5.45 Cubic feet ((5 records center boxes) (1 16x20x3 flatbox))
5.2 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Maps
Audiotapes
Scrapbooks
Date:
1916-1960
Scope and Contents:
This collection documents the Cockburn-Lange hoax. The material includes the photos used in the book, as well as correspondence and journal articles detailing Grosz and Schneide's unraveling of the hoax. The collection also includes personal correspondence from Archer and various maps.
Arrangement:
Arrangement: 1) Photographs published in DEATH IN THE AIR (1933), arranged by page number 2) unpublished photographs, unarranged 3) Peter M. Grosz & Karl S. Schneide journal articles and correspondence 4) Wesley David Archer correspondence arranged chronologically, 1915-1960 5) photographs of family, travel and friends 6) books 7) maps 8) artifacts 9) oversize photographs
Biographical / Historical:
In 1933 the anonymous "Death in the Air: The War Diary and Photographs of a Flying Corps Pilot" purported to be the record of a Royal Flying Corps (RFC) pilot during World War I, and included photos allegedly taken by the pilot during aerial combat. The photos were supposedly owned by a Mrs. Gladys Maud Cockburn-Lange, but had actually been faked by Wesley David Archer, an American pilot who had served in the RFC. The Cockburn-Lange hoax persisted until it was exposed by Peter M. Grosz, a German aviation author (Princeton, NJ), and Karl S. Schneide, from the Aeronautics Department of the National Air and Space Museum, in the early 1980s.
General:
NASMrev
Provenance:
John W. Charlton, gift, 1985, 1986-0008, 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
