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.
Collection Citation:
Charles Ingram Stanton, Sr., Papers, Acc. NASM.1987.0076, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
This collection consist of Cyrus Bettis' logbook, photographs, correspondence and news clippings that document the Pulitzer Trophy flights as well as Bettis' career as an Army Air Service pilot.
Biographical / Historical:
Cyrus Bettis (1893-1926) was one of the leading Army Air Service pursuit pilots in the early 1920s. Born in Carsonville, Michigan, Bettis entered the Army as a flying cadet in February 1918. He attended the school of Military Aeronautics at the University of Illinois and was sent to Camp Dick, Dallas, Texas in April of that year. He finished his flight training and was commissioned second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Service on September 11, 1918. On July 1, 1920, Bettis was commissioned in the Regular Army and promoted to first lieutenant. During the International Air Races in 1924, Lt. Bettis won the John L. Mitchell Trophy Race. Bettis won the 1925 Pulitzer Trophy competition and established a world record of 249.342 miles per hour, flying the Curtiss R3C-2 Racer in its land plane configuration. Bettis was also the backup pilot for the 1925 Schneider Trophy competition, and flew the R3C extensively in its float plane configuration. Bettis, along with Lt. James Doolittle, was awarded the Mackay Trophy for 1925. Bettis died at the Walter Reed General Hospital in Washington DC on September 1, 1926, as a result of injures he received in an aircraft accident on August 23, 1926, when in heavy fog he crashed into a mountainside near Bellefonte, Pennsylvania.
Provenance:
Aviationbug.com, purchase, 2009, NASM.2009.0038
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
0.9 Cubic feet (One flat box and one letter document box.)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Scrapbooks
Photographic prints
Date:
1893 - 1926 (1925-26)
Summary:
This collection documents Cyrus Bettis' aviation career.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consist of the following types of material documenting Cyrus Bettis' aviation career: photographs, both portraits and snapshots; 1925 National Air Race program; correspondence; newspapers; a scrapbook containing newspaper articles; transcript of radio address; caricature of Bettis; and 1st day covers.
Arrangement:
Arrangment by type.
Biographical / Historical:
Cyrus Bettis (1893-1926) was one of the leading Army Air Service pursuit pilots in the early to mid-1920s. Born in Carsonville, Michigan, Bettis entered the Army as a flying cadet in February 1918. He attended the school of Military Aeronautics at the University of Illinois and was sent to Camp Dick, Dallas, Texas in April of that year. He finished his flight training and was commissioned second lieutenant, Air Service (Aeronautics) on September 11, 1918. On July 1, 1920, Bettis was commissioned in the Regular Army and promoted to first lieutenant. During the International Air Races in 1924, Lt. Bettis won the John L. Mitchell Trophy Race. Bettis won the October 1925 Pulitzer Trophy competition and established a world record of 249,342 miles per hour, flying the Curtiss R3C-2 Racer in its land plane configuration. Bettis was also the backup pilot for the 1925 Schneider Trophy competition and flew the R3C extensively in its float plane configuration. Bettis, along with Lt. James Doolittle, was awarded the Mackay Trophy for 1925. Bettis died at the Walter Reed General Hospital in Washington, DC on September 1, 1926, as a result of injures he received in an aircraft accident on August 23, 1926, when in heavy fog he crashed into a mountainside near Bellefonte, Pennsylvania.
Provenance:
Stuart and Martha S. Lehman, Gift, 2018, NASM.2018.0066
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 scrapbook consists of photographs of Tait and his fellow cadets, plane maneuvers, gun camera photos, and newspaper clippings. Included in the collection but separate from the scrapbook are pages from a memoranda/address book, a brief memoir written by Tait in the early 1980s, and several official army certificates such as his training diplomas and his honorable discharge certificate. There is also a large comical watercolor of a pilot in a plane entitled the "Spirit of 1918" and signed at the bottom by 31 people.
Biographical / Historical:
During the summer of 1917, Trevor S. Tait postponed his studies at Yale University in order to volunteer for service with the new branch of the military, the U.S. Air Service. He received his initial pilot training at the newly opened ground school at Cornell University in November 1917. After graduating in February 1918, he was ordered to Camp Dick at Dallas, Texas, and then Love Field, also near Dallas. In October, 1918, he was commissioned, given pursuit classification, and ordered to Carlstrom Field at Arcadia, Florida. After graduating as a pursuit pilot in November, 1918, he was sent to Dorr Field, near Arcadia, for aerial gunnery training. Upon graduation, World War I having already ended, he was provided with an emergency discharge so that he could begin his freshman year at Yale.
General:
NASMrev
Provenance:
Kevin S. Tait, Gift, 2001, 2001-0040, 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
![view Cyrus Bettis Collection [Shuart] digital asset: Finding aid](https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?max=170&id=https://sirismm.si.edu/siris/findingaid.gif "Finding aid")
