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United States Supersonic Transport Program Collection [Vierling]

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Catalog Data

Creator:
Vierling, Bernard J.  Search this
Names:
American Supersonic Transport Program  Search this
Boeing Company  Search this
Federal Aviation Administration  Search this
General Electric Company  Search this
United Aircraft Corporation. Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Division  Search this
Vierling, Bernard J.  Search this
Extent:
11.99 Cubic feet ((11 records center boxes))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Programs
Photographs
Minutes
Newsletters
Financial records
Reports
Brochures
Date:
1952-1979
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of the files of Bernard J. Vierling (Deputy Director, FAA Office of SST Development, 1965-69; Acting Director, 1969-71). The material consists primarily of in-depth documents, brochures, reports, and studies pertaining to the SST proposals from Boeing, Lockheed, and associated bid contractors General Electric and Pratt & Whitney. Also included is material on sonic boom research, congressional funding, private funding, and congressional and civilian antagonists, such as Senator Proxmire and Dr. Shurcliff, as well as the Anglo-French Concorde and Russian Tu144 SST programs. The collection also includes newsletters, executive committee papers, executive board activities and minutes of meetings, financial reports, awards, banquet programs, and photographs pertaining to Vierling's involvement the National Aviation Club from 1952 through 1972.
Biographical / Historical:
The United States' Supersonic Transport (SST) program was initiated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 1963. The program aimed for a Mach 2+ aircraft capable of carrying c.300 passengers with intercontinental range. The US aimed to outstrip the British Aerospace/Aerospatiale Concorde and Soviet Tu -144 programs through the use of advanced technology and materials. By the late 1960s contracts had been let to prime contractors Boeing (airframe) and General Electric (engines) but the program was four to five years behind the European and Soviet efforts, which had graduated to supersonic flight testing while the US program had yet to pass beyond the mockup stage. In 1971 the slow pace of technical; development, environmental concerns, high costs, and questions over the commercial feasibility of the aircraft led Congress to cancel the program.
General:
NASMrev
Provenance:
Bernard J. Vierling?, Gift, unknown, XXXX-0144, unknown
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access
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
Topic:
Sonic boom  Search this
Supersonic transport planes  Search this
Concorde (Jet transports)  Search this
High-speed aeronautics  Search this
Aircraft industry  Search this
Aeronautics, Commercial  Search this
Aeronautics  Search this
Airplanes -- Design and construction  Search this
Tupolev Tu-144 Charger Family  Search this
Aeronautics, Commercial -- United States  Search this
Aircraft industry -- United States  Search this
Concorde, Production Airframe  Search this
Genre/Form:
Programs
Photographs
Minutes
Newsletters
Financial records
Reports
Brochures
Identifier:
NASM.XXXX.0144
Archival Repository:
National Air and Space Museum Archives
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/pg27c7014b7-9334-4a1a-b223-b698c8bba22f
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nasm-xxxx-0144