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Francis H. Dean served in the United States Navy during World War II. After his discharge, Dean graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as an aeronautical engineer. He worked for thirty-eight years at Curtiss-Wright Corporation and Boeing. At Curtiss-Wright, Dean headed preliminary design work on efforts in the development of a VTOL aircraft. Dean was also the author of aviation books, including the following titles: America's Hundred Thousand: US Production Fighters of World War II; America's Navy and Marine Corps Airplanes: 1918 to the Present; America's Army and Air Force Airplanes: Post-World War I to the Present; and The Curtiss X-Planes: Curtiss Wright's VTOL Effort 1958-1965. Dean was a long time member of the American Aviation Historical Society (AAHS)

 Identifier

NASM.2005.0044

Creator

Dean, Francis H.

Date

bulk 1950-1999

Provenance

Evelyn G. Dean, Gift, 2005

Extent

5.83 Cubic feet ((16 boxes))

Archival Repository

National Air and Space Museum Archives

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of five cubic feet of photographs, negatives, books, and documents collected or produced by Francis Dean. Included are approximately 10,000 - 11,000 2 x 3 and 4 x 5 inch black and white negatives, from a variety of sources; 8 x 10, 4 x 5, and 2 x 3 inch mostly black and white prints, with a few color prints; color slides of aircraft; Curtiss-Wright Corporation brochures, manuals, and publications, including a Propeller Design Manual, April 1953, and a Design Report on the Curtiss-Wright X-100 VTOL Aircraft, 1961; Profile Publications for various aircraft; a green notebook filled with information on the Brewster F2A; a blue notebook of correspondence; and other miscellaneous aviation documents.

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

Francis Dean Collection, Accession number 2005-0044, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

Topics

Curtiss X-19 VTOL

Brewster F2A Buffalo Series

Curtiss-Wright aircraft

Aeronautics

Type

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Black-and-white negatives

Photographs

Color slides

Brochures

Correspondence

Publications