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Howard Harrop Sargent, Jr. (1911--1986) was a test pilot who was the first person to fly an aircraft powered by the Pratt & Whitney Wasp Major R-4360 engine. This collection consists of a Wasp Major Club certificate issued to Sargent.
Howard Harrop Sargent, Jr. (1911--1986) was a test pilot who was the first person to fly an aircraft powered by the Pratt & Whitney Wasp Major R-4360 engine. Sargent obtained his pilot's license in 1929 and graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering in 1933. Sargent was immediately hired by Pratt & Whitney as an Experimental Test Pilot and by 1939 was their Chief Test Pilot. On April 25, 1942, Sargent became the first person to fly an aircraft powered by the Pratt & Whitney Wasp Major R-4360 engine while making a test flight in a Vultee (Vengeance) XA-31B from Vultee Field in Downey, California. Sargent worked for Raymond Engineering in Connecticut beginning in 1947. The Wasp Major Club was created by Pratt & Whitney to document the first 100 pilots to fly an aircraft powered by a Wasp Major R-4360 engine.
NASM.2024.0007
Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company
April 25, 1942
Douglas B. Sargent, Gift, 2023, NASM.2024.0007
0.02 Cubic feet (1 oversized map folder)
National Air and Space Museum Archives
This collection consists of a Wasp Major Club certificate issued to Howard Harrop Sargent, Jr. indicating that he was the first pilot to fly an aircraft powered by a Pratt & Whitney Wasp Major R-4360 engine. The certificate, which measures approximately 16 x 14 inches, is dated April 25, 1942 and is signed by Pratt & Whitney's General Manager, name unreadable, and Chief Engineer, Andrew Willgoos.
Collection is a single item.
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Wasp Major Club Certificate [Sargent], NASM.2024.0007, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Aeronautics
Test pilots
Pratt & Whitney Wasp Major R-4360 28-Cylinder Radial
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Certificates