George B. Patterson Papers

This collection consists of 1.5 cubic feet of material chronicling George B. Patterson's aviation career.

This collection is in English.

George B. Patterson (1895 - 1968) was a World War I flight test pilot and later served at McCook Field where he helped to develop the first scientific methods of measuring flight test performance. Patterson enlisted in the Aviation Section Signal Corps, Reserve, in 1917, and was first stationed at Chandler Field at the Signal Corps Aviation School in Essington, Pennsylvania. There he first soloed in a seaplane before Chandler Field was transferred to Gerstner Field in Louisiana. Patterson served stateside for the whole of World War I, and after the war he was stationed at Wilbur Wright Field and then McCook Field, both in Ohio. During this time, Patterson served as Assistant Chief of Flight Branch and then as Chief of the McCook Technical Data Branch. Patterson's only overseas assignment was in 1922 when he was stationed at Camp Nichols in the Philippines. Later that year he requested, and was granted, discharge from the service. Patterson then went to work for Curtiss Wright in 1929. A bad aircraft crash in 1934 left Patterson injured and he left military aviation and went to work as an aviation staff engineer at Socony Company for 15 years. Patterson returned to the Air Corps during April of 1942 and served with the Air Service Company until 1945 as a Chief Liaison Officer.