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John Leland Atwood (1904-1999) received a BS in civil engineering from the University of Texas in 1928, and started his aviation career as a junior airplane engineer with the Army Air Corps at Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio. In 1930, Atwood left that position to become a design engineer with Douglas Aircraft Company. In 1934, Atwood left Douglas to join North American Aviation (NAA) as chief engineer and vice president. Atwood continued to play a seminal leadership role throughout his career at NAA until his retirement from North American Rockwell Corporation as chief executive officer in 1970. The NAA aircraft produced under Atwood's engineering leadership include: T-6 Texan; F-51 Mustang; B-25 Mitchell; F-86 Sabrejet; F-100 Super Sabre; B-45 Tornado; RA-5C Vigilante; X-15; and the XB-70. Atwood also played key roles in NAA's aerospace ventures, including providing key leadership for the government - industry team which accomplished the Apollo missions.

 Identifier

NASM.2000.0012

Creator

Atwood, John Leland, 1904-1999

Date

[ca. 1920s-1990s]

Provenance

John Leland Atwood Estate, gift, 2000, 2000-0012, NASM and North American Aviation

Extent

19.81 Cubic feet ((9 records center boxes) (10 flatboxes))

Archival Repository

National Air and Space Museum Archives

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of corporate materials of NAA and its successor North American Rockwell and materials created or organized by Atwood. The corporate materials include NAA house organs, i.e., newsletters, magazines and annual reports; NAA and Rockwell reports, special publications and press releases; and photographs. Materials created or organized by Atwood include manuscripts and copies of Atwood's professional writings; reports collected by Atwood from other organizations; subject files which include a variety of material; and his professional correspondence from 1936-1999.

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

Topics

Aeronautics

Aeronautics, Commercial -- United States

Astronautics

Type

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Correspondence

Publications

Photographs

Annual reports

Brochures

Reports