flat box and one letter document box.)
Archival Repository
National Air and Space Museum Archives
Scope and Contents
This collection consist of the following types of material documenting Cyrus Bettis' aviation career: photographs, both portraits and snapshots; 1925 National Air Race program; correspondence; newspapers; a scrapbook containing newspaper articles; transcript of radio address; caricature of Bettis; and 1st day covers.
Arrangement note
Arrangment by type.
Rights
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Restrictions
No restrictions on access
Citation
Cyrus Bettis Collection [Shuart], NASM.2018.0066, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.