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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
Mr. Joseph B. Roberts Jr.

Joseph Baylor Roberts, Sr. 1902-1994
Observer of aviation history and chronicler of aviation achievements.
Witnessed, at age 7, the Wright Brothers successful demonstration of a military aircraft at Ft. Myer, VA.
Aided, as a Marine Corporal between 1919 and 1921, in the development of Marine Corps photo reconnaissance doctrine and techniques.
Graduate of the Navy / Marine Corps Aviation Photography School, Class Nr. 2, at Anacostia Naval Air Station, Washington, D.C. – 1920.
Assigned USMC Aviation Squadron “A,” Reid Field, USMCB Quantico, VA 1920-21
While a Marine, helped construct an airborne film-processing laboratory (in the observer’s space in a DeHaviland DH-4) that was used to demonstrate the potential timeliness of aerial photo reconnaissance by photographing President Harding and his guests aboard the presidential yacht en route from Washington Navy Yards to Quantico and then presenting finished prints to the President on his arrival at the base.
News photographer for the Hearst-owned Washington Times – 1922 to 1935.
Provided aerial news photo of the Mitchell bombing demonstrations off the Virginia Capes – Sept. 1923.
Provided aerial photo studies to include a photo-mosaic of the area of today’s Pentagon, including Washington-Hoover Airport and the Department of Agriculture Experimental Farm.
Provided news photographs of newsworthy events to include Charles Lindbergh’s arrival in Washington and Wiley Post’s receipt of an award (presented by President Franklin Roosevelt) for his record-breaking flights.
Joined the photographic staff of National Geographic Magazine – 1936 to 1967. Provided aerial photographs to enhance illustrations in the society’s magazine.
Photographed epochal events in the development of aviation, most notably the use by Pan American Airways of Boeing’s Model 314 “Clipper” which he photographed in Manila, P.I., in 1939.
Helped located potential photographic sites (in the Aleutian Island chain) and devise and install the camera equipment used to get high altitude photo coverage of the May 1948, national Geographic Society (NGS) solar eclipse study (done in Air Force B-29s flying from the Aleutian Islands).
Served as a reserve officer in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
Produced and directed aviation training and documentary motion picture and still photographs on flight training and techniques, testing of the “BAT” guided glide bomb, and the return to the U.S. of the aircraft carrier USS Franklin, for which he was cited as having taken one of the Navy’s hundred best photos of the war.
Retired from U.S. Navy reserve with the rank of Commander – 1963 – and from NGS as Asst. Director of Photography – 1967.
J.B. Roberts, Sr. died in June 1994.