This collection consists of approximately 3.28 cubic feet of early periodicals, articles, pamphlets, and other publications relating to various aspects of aviation including kites; balloons; events relating to aviation; personalities involved in aviation; aerial navigation; airships; airplanes; aerial combat; models; and aerial photography. The majority of writings in the collection date to the time period from 1755 through 1919, but there some later pieces dating to the 1920s through the 1960s. Most of the items in the collection are in English, but there are also some writings in French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish, and Portuguese.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of approximately 3.28 cubic feet of early periodicals, articles, pamphlets, and other publications relating to various aspects of aviation including kites; balloons; events relating to aviation; personalities involved in aviation; aerial navigation; airships; airplanes; aerial combat; models; and aerial photography. The majority of writings in the collection date to the time period from 1755 through 1919, but there some later pieces dating to the 1920s through the 1960s. Most of the items in the collection are in English, but there are also some writings in French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish, and Portuguese.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged first by language and then by date within each section.
Provenance:
Various sources including material transferred from Smithsonian Institution Libraries, gifts from various donors, and material found in collection, NASM.XXXX.0923.
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.
This collection, compiled by J. Gorden Vaeth, consists of documents, reports, news clippings, scrapbooks, publications, and photographs relating to rigid and non-rigid airships worldwide.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of documents, reports, news clippings, scrapbooks, publications, and photographs relating to rigid and non-rigid airships worldwide, including the USS Shenandoah; USS Akron; USS Macon; USS Los Angeles; Schütte-Lanz; R-23; TC-14: and the Zeppelins Hindenburg and Bodensee. It was compiled by J. Gordon Vaeth for personal and research reasons.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged by type of material. Most publications are housed individually in folders.
Biographical / Historical:
J. Gordon Vaeth (1921-2012) was an accomplished author and historian on the subject of airships. He was known as the 'leader of the airship underground' during his earlier days with the Naval Airship Program at the start of World War II. During his active duty in the U. S. Navy (1942-1946), he was assigned to Commander Airship Patrol Group One, later Commander Fleet, Airships, Atlantic, then to Naval Air Station Lakehurst. He entered civilian life in 1947, continuing to work with programs relating to airships, including at the Office of Naval Research, the Helios Project, and on Skyhook. Vaeth held many positions for the federal government and was the director of systems engineering for the National Environmental Satellite Service at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) at the time of his retirement. Vaeth was a frequent lecturer, including appearances in television documentaries, as well as the author of numerous professional articles and books.
General:
Additional materials: Mr. Vaeth also donated a number of books and volumes of "The Airship Quarterly" which are housed in National Air and Space Museum Branch Library.
Provenance:
J. Gordon Vaeth, Gift, 1993, NASM.1994.0011
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
The Hunsaker Papers are rich in aeronautical information relating to the 1920s and 1930s. The material furnishes a generous account of his contributions in the aeronautics field as an engineer. Interested researchers should pursue materials pertaining to Hunsaker in such repositories as MIT's Institute Archives and Special Collections Department, the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Corporation, the U.S. Navy History and Archives at the Washington Navy Yard, and the NASA History Office, Headquarters Building, Washington, DC. This archivist views the Hunsaker Papers, NASM.XXXX.0001, most relevant to research dealing with Hunsaker's professional career.
Scope and Contents:
These papers include material beginning with Hunsaker's work during his naval career. The largest quantity of material consists of correspondence, memos, and reports covering Hunsaker's tenure at Bell Telephone Laboratories and Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company; his association with the Chrysler and Sperry Corporations; and his tenure as Chairman of NACA while teaching at MIT.
Note: The digital images in this finding aid were repurposed from scans made by an outside contractor for a commercial product and may show irregular cropping and orientation in addition to color variations resulting from damage to and deterioration of the original objects.
Arrangement:
The papers can be grouped into three categories. The first is documentation pertaining to his work while Chief of the Aircraft Division, Bureau of Construction and Repair, Navy Department. In this capacity, Hunsaker was in a position to influence US Naval planning for all aspects of aviation during the post-World War I period. The second category of documentation concerns Hunsaker's entrance into the civilian work force. By this time, Hunsaker had begun to create an identity for himself as a determined leader. He was actively publishing and delivering papers on all facets of aeronautical engineering. When Hunsaker joined the staff of MIT as Head of the Department of Aeronautical Engineering in 1933, the world aviation community recognized and began to call upon his expertise regarding all aspects of aviation. The final category of documentation reflects Hunsaker's involvement with many professional societies including the American Philosophical Society and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He served as member and chairman of many corporate boards including the Chrysler Corporation, the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Corporation as well as the Guggenheim Medal Board.
Biographical/Historical note:
Jerome Clarke Hunsaker (b. August 26, 1886; d. September 10, 1984) was an aeronautical engineer and designer. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1908 at the head of his class and received his Masters of Science (1912) and Doctor of Science (1916) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) before being posted as Chief, Aircraft Division, Bureau of Construction and Repair, Navy Department (1916-1921). He advanced to Chief of the Design Division (1921-1923) where he designed the airship USS Shenandoah (ZR-1, commissioned in 1923). He served as Assistant Naval AttachŽ, Europe beginning in 1923 until resigning his commission in November of 1926. Between 1927 and 1928, he worked as Assistant Vice President and Research Engineer for Bell Telephone Laboratories. In this position, he helped standardize wire, radio and weather service for America's developing airways. He moved to Goodyear-Zeppelin Company as Vice President in 1928 where he supervised the design and construction of the airships USS Akron (ZRS-4) and USS Macon (ZRS-5). In 1933, he returned to MIT as Chairman of the Department of Aeronautical Engineering. Dr. Hunsaker served on numerous committees, including the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) between 1923 and 1956. He was NACA's Chairman from 1941 to 1956. Hunsaker also served NACA as a Main Committee member during 1922, 1923 and 1938 to 1958.
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.
This collection contains Upson's papers and notebooks. The material consists of notebooks, both general (1911-35) and experimental (1928-68) and reference files on a variety of aeronautical subjects. The collection also contains material from Upson's teaching career, as well as miscellaneous personal documents.
Scope and Contents:
This collection contains Upson's papers and notebooks. The material consists of notebooks, both general (1911-35) and experimental (1928-68) and reference files on a variety of aeronautical subjects. The collection also contains material from Upson's teaching career, as well as miscellaneous personal documents.
There is approximately seven cubic feet of correspondence, reports, manuscripts, notebooks
and various other materials.
Arrangement note:
Contents:
Series 1: Personal and Career
Subseries 1: Personal
Subseries 2: Career
Subseries 3: Education
Subseries 4: Authorship
Subseries 5: Correspondence
Series 2: Notepads and Notebooks
Subseries 1: Notepads and Appointment books
Subseries 2: Notebooks
Series 3: Subject files
Series 4: Miscellaneous
Biographical/Historical note:
Ralph Hazlett Upson (1888-1968) was an aeronautical engineer, inventor and pilot. After graduation from Stevens Institute of Technology (ME 1910) he rocketed to prominence by winning the International Balloon Race (1913) and American National Balloon Race (1913, 1921). He worked as chief engineer of the aeronautical department of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. (1914-1920), during which time he flew the first United States Navy coastal patrol airship on a demonstration flight (1917) and served on the Navy Design Mission to Europe (1918-19). He then moved to the Aircraft Development Corp. (Chief Engineer 1922-27) while serving as chairman of the Lighter-Than-Air (LTA) division of the Aeronautical Safety Code Commission, US Bureau of Standards (1922-24). He went to work for Aeromarine-Klemm Corp. and a number of other companies (1928-42), during which time he designed the first successful metal-clad airship, the ZMC-2 (1929). After a brief tenure at H. J. Heinze Co. (Chief of Aeronautical Engineering (1942-44) he moved into academia at New York University (NYU, Research Specialist and Lecturer 1944-46) and the University of Minnesota (Professor of Aeronautical Engineering 1946-56; Professor Emeritus 1956-1968). Upson then worked for Boeing (Research Specialist 1956-64) and remained an active consultant until his death.
General note:
An artifact from this collection, the Early Bird plaque of Ralph Upson, was transferred to the Aeronautics Division of the National Air and Space Museum.
This collection consists of nearly 250 glass plates, several folders of prints, and two boxes of glass plate envelopes affixed with small prints of the image formerly contained within them. The subject matter of the photography is primarily concerned with Alexander Graham Bell's tetrahedral experiments of 1906, flights of the Thomas Baldwin dirigible and the United States Signal Corps SC-1 free balloon (1908), and the Wright Flyer Army Trials at Fort Meyer, Virginia (1908 and 1909).
Scope and Content:
The Carl H. Claudy Photography Collection, held by the Archives Division of the National Air and Space Museum, consists of 249 glass plate negatives, mainly 4 x 5 inches in size, taken by Claudy from 1907 to 1909 and photographic contact prints made from the negatives. The subject matter of these images are divided into three main categories: Alexander Graham Bell's tetrahedral kite experiments (1907); the U.S. Army's trial flights of the Wright brothers' Military Flyer at Fort Meyer, Virginia (1908-1909); and lighter than air (LTA) flights including Thomas Baldwin's dirigible Signal Corps No. 1 and free balloon ascents by James C. McCoy's America and A. Leo Stevens' Signal Corps No. 10. The collection includes several prints from negatives broken or lost over time.
Arrangement:
Collection material has been arranged in the following series:
Series I: Photographs of Alexander Graham Bell's Tetrahedral Kite Experiments (1907)
Series II: Photographs of Wright Flyer Army Trials at Fort Meyer, Virginia (1908-1909)
Series III: Photographs of LTA activity, including Baldwin Signal Corps No. 1 airship flights and several free balloon ascensions (1907-1908)
Series IV: Claudy's original glass plate negatives. Due to the fragile condition of the negatives, this series is not available to researchers.
Series V: Additional material, including Claudy's original negative envelopes and contact prints, copy negatives, and copies of scans of the original negatives on compact discs.
Biographical/Historical note:
Carl Harry Claudy (1879-1957) was a journalist, a talented photographer, and the author of books on photography, aircraft modeling, Freemasonry, science fiction, and children's books. His books and articles include The First Book of Photography: a Primer of Theory and Practice for the Beginner (1918), Beginner's Book of Model Airplanes (1930), and Prize Winners' Book of Model Airplanes (1931). Claudy also wrote a comic strip, Adventures in the Unknown.
During the early 1900s, Claudy photographed several important aeronautical events - Alexander Graham Bell's tetrahedral kite experiments; flights of the airship Signal Corps No. 1, the U.S. Army's first powered aircraft; and the Wright Military Flyer trials at Fort Meyer, Virginia.
Attending these events were well-known figures of the day, and Claudy photographed many of them: Orville and Wilbur Wright, Glenn Curtiss, Alexander Graham Bell, President William Howard Taft, Thomas Baldwin, and Alice Roosevelt. Claudy's photographs are a valuable record of the early days of aeronautics and of the people who played a part in them.
Provenance:
Carl H. Claudy, gift, 1957, XXXX-0549, 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.
Knabenshue, A. Roy (Augustus Roy), 1876-1960 Search this
Names:
Early Birds of Aviation (Organization). Search this
Knabenshue, A. Roy (Augustus Roy), 1876-1960 Search this
Extent:
3.6 Cubic feet (8 legal document boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Diaries
Drawings
Correspondence
Manuscripts
Photographs
Date:
circa 1890s-1960s
Summary:
This collection contains approximately three and a half cubic feet of material relating to the life and career of A. Roy Knabenshue. The collection includes correspondence, photographic material, drawings of aircraft, and flight records.
Scope and Contents:
The A. Roy Knabenshue Collection (accession XXXX.0136 and related accession XXXX.0370) contains approximately three and a half cubic feet of material relating to the life and career of a daring aeronaut and the United States' first successful dirigible pilot. The collection includes correspondence, photographic material, drawings of aircraft, and flight records. The material spans over seventy years, from the end of the nineteenth century to the nineteen-sixties.
The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) received these materials in several parts in the early 1960s. Material was donated by Mrs. A. Roy (Jane) Knabenshue and their son, Glenn Knabenshue. Original order, where identified, has been maintained.
Arrangement note:
Series 1: Personal
Subseries 1: Biographical
Subseries 2: Articles and Manuscripts
Subseries 3: Correspondence
Series 2: Career
Subseries 1: The Wright Company
Subseries 2: National Park Service
Series 3: Photographs and Scrapbooks
Series 4: Drawings
Series 5: Subject files
Series 6: Miscellaneous
Biographical/Historical note:
Augustus Roy Knabenshue was born July 15, 1876 in Lancaster, Ohio to Samuel S. and Salome Matlack Knabenshue. The family later moved to Toledo, Ohio where Roy's father became editor-in-chief of the Toledo Blade. It was there that Roy became interested in lighter-than-air flight after seeing a balloon ascension when he was five years old. His interest continued to grow in the years that followed and in 1899 he bought a captive balloon and its equipment. The next season, he began to take short leaves of absence from his job at Central Union Telephone Company and was operating his balloon at fairs and carnivals, charging attendees for ascensions. To protect his day job and spare his socially prominent family embarrassment, Knabenshue used the name "Professor Don Carlos" at his balloon engagements. By 1900, Knabenshue had begun to fabricate additional spherical balloons himself, for use in free ascensions.
In October of 1904, Knabenshue took a new balloon to Saint Louis to enter it in contests associated with the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. There he met Thomas S. Baldwin, who had brought his dirigible the California Arrow to the event. The airship proved incapable of take off with Baldwin at the controls, and the slimmer Knabenshue was asked to substitute as pilot. Possessing no experience with dirigibles, Knabenshue accepted Baldwin's instructions and on October 25 became the first person to successfully pilot a dirigible in the United States.
Roy Knabenshue's name would be associated with the term "first" many times in the next few years. In 1905, Knabenshue built his own airship, the Toledo I, and flew it at its namesake city on Independence Day. A month later, Knabenshue made the first flight of an airship over Manhattan, taking off from Central Park and circling the Times Building. On December 17, 1908, he made the first successful night flight of a dirigible in the United States.
By 1909, Knabenshue had teamed up with Lincoln Beachey to fly airships at various events. Beachey was to fly a Knabenshue dirigible a year later at the Los Angeles International Air Meet, held at Dominguez Field, Los Angeles, which Knabenshue was instrumental in organizing. Knabenshue also raced his own airship during the event, setting several records.
His success attracted the attention of the Wright brothers, who were considering entering the exhibition field. Knabenshue was hired to manage the Wright Exhibition Team beginning in 1910, and worked with the team periodically for the next few years. Associated professionally at times with Glenn Martin, Walter Brookins and James V. Martin, by 1917 he had formed the Knabenshue Aircraft Corporation to produce dirigibles, kite balloons and parachutes. During the First World War, this company made captive observation balloons for use by the United States Navy.
In 1933, Knabenshue began working for the National Park Service. His duties included surveying air routes, and the management of an autogiro project.
After suffering a heart attack in 1949, Knabenshue retired. He died on March 6, 1960, at the age of 83, and was buried at the Portal of the Folded Wings, Valhalla Memorial Park, North Hollywood, California. He had held Balloon License Number 31, Dirigible License Number 4, built ten airships and numerous balloons, was a prominent member of the Early Birds of Aviation, and had earned a significant place in American aviation history.
Provenance:
Mrs. A. Roy (Jane) Knabenshue, NASM.XXXX.0136.
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.
The George Henry Mills Collection was donated to the National Air and Space Museum in 1994 by Mills' daughter, Mrs. Georgia Mills Head.
Scope and Contents:
The George Henry Mills Collection consists of 14.59 cubic feet (14.47 linear feet) of material collected from his naval career, 1918-1948. A large part of the collection is made up of records of Mills' service during World War II as the commander of the Atlantic Fleet's airship formations. The collection also includes records of his service as an official Navy observer aboard the German rigid airships Graf Zeppelin and Hindenburg. Of particular interest are records of the period before and immediately after the entry of the United States into World War II: the pre-war build-up of the Navy's LTA program, the "Neutrality Patrols" as the Navy fought an undeclared war against Germany, and of the harrowing early days of the Battle of the North Atlantic as German U-boats roamed the eastern coast of the United States. Mills maintained an extensive correspondence with many of the leading figures of LTA: Charles E. Rosendahl, Garland Fulton, and Scott E. Peck --their letters provide a unique picture of the Navy LTA program during its most active and successful period.
The collection also includes numerous technical reports on aspects of LTA flight, training material, photographs, clippings and articles on LTA.
Note: The digital images in this finding aid were repurposed from scans made by an outside contractor for a commercial product and may show irregular cropping and orientation in addition to color variations resulting from damage to and deterioration of the original objects.
Arrangement note:
The George H. Mills Collection is arranged in the following series:
Series I: Naval career of George H. Mills
Series II: Correspondence
Series III: General LTA Papers
Series IV: General Naval Papers
Series V: Publications, Articles, Clippings
Series VI: Lectures, Speeches, Papers
Series VII: Miscellaneous Papers
Series VIII: Photographs
Series IX: Scrapbooks; Oversized Material
Biographical/Historical note:
George Henry Mills (1895-1975), Naval officer and airship aviator, was a member of the U.S. Navy's inner circle of advocates of lighter than air (LTA) flight. Mills was born on August 5, 1895 in Rutherfordton, North Carolina, the son of John Craton Mills and Nora Poole Mills. He attended Bingham Military School in Asheville, North Carolina, and entered the U.S. Naval Academy in 1914. Mills graduated from the Academy in June, 1918 and served in various fleet and shore assignments (a chronology of Mills' naval service will be found in the notes to Series I on page 2). He married Leonore Wickersham of Corning, NY in 1923; their daughter, Georgia Lee Mills, was born in 1928.
Mills was assigned to LTA training at Naval Air Station Lakehurst, New Jersey in 1931. He completed his training in 1932 and served in the Navy's LTA fleet through the 1930's. Mills flew as an observer on board the Graf Zeppelin in 1934 and on the Hindenburg in 1936. In 1935, Mills survived the crash of the USS Macon off the California coast. Mills returned to Lakehurst, serving there in various assignments; he was made commanding officer of NAS Lakehurst in January, 1940.
At Lakehurst, Mills organized blimp patrols as part of the Navy's Neutrality Patrol and helped coordinate the Navy's rapid buildup of the LTA program. When Airship Patrol Group One was formed in January 1942, Mills was named commanding officer; in December 1942 he commanded Airship Wing Thirty. In July 1943, Mills was assigned as the commander of Fleet Airships, Atlantic - the chief of the Navy's LTA forces in the Atlantic Theater. George Mills was promoted to the rank of Commodore in November 1943.
In 1945, Mills returned to sea as the captain of the troopship USS Hermitage. Before retirement from the Navy in 1949, Mills served as the chief of the Naval Airship Training and Experimentation Command (CNATE) at NAS Lakehurst.
After leaving the Navy, Mills settled in North Carolina and worked for the Equitable Life Insurance Company, and later for the National Securities and Research Corporation. Mills served one term in the North Carolina State Legislature from 1950 to 1952. George H. Mills died on October 24, 1975, the same day as his longtime LTA colleague and friend, Garland Fulton, whose papers are also part of the collections of the National Air and Space Archives. They were buried on the same day in Arlington National Cemetery.
Chronology:
Chronology of George H. Mills' Naval Service
1914 -- June 14 - Entered U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland
1918 -- June 6 - Graduated from the Academy, Class of 1919; commissioned Ensign, USN September 21 - Service aboard USS New Mexico. Promoted to Lieutenant (JG)(Temporary)
1920 -- June 1 - Promotion to Lieutenant (JG)
1922 -- First LTA flight as gunnery spotter on captive balloon on USS New Mexico June 3 - Promotion to Lieutenant
1923 -- September 25 - Assigned as personal aide to RADM George W. Williams, Commandant, Sixth Naval District, Charleston, SC June 20 - Assigned as divisions communication officer on staff of VADM Henry A. Wiley, Battleship Division, Battle Fleet
1929 -- June 5 -Assistant gunnery officer and senior watch officer, USS Pensacola
1924 -- August 5 - Served as aide and flag secretary to RADM Williams as Commander Destroyer Squadrons, Scouting Fleet. Served on USS Concord, USS Dobbin, USS Whitney
1925 -- September - Continued as aide when RADM Williams was relieved by RADM Noble E. Irwin
1931 -- June 1 - Ordered to NAS Lakehurst for LTA instruction. Training flights on free and captive balloons and on airships Los Angeles (ZR-3), Akron (ZRS-4), J-3, J-4, K-1 and ZMC-2
1927 -- June 30 - Officer-in-charge, naval recruiting for North and South Carolina, Raleigh, North Carolina
1933 -- September 1 - Promotion to Lieutenant Commander
1934 -- May 14 - Ordered on temporary duty as naval observer on the Graf Zeppelin. Made three round trips aboard the Graf Zeppelin between Friedrichshafen and cities in South America August 9 - Ordered to NAS Lakehurst as Operations Officer October 14 - Ordered to NAS Sunnyvale (later NAS Moffett Field) as tactical officer, pilot and navigational watch on USS Macon (ZRS-4)
1935 -- February 12 - USS Macon crashes off Point Sur, California. Mills is rescued after three hours in the water April 15 - Ordered to NAS Lakehurst as operations and mooring officer
1936 -- November 4 - Ordered to Newport News for fitting out USS Yorktown August - Naval observer aboard Hindenburg on round trip flights between Lakehurst and Frankfort, Germany
1937 -- September 30 – Assigned as gunnery officer, USS Yorktown September 12 – October 2 - Training in chemical warfare at Gas Warfare School, Edgewood Arsenal, MD
1939 -- July 1 - Promotion to Commander June – Assigned as executive officer, NAS Lakehurst
1940 -- January 15 - Appointed commanding officer, NAS Lakehurst
1941 -- July - Temporary duty, Airship Board, Washington
1942 -- December 1 - Appointed Commander, Fleet Airship Wing Thirty June 17 - Promotion to Captain January 2 - Appointed Commander, Airship Patrol Group One
1943 -- November 5 - Promotion to Commodore July 1 - Appointed Commander, Fleet Airships, Atlantic
1945 -- July 23 - Awarded Legion of Merit July 10 - Appointed captain, USS Hermitage (AP-54). Reverts to rank of captain
1946 -- August 5 - Appointed commander, NAS Moffett Field
1947 -- September 26 - Appointed chief, Naval Airship Training and Experimentation Command (CNATE)
1949 -- June 30 - Retirement from U.S. Navy
Abbreviations
ADM -- Admiral
ASW -- Anti-submarine warfare
ATC -- Air Transport Command
BuAer -- Bureau of Aeronautics (US Navy)
CDR -- Commander
CNATE -- Naval Airship Training and Experimentation Command
Cong -- Congress
GHM -- George Henry Mills
LTA -- Lighter than air flight
MAD -- Magnetic anomaly detector (often found as magnetic airborne detector)
NACA -- National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
NAS -- Naval Air Station
NATS -- Naval Air Transport Service
ND -- No date
RADM -- Rear admiral
RN -- Royal Navy
Sess -- Session
VADM -- Vice Admiral
WPA -- Works Project Authority
ZNP -- Patrol airship
ZP -- Airship squadron
Provenance:
Georgia M. Head, Gift, 1994, 1994-0022, NASM
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 http://airandspace.si.edu/permissions
Major General Frank Purdy Lahm (1877-1963) was the first balloon pilot, the first airship pilot, and the first airplane pilot in the US Army. Like his father, Frank Samuel Lahm, his early interest was in ballooning, and in 1906 he won the James Gordon Bennett International Balloon Race. In 1909 Lahm and Lt. Frederick E. Humphreys were trained by Orville and Wilbur Wright to fly the first plane the US Army purchased from the Wrights. In 1912 he was made commanding officer of the US Army Flying School in the Philippines, and during World War I he was commander of the Second Army Air Service. Following the war Lahm founded the Air Corps Training Center at Randolph Field, a source of great pride to him, but was reassigned in 1931 as air attaché and later military attaché to France and Belgium. When Lahm retired from the military in 1941 he had distinguished himself as recipient of the Distinguished Service Medal and the French Legion of Honor.
This collection consists of photographs and news clippings detailing Lahm's military career and his personal life.
Scope and Contents:
The Frank Purdy Lahm Collection (Acc. 1986-0044), located in the National Air and Space Museum Archives Division, is made up of approximately 1 cubic foot of newsclippings and other materials relating to his personal life and aviation-oriented career. The collection was donated by Lahm's children, Colonel Lawrence Lahm and Mrs. R.E. McMahon on September 12, 1985. The collection was formally received by NASM Archives Division in January of 1986.
The collection consists primarily of newsclippings relating Lahm's aviation-oriented military career. Also included are personal items such as correspondence, photographs, and published materials. Materials in this collection date between 1906 and 1963, with the bulk dates being between circa 1912 and 1930, when Lahm's military career appears busiest. The materials were divided into 3 Series:
1) The personal life of Frank Purdy Lahm: this includes newsclippings, personal correspondence, speeches and presentations, awards and honors both won by and established in the name of Lahm, and newsclippings in which Lahm speaks about other aviation happenings.
2) Materials relating to Lahm's Military Career: this series includes Lahm's ballooning experiences and reports to his superiors, his establishing of the U.S. Army Flying School at Fort McKinley in the Philippine Islands and his establishing of the U.S. Army Air Training Corps, Randolph Field, TX. Also included in this series is a copy of a pamphlet entitled Training the Airplane Pilot, which Lahm wrote for Great Britain while he was Military and Air Attaché to France and Belgium.
3) Clippings relating to aviation figures: this series contains newsclippings collected by Lahm for other aviation figures he apparently knew. While the bulk of these relate to Henry Arnold and the Wright Brothers, there is also a folder entitled "Clippings on other Aviation Figures."
As the bulk of this collection is made up of newsclippings, arrangement was made difficult by the fact that items relating to the same incident were spread out over a period of years. As such, a chronological arrangement of materials on the folder level was impossible. Arrangement on the folder level has been done by subject, with either chronological or alphabetical arrangement for items within the folder.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into 3 Series:
1) The personal life of Frank Purdy Lahm: this includes newsclippings, personal correspondence, speeches and presentations, awards and honors both won by and established in the name of Lahm, and newsclippings in which Lahm speaks about other aviation happenings.
2) Materials relating to Lahm's Military Career: this series includes Lahm's ballooning experiences and reports to his superiors, his establishing of the U.S. Army Flying School at Fort McKinley in the Philippine Islands and his establishing of the U.S. Army Air Training Corps, Randolph Field, TX. Also included in this series is a copy of a pamphlet entitled Training the Airplane Pilot, which Lahm wrote for Great Britain while he was Military and Air Attaché to France and Belgium.
3) Clippings relating to aviation figures: this series contains newsclippings collected by Lahm for other aviation figures he apparently knew. While the bulk of these relate to Henry Arnold and the Wright Brothers, there is also a folder entitled "Clippings on other Aviation Figures."
As the bulk of this collection is made up of newsclippings, arrangement was made difficult by the fact that items relating to the same incident were spread out over a period of years. As such, a chronological arrangement of materials on the folder level was impossible. Arrangement on the folder level has been done by subject, with either chronological or alphabetical arrangement for items within the folder.
Series 1: Personal Life
Series 2: Military Career
Series 3: Other Aviation Figures
Biographical/Historical note:
Frank Purdy Lahm was born on 17 November 1877 in Mansfield, Ohio, the son of balloonist Frank S. Lahm and Adelaide Purdy Lahm. Following his mother's death in 1880, Frank's father moved to Paris to pursue his ballooning interests, leaving his son in the care of a widowed aunt. Between 1880 and 1901, Lahm attended a number of schools and military institutes, finally graduating in 1901 with a Bachelor of Military Science degree from the United States Military Academy, West Point. After graduation, Lahm was assigned to the cavalry branch and immediately departed to the Philippines for duty with the Sixth Cavalry. He served there until 1903, when, much to his dismay, he was reassigned to West Point to teach French. In the summer of 1904, Lahm went to visit his father in Paris on leave. While there, Lahm made his first ascent in a balloon. One year later Lahm was awarded Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (F.A.I.) Balloon Certificate #4. In 1906 Lahm represented the United States in the first Gordon Bennett International Balloon Race, which Lahm and his aide, Major Henry Hersey, won after out distancing their nearest opponents by fifty miles. Lahm was then transferred to the Aeronautical Section of the Army Signal Corps. Lahm was ordered to investigate aeronautical activities in Britain and Germany, where he spent much of 1907. In February of 1908, Lahm drafted a report on military aviation and presented it to Theodore Roosevelt, who then approved a sum of $25,000 for military aeronautics. Having received F.A.I. Airship Pilot Certificate #2, Lahm was deemed the best candidate to direct trial flights leading to the possible purchase of military aircraft.
With his prior aviation experience, Lahm was put in charge of organizing the 1908 trials of the Wright brothers' aircraft at Fort Myer, Virginia. While at Fort Myer, Lahm was the first passenger in a heavier-than-air craft, flying eight days prior to the accident in which Lt. Thomas Selfridge became the first Army flight casualty. After the accident, Lahm and the other directors were re-assigned to their original branches, with Lahm returning to the cavalry. Trial flights of the Wright Military Flyer resumed in 1909. On 9 September, Lahm and Orville Wright set the world endurance flying record with a flight of six minutes. During October, Wilbur Wright taught Lahm and Lt. Frederick Humphries to fly at College Park, Maryland, and Lahm received F.A.I. Airplane Pilot Certificate #2 on 26 October, soloing three minutes after Humphries.
Following the successful trial flights, Lahm returned to the cavalry branch and remained in relative anonymity until July 1911, when he won the National Balloon Race in St. Louis, Missouri, and placed second in the International Balloon Race, held at the same time. On 18 October, 1911, Lahm married Gertrude Jenner. In 1912, Lahm was transferred to the Philippine Islands, where he established and commanded the U.S. Army Flying School at Fort McKinley. Lahm remained in the Pacific until 1914, when he was again reassigned to the cavalry and served on the Mexican border. After his tour with the cavalry, Lahm was promoted to the rank of captain in April of 1916 and served as the secretary of the U.S. Army Flying School, Rockwell Field, San Diego, California. He remained here until 1917, when he was put in command of the U.S. Army Balloon School, Omaha, Nebraska, and promoted to the temporary rank of colonel. Later in that same year, Lahm was ordered overseas to observe British and French use of balloons in combat. Originally intending to return home, Lahm was then put in command of the American Expeditionary Force (A.E.F.) lighter-than-air service. He also acted as Commander of the Second Army Air Service, A.E.F. In 1918, due to the wartime necessity for officers, Lahm was promoted to the permanent rank of colonel and continued his service with the Second Army Air Service.
In 1919 and 1920 Lahm attended the Army War College, followed by assignment to the War Department General Staff in Washington, D.C. until 1924. From 1924 to 1926 Lahm acted as Air Officer for the Ninth Corps Area, and in 1926, Lahm was instrumental in planning and organizing the Air Corps Training Center, which was to soon become Randolph Field, San Antonio, Texas. His duties at Randolph Field kept him in Texas until 1930, when Lahm was temporarily promoted to the rank of brigadier general and assigned as the Assistant Chief of the Air Corps. In 1930, Lahm returned to the position of Air Officer, Ninth Corps Area. In 1931, Lahm's wife died. Following his duty as Air Officer, Lahm reverted to his permanent rank and was assigned as the Air Attaché to France, Belgium, and Spain. In 1933, Lahm picked up the additional responsibility of being Military Attaché to France and Belgium, remaining in both of these posts until 1935. He then served as Air Officer for the Second Corps Area until 1940, when he became the Chief of Aviation, First Army, at Governors Island, New York. In 1941, Lahm was promoted to the permanent rank of brigadier general and assigned as the Commanding General at the Gulf Coast Training Center, Randolph Field, Texas. While here he received an honorary promotion to the rank of major general from President Franklin Roosevelt. Having reached mandatory retirement age, Lahm retired on 30 November, 1941 with the rank of brigadier general.
Following retirement, Lahm moved back to his hometown of Mansfield, Ohio. His interest in aviation continued, and within two years he and Charles de Forest Chandler co-authored How Our Army Grew Wings, on aeronautical activities in the U.S. Army prior to 1914. Lahm also became interested in civic activities during this time, becoming involved with the Boy Scouts, various local historical societies, and with stimulating local interest in international events. He helped establish International Affairs Committees in Cleveland and Mansfield, Ohio. Lahm also spoke on the lecture circuit, relating his personal experiences and providing support for the advancement of military aviation. On 4 April, 1948, Lahm married Grace Wolfe Kenson.
On 3 July, 1963 Lahm suffered a stroke and was hospitalized in Sandusky, Ohio. On 7 July 1963 he passed away at the age of eighty-five. His body was cremated and the ashes were spread into the air from a plane flying over Randolph Field, Texas.
In addition to being a member and past President of the Early Birds of Aviation, Inc., Lahm was also a member of the Washington, D.C. Army and Navy Club, the National Aeronautical Association, the American Legion, the Aéro-Club de France, and an Honorary Member of the Aero Club of America. Besides his many balloon competition victories, his awards include the Distinguished Service Medal (U.S.A.), the Commander of Legion of Honor (France), and the Ordre d'Avis (Portugal).
General:
Frank Purdy Lahm Timeline
1877 -- Frank Purdy Lahm born on 17 November, Mansfield, Ohio, the son of Frank S. Lahm and Adelaide Purdy Lahm.
1880 -- Adelaide Purdy Lahm died and Frank S. Lahm moves to France, leaving their son in the care of a widowed aunt.
1901 -- Graduated with a B.S., U.S. Military Academy, West Point. Commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the U.S.Army.
1901-1905 -- Served with the Sixth Cavalry in the Philippine Islands and then reassigned as instructor in French at the U.S. Military Academy.
1904 -- Lahm makes his first ascent as passenger in a balloon.
1905 -- Awarded Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (F.A.I) Balloon Pilot Certificate #4 after soloing 15 July while visiting his father in France.
1906 -- Winner (with Henry Hersey) of the first Gordon Bennett International Balloon Race, 30 September to 1 October.
1907 -- Investigator of military aeronautics production facilities and bases in London, England, and Berlin, Germany.
1908 -- Awarded F.A.I. Airship Pilot Certificate #2, August, after flying the Signal Corps Dirigible #1.
1908-1909 -- In charge of the Wright Brothers test flights at Fort Myer, Virginia. First passenger in a heavier-than-air craft, flying eight days prior to the Wright-Selfridge accident.
1909 -- Learned to fly at College Park, Maryland, with Wilbur Wright. Later awarded F.A.I. Airplane Pilot Certificate #2, 26 October. Established endurance flying record with Orville Wright, 9 September.
1911 -- Married Gertrude Jenner, 18 October. Winner of National Balloon Race, St. Louis, Missouri, July.
1912-1913 -- Organized and acted as commanding officer, U.S. Army Flying School, Fort William McKinley, Philippine Islands.
1913 -- Appointed "Military Aviator" by the War Department, and "Expert Aviator #15" by the Aero Club of America, July.
1914-1916 -- Service on the Mexican border with the U.S. Cavalry.
1916 -- Promoted to the rank of captain and designated a "Jr. Military Aviator," April.
1916-1917 -- Assigned as secretary of the U.S. Army Flying School, Rockwell Field, North Island, San Diego, California.
1917 -- Temporarily promoted to rank of lt. colonel and assigned as commanding officer of the U.S. Army Balloon School, Omaha, Nebraska. Later served as an observer with British and French air units on the Western Front.
1917-1918 -- Organized and commanded the American Expeditionary Force (A.E.F.) lighter-than-air service. Also served as commander, Second Army Air Service, A.E.F.
1918 -- Temporarily promoted to rank of colonel, U.S. Army.
1919-1920 -- Attended the Army War College.
1920-1924 -- Assigned to the War Department General Staff, Washington, D.C.
1924-1926 -- Served as Air Officer for the Ninth Corps Area.
1926 -- Established the Air Corps Training Center, San Antonio, Texas, 1 September.
1926-1930 -- Promoted to the temporary rank of brigadier general, 17 July, and assigned as the Assistant Chief of the Air Corps.
1930 -- Returned to duty as Air Officer, Ninth Corps Area.
1931 -- Death of Gertrude Jenner Lahm, October.
1931-1935 -- Reverted to rank of colonel and assigned as Air Attaché to France, Belgium, and Spain.
1932-1935 -- Assigned as Military Attaché to France and Belgium.
1935-1940 -- Acted as Air Officer for the Second Corps Area.
1940-1941 -- Served as Chief of Aviation First Army, Governors Island, NY.
1941 -- Promoted to brigadier general and assigned as Commanding General, Gulf Coast Training Center, Randolph Field, TX. Honorary promotion to rank of major general by Franklin Roosevelt, September. Frank Purdy Lahm retires with the permanent rank of Brigadier General, 30 November.
1943 -- Co-authored How Our Army Grew Wings with Charles De Forrest Chandler. Published by Ronald Press.
1948 -- Married Grace Wolfe Kenson, 4 April.
1949-1950 -- Served as President of the Early Birds of Aviation, Inc. organization.
1956 -- Lahm and his wife are seriously injured in car accident, Mansfield, Ohio.
1963 -- Frank Purdy Lahm died following a cerebral hemorrhage, Sandusky, Ohio, 7 July. Lahm was cremated and his remains were scattered over Randolph Air Force Base, Texas.
Provenance:
Lawrence Lahm, gift, 1986, 1986-0044, Not NASM.
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.
A worldwide multimarket company with many divisions organized into aerospace, consumer, industrial, metal product, and creative capital groups. Information on company's divisions and products. Ball bearings, ball bearing power transmission units, milling machines and attachments, drilling and boring equipment and attachments, grinding machines, tracing machines, numerical control systems for these machines, and accessories. Bostitch pneumatic staplers and nailers...this comprises the uncataloged portion.
Gould Electronics, Inc. ; Gould Coupler Co. (New York, NY) ; Gould, Inc. ; Gould-National Batteries, Inc. (St. Paul, MN) ; NICAD Div. ; Century Electric Div. ; Industrial Battery Div. Search this
Notes content:
Oversized. Gould Coupler Co.: Railroad equipment: freight, pilot, tender and passenger car couplers; vestibules; platforms and buffers; draft gear; trap door rigging; journal boxes. Car and engine axles. Truck bolsters. Gould Storage Battery Corp.: sealed-in-glass batteries; kathanode glassklad batteries for mine locomotives; armored kathanode storage batteries for aircraft service, locomotives, articulated trains, railway signals, railway car lighting, motor cars, industrial trucks and tractors, telephone applications, radios. Gould-National Batteries, Inc.: nickel-cadmium rechargeable batteries; minaturized alkaline storage batteries; dreadnaught type element.
Includes:
Trade catalog
Black and white images
Color images
Physical description:
145 pieces; 5 boxes
Language:
English
Type of material:
Trade catalogs
Trade literature
Place:
DePew, New York, United States
Date range:
1800s-1900s
Topic (Romaine term):
Automobiles and automotive equipment (including trucks and buses) Search this
This collection consists of a 22 by 29 inch drawing, containing a "Side Elevation of Construction" (side view), a "Ground Plan" (top view), and a color illustration of the Charles G. Loeber Airboat, 1890. The drawing comes with a one-page Airboat Construction Fund Plan, which contains information from Loeber about the funds he needs to build his Airboat.
Biographical / Historical:
In 1890, Charles G. Loeber of Boston, Massachusetts, was soliciting funds to build his "Airboat." This may be the same Charles G. Loeber who in 1892 was living in Brooklyn, New York, and wrote the Prospectus for Proving and Introducing the Loeber Air Car
Provenance:
Bonnie Ward, Gift, 2012
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
This collection consists of drawings relating to Aaron A. Sargent's designs for an Aerial Ship in 1883
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of approximately eighteen sheets of drawings, descriptions and calculations relating to Aaron A. Sargent's designs for an Aerial Ship. These early dirigible designs are dated June 2, 1883 and are believed to have been drawn during Sargent's tenure as Minister to Germany.
Arrangement:
No arrangement; just one folder of material.
Biographical/Historical note:
Aaron Augustus Sargent (1827-1887) was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts. After working in the printer's trade in Philadelphia, PA, he moved to Washington, DC and became Secretary to a Member of Congress. He later owned a paper in Nevada City, CA and studied law there, subsequently serving as District Attorney and as Representative to the Thirty-seventh Congress. He served as a United States Senator from 1873-1879. In January 1878 he introduced to the Senate a bill that was to be adopted in 1920 as the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, granting suffrage to women. Sargent returned to California in 1880. He was appointed Minister to Germany (1882-1884) and thereafter practiced law in San Francisco, CA.
Provenance:
David I. and Janice Sargent Lamphier, Gift, 2000, NASM.2000.0032
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.
This collection consists of approximately seventeen cubic feet of LTA material created or gathered by Norman Mayer during his career, 1941-2000s. The material spans from early Goodyear, Navy and Zeppelin design material, to later LTA designs from the 1970s-2000s, including those from Airship Industries Ltd, American Skyship Industries and CargoLifter AG. The types of material include: photographs, drawings, manuals, patents, conference reports, notebooks, design and feasibility studies/reports, scrapbooks and 16mm film.
Biographical / Historical:
Norman Mayer (1916-2015) was an aerospace engineer, whose professional career spanned 65 years in the airship industry. Mayer graduated from the Academy of Aeronautics in Queens, New York, in March 1941 and immediately began his career at the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation in Akron Ohio as a design, research and flight test engineer for Naval patrol airships. After his work at Goodyear, he worked for the U.S. Navy Bureau of Aeronautics in Washington, D.C. as an expert in lighter-than-air (LTA) technology. In 1961, Mayer joined the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) where he managed research in space stations, lunar and planetary bases, orbiting telescopes and composite materials. While at NASA, he served as a consultant to the State Department and the World Bank on LTA systems. He retired from the government in 1984 and continued to consult in LTA systems for government and industrial organizations. He was an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, an Associate Member of the Society of Naval Architects, an Honorary Life member of the Lighter than Air Society and of the Navy Lakehurst Historical Society and technical chairman of the Naval Airship Association.
Provenance:
Margaret Mayer, Gift, 2016
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
This collection consists of blueprints, a manual, newspaper articles, brochures and photographs of airships and balloons during the early part of the 20th century, usually relating to Gampper's career. The airships included are the Roma, the Wingfoot Express, and the Pony Blimp at Commercial Air Syndicate.
Biographical / Historical:
Frederick K. Gampper, Jr., began his aviation career in 1917. During the late 1910s and early 1920s, Gampper worked for the dirigible department at Goodyear Rubber Company where he was a supervisor of dirigible construction in Key West, an airship pilot, and trained other pilots for Goodyear. After his stint at Goodyear, Gampper helped raise stock for the Commercial Airship Syndicate, LTD., which would have been the first commercial airship airline in the United States. The night before the commencement of the company's schedule began, however, a storm destroyed the airship. Gampper's dirigible balloon pilot's license was no. #53, his Spherical Balloon Aero Club of America license was no. #655.
General:
NASMrev
Provenance:
James M. Gampper and Frederick K. Gampper III, gift, 1993, 1993-0062, NASM
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
0.05 Cubic feet (1 folder, Printed invitation with hand-lettered name., 4.25 x 5.4 inches)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Invitations
Date:
October 10, 1923
Summary:
This single-item collection consists of an invitation to the christening of the US Navy airship ZR-1 USS Shenandoah at NAS Lakehurst, New Jersey, on October 10, 1923.
Scope and Contents:
This single-item collection consists of an invitation to the christening of the US Navy airship ZR-1 USS Shenandoah at Naval Air Station Lakehurst, New Jersey, on October 10, 1923: "The Secretary of the Navy requests the pleasure of the company of Mr. Benjamin Postman at the Christening of the U. S. S. Shenandoah on Wednesday afternoon, October the tenth at two o'clock at the United States Naval Air Station, Lakehurst, New Jersey."
Arrangement:
No arrangement.
Biographical / Historical:
Plans for the construction of the US Navy airship ZR-1 USS Shenandoah, the first rigid airship to be built in the United States, were begun in September 1919; her parts were manufactured at the Naval Aircraft Factory and then shipped to NAS Lakehurst for final assembly. The assembly began on February 11, 1922, and the Shenandoah was christened on October 10, 1923. Despite her relatively short life of two years, the Shenandoah achieved many firsts during her operational career. She was the first rigid airship to be inflated with helium; the first to use water recovery apparatus for the continuous recovery of ballast from the exhaust gas of fuel burned; and she completed the most extended operation accomplished by an airship up to that time, completing 57 flights, logging 740 hours in the air, and covering about 28,000 miles on flights designed to train crewmen in the science of handling large airships in naval missions. Sadly, the airship was to meet a tragic end. Before dawn on the morning of September 3, 1925, over eastern Ohio, the Shenandoah encountered a severe storm. She broke in two; the control car separated and fell to the ground while the forward section of the ship rose to a great height and remained in the air for the greater part of an hour before making a free balloon landing at Sharon, Ohio, with the bulk of the airship crashing near Ava, Ohio. Fourteen of the 43-person crew were killed.
Provenance:
Alan S. Postman, gift, 1988, NASM. 1988.0054.
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.
Div. of American Car and Foundry Motors Co. Search this
Notes content:
"A Story Told by Photographs of the Factory and General Offices, Hall-Scott Motor Car Company" ; "Defender" marine engines ; engines for runabouts and sport craft ; aircraft engines ; engines for buses, trucks, rail cars, and industrial use ; Liberty motor
Includes:
Trade catalog and photographs
Black and white images
Color images
Physical description:
40 pieces; 3 boxes
Language:
English
Type of material:
Trade catalogs
Trade literature
Place:
Berkeley, California, United States
Date:
1900s
Topic (Romaine term):
Automobiles and automotive equipment (including trucks and buses) Search this
