This collection consists of material relating to Francis Gary Powers's flying career in the Air Force, Central Intelligence Agency, and later pursuits. The majority of the documents deal with the May 1960 U-2 incident, in which Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union during a reconnaisance mission and imprisoned. Materials include: logbooks; flight records from his military and civilian careers; a pocket diary and journal he kept during his Soviet imprisonment; letters to his parents; materials collected by his parents as his father attempted to visit him including a telegram from Nikita Khrushchev and a New Testament given to Powers by his mother during his Soviet trial; Congressional hearing material; newspaper articles; Life magazine; and several photographs of Powers.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of documents relating to Francis Gary Powers and his aviation career, particularly the 1960 U-2 incident with the Soviet Union. Materials include: logbooks; flight records from his military and civilian careers; a pocket diary and journal he kept during his Soviet imprisonment; letters to his parents; materials collected by his parents as his father attempted to visit him including a telegram from Nikita Khrushchev and a New Testament given to Powers by his mother during his Soviet trial; Congressional hearing material; newspaper articles; Life magazine; and several photographs of Powers.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged into three series: Early Career, the U-2 Incident, and Post U-2 Incident Life and Career.
Series 1 contains materials relating to Francis Gary Power's early career with the United States Air Force before resigning to join the CIA, including his birth certificate, military orders and forms, and his individual flight records.
Series 2 contains materials relating to the U-2 incident, in which Francis Gary Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union and imprisoned. The first set of materials relates to Powers' imprisonment, including his prison journal, pocket diary, New Testament, correspondence, and the subsequent congressional hearing. The second set of materials relates to the Powers family during the incident, including correspondence and telegrams with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and the United States government and Oliver Powers' passport. The third set of materials relates to the media reactions to the incident, including complete newspapers, article clippings, a television script, and artwork.
The Soviet Prison Journal and Soviet Prison Pocket Diary were on display in the Looking at Earth Gallery when the collection was digitized. The photocopies were scanned for digital access.
Series 3 contains materials from Powers' life and career after his return to the United States, including logbooks, public relations documents, flight training and insurance records, an employment application, and memorial items.
Documents with personally identifiable information (PII) have been redacted or not digitized.
Biographical/Historical note:
Francis Gary Powers (1929 -1977) learned to fly during high school. He enlisted in the United States Air Force after graduating from Milligan College in 1950. In 1956, he resigned from the Air Force to become a "civilian employee" of Lockheed on loan to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, authorized to fly Air Force aircraft. In reality, he was a covert employee of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), training for Operation Overflight—U-2 reconnaissance missions.
Powers was captured and imprisoned after his U-2 was shot down over the Soviet Union during an aerial reconnaissance mission on May 1, 1960. Powers was placed on trial and exchanged nearly two years later for Rudolf Abel, a Soviet agent. After his return to the United States, Powers continued to work for the CIA, but then left to work at Lockheed. Powers was working for NBC's Los Angeles affiliate KGIL in 1977, when his helicopter ran out of fuel and crashed, causing his death.
Provenance:
Claudia Sue Powers, Gift, 1994, NASM.1994.0010.
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:
United States -- Foreign relations -- Soviet Union Search this
В. Н. Гатовскій [V. N. Gatovskīĭ], Воздушная Развѣдка и Борьба съ Нею [Vozdushnai͡a Razvi͡edka i Borba s Nei͡u], lectures and readings for the senior class of the Imperatorskoĭ Nikolaevskoĭ Voennoĭ Akademīi [Emperor Nikolas Military Academy] for 1911-12 school year (St. Petersburg, 1912). Russian language monograph (photocopy; includes foldouts).
Collection Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Russian Aeronautical Collection, ACC. 2006-0034, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
А. Н. Лапчинский [A. N. Lapchinskiĭ], [Воздушная Разведка - Сборник Военно-исторических Примеров [Vozdushnaya Razvedka - Sbornik Voenno-istoricheskikh Primerov] (Moscow : Gosudarstvennoe Voennoe Izdatel'stvo, 1938). Russian language monograph (two-up two-sided photocopy).
Collection Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Russian Aeronautical Collection, ACC. 2006-0034, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
The Edward Wellman Serrell Aeronautical Papers contains material related to the efforts, during and after the American Civil War, of Brigadier General E. W. Serrell of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to design and build the Valomotive, a steam-powered helicopter.
Scope and Contents:
The collection consists of a draft of Serrell's report on his activities and on the design of the Valomotive, February 10, 1865; his undated memorandum on the design of the Valomotive; Serrell's undated notes for a pamphlet "On the Subject of Navigating the Air by Steam;" a drawing of rotors and machinery of the Valomotive; and a drawing of a flying machine designed by F. H. Raffey. Also included is a draft of an agreement or contract between Serrell and an unnamed correspondent for the sale of the British patent rights to the Valomotive, dated March 26, 1866. Correspondence in the collection includes eleven letters to Serrell from Mortimer Nelson (January to August 1866), an early aeronautical researcher who patented an Aerial Car in 1861; two letters from F. W. Brearey, the secretary of the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain; a letter from aeronautical pioneer F. H. Wenham of the Aeronautical Society to Brearey; a letter from Sir William Fairbairn of the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain; and a photocopy of a letter to Serrell from P. T. Barnum, dated May 10, 1866, in which Barnum proposes exhibiting Serrell's Valomotive. The collection also includes several invoices or receipts from Serrell's project.
Arrangement:
The Edward Wellman Serrell Aeronautical Papers collection has been arranged by document type - Serrell's descriptions and reports on the Valomotive, correspondence, invoices and receipts, and drawings.
Biographical / Historical:
Edward Wellman Serrell (1826-1906), a civil engineer and Union Army general, was born in London on November 5, 1826. His family immigrated to the United States in 1831, settling in New York City. Serrell became a civil engineer, working in railroad and bridge design and construction. He worked at times for the Erie Railroad, the Northern Railroad of New Hampshire, the New Jersey Central Railroad, and the Union Pacific Railroad. He also assisted in the 1848 Panama Survey. Serrell prepared plans and supervised the construction of several bridge projects: the Niagara River suspension bridge at Lewiston in 1850, the St. John, New Brunswick bridge, and the St. Lawrence bridge at Quebec. He served as chief engineer of the Hoosac Tunnel (1855-56).
At the beginning of the Civil War, Serrell organized the 1st New York Volunteer Engineer Regiment (1st NYVE). In October 1861, Serrell was appointed lieutenant colonel of the regiment. He was promoted to full colonel in command of the unit in February 1862. The 1st NYVE took part in the 1862 South Carolina campaign, beginning with the expedition to Port Royal, October 21 to November 7, 1861. Serrell served as chief engineer of the 10th Corps and of the Army of the James, and also served as chief of staff of the Army of the James as a brevet brigadier general. While at Port Royal, General Ormsby Mitchell, commanding the 10th Corps, became interested in the possibilities of aerial reconnaissance. Serrell demonstrated a wind-up toy helicopter to Mitchell, and proposed building a full sized flying machine. Mitchell died soon thereafter, but Serrell later demonstrated in 1864 an improved toy to Major General Benjamin Butler, commanding the Army of the James. Serrell's toy helicopter reached an altitude of over one hundred feet. Butler ordered Serrell to build a full-sized machine. Moving to New York, and with funding provided by wealthy oilmen, Serrell designed a fifty-two foot cigar-shaped craft, equipped with a high-pressure steam boiler and "gliding planes" (wings), and four "fans" -- two for lift and two for propulsion. The rear fan was designed to swivel, thus serving as a vectored thrust propeller. The craft, variously called the Valomotive and the Reconoiterer, was assembled in Hoboken, New Jersey. Serrell contacted with the firm of Bennett and Risley of New York City to build a powerful but light steam engine; the design and construction of their engine was delayed until the Confederate surrender in April 1865 ended Army interest in Serrell's project, though he continued to work on the project into 1866. After the war, Serrell worked as a consulting engineer to many corporations, and served as president of the Washington County Railroad. Edward Wellman Serrell died on April 25, 1906, at Rossville on Staten Island, New York.
Provenance:
Allison Serrell, Gift, 2011
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
U.S. Army Air Service -- flight school, June 3, 1920
Honorable discharge from the -- U.S. Army -- , January 27, 1921
Appointment to the rank of Colonel, -- U.S. Army Air Forces -- , May 15, 1946
Industrial College of the Armed Forces -- certificate, May 15-26, 1950
Certificate of Retirement, -- U.S. Air Force -- , - October 31, 1962
Log books, military and civilian (8 books)
1. January 1920 - January 1921
2. March 1929 - January 1934
3. January 1934 - December 1937
4. November 1934 - January 1938
5. November 1937 - November 1939
6. December 1939 - May 1943
7. June 1943 - September 1950
8. April 1946 - December 1948
Report of Aerial Reconnaissance, Saudi Arabia, 1936-1937
Collection Restrictions:
No restrictions on access
Collection 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
Collection Citation:
Joseph D. Mountain Collection, Acc. 1991-0079, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
This collection consists of an 18 inch by 21 inch spiral book, entitled, The Atomic Bomb, which was created by the United States Army Air Forces in 1945 to commemorate the success of the atomic bombs and the end of World War II.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of an 18 inch by 21 inch spiral book, entitled, The Atomic Bomb, which was created by the United States Army Air Forces in 1945 to commemorate the success of the atomic bombs and the end of World War II. This 17 page publication includes text, maps, and strike photography of the two atomic bomb sites, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 1945. This copy was given to Captain Roy F. Knudsen.
Arrangement:
No arrangement as collection is just one item.
Biographical / Historical:
Boeing's B-29 Superfortress was the most sophisticated propeller-driven bomber of World War II, and the first bomber to house its crew in pressurized compartments. Although designed to fight in the European theater, the B-29 found its niche on the other side of the globe. In the Pacific, B-29s delivered a variety of aerial weapons: conventional bombs, incendiary bombs, mines, and two nuclear weapons. On August 6, 1945, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, Silverplate, "Enola Gay" dropped the first atomic weapon used in combat on Hiroshima, Japan. On August 9, 1945, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, Silverplate, "Bockscar" dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan.
Captain Roy F. Knudsen (1918 - 2011), graduated from the 10th Class of the Aviation Cadet Detachment at Scott Field, Illinois in August, 1942. Initially assigned to the 1st Mapping Group at Bolling Field, Washington, DC, Knudsen was later rassigned to the 2nd Photo Charting Squadron at Felts Field, WA. In August, 1944, Knudson was assigned to the 1st Photo Charting Group while later in October of that year he was assigned to the 3rd Photo Reconnaissance Squadron, both located at Buckley Field, CO. In April, 1945, he was sent to Smoky Hill Army Air Field in Salina, KS, for training on communications equipment installation for B-29 aircraft. He was then deployed to the Pacific Theater, based on Guam where his squadron was responsible for the aerial reconnaissance leading up to and following the atomic bomb attacks in August of 1945 and the end of the war. He left active duty upon his arrival home in February 1946.
Provenance:
Gary Knudsen, Gift, 2020, NASM.2020.0029
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.
John Guy Gilpatric (1896-1950) was one of America's earliest aviators. Although not officially an Early Bird, he first learned to fly in 1912 at the age of sixteen. That same year he gained notoriety by setting a new American record when he reached an altitude of nearly 5,000 feet with a passenger on board. During his teenage years, Gilpatric gave flying lessons and flew in air exhibitions, eventually becoming employed as a test-pilot. He later worked as an aviation instructor in Toronto, Canada, teaching the Royal Canadian Air Cadets. Following the United States' entry into World War I in 1917, Gilpatric enlisted in the Army Air Service as a First Lieutenant, where he was stationed overseas as Engineering Officer, First Aero Squadron, American Expeditionary Forces (AEF). The collection contains four scrapbooks, photographs, correspondence, licenses and identity cards, newspaper clippings, newsletters, and periodicals, which chronicle his aviation career and military service.
Scope and Contents:
The collection contains four scrapbooks, photographs, correspondence, newspaper clippings, newsletters, and periodicals. The collection also includes Gilpatric's Aero Club of American issued pilot license and his American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) identity and pilot identity card. Correspondence includes three letters from Glenn H. Curtiss and Jimmy Doolittle. The scrapbooks contain photographs, clippings and ephemera, including the follow subjects: Gilpatric's early aviation career as both an aviator and an instructor with the Moisant Flying School, Sloane Aviation School, the Royal Canadian air cadets; early aircraft such as the Sloane Flying Boat, the Nieuport 27, Curtiss JN-2, as well as Wright, Bleriot, Farman, and Deperdussin aircraft; and early aviators Charles Niles; DeLloyd Thompson; Art Smith; Bert Acosta; Claude Grahame-White; George W. Beatty; William Knox Martin; George M. Dyott; John E. Sloane; and Robert Y. Hoshino, a Japanese aviator. One scrapbook focuses on Gilpatric's service in the AEF in World War I with photographs of zeppelins, soldiers and aviators, aerial reconnaissance photography, destroyed villages, and graves. Photographs found in the videodisc prints are most likely copied from the scrapbooks or smaller images that had been removed from albums.
Note: Where indicated, 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:
Materials were arranged by physical location.
Biographical / Historical:
John Guy Gilpatric (1896-1950) was one of America's earliest aviators. Although not officially an Early Bird, he first learned to fly in 1912 at the age of sixteen. That same year he gained notoriety by setting a new American record when he reached an altitude of nearly 5,000 feet with a passenger on board. During his teenage years, Gilpatric gave flying lessons and flew in air exhibitions, eventually becoming employed as a test-pilot. He later worked as an aviation instructor in Toronto, Canada, teaching the Royal Canadian Air Cadets. Following the United States' entry into World War I in 1917, Gilpatric enlisted in the Army Air Service as a First Lieutenant, where he was stationed overseas as Engineering Officer, First Aero Squadron, American Expeditionary Forces (AEF). Upon returning to the United States in 1919, he left the world of aviation behind and worked in advertising. Gilpatric is probably best known, however, for his subsequent career as a writer, during which time he wrote the Saturday Evening Post series, "Colin Glencannon," among numerous other books and articles.
Provenance:
Unknown, gift, unknown, NASM.XXXX.0220
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
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:
New York Airways Collection, Acc. NASM.1992.0052, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Photo album created by the Sezione Fotografica di Aviazione per la Regia Marina [Photographic Section for Aviation of the Royal Navy of the Kingdom of Italy] unit of the Servizio Aeronautico della Regia Marina [Royal Navy Aeronautical Service] circa 1915-1918; 20 pages plus covers. Contains black-and-white photographs labeled in Italian of Italian Navy facilities, hydroaeroplanes (flying boats), airplanes, airships, captured Austrian hydroaeroplanes, and aerial reconnaissance photo mosaics of several Adriatic port cities then under the control of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (Austria-Hungary).
Scope and Contents:
The first part of the album, which has brief captions in Italian, contains views of Regia Marina equipment and facilities at the Stazione Idrovolante Giuseppe Miraglia (Miraglia Seaplane Base) on the Canal Sant'Andrea in Venice, Italy, including hangars of the 251a Squadriglia and 252a Squadriglia; aircraft pictured include Macchi L.3 (M.3), FBA Type H, the Bresciani Bre.4 hydroaeroplane (one of a type developed in 1915-1916 by Luigi Bresciani and Roberto Prunas from a highly modified Caproni Ca.3 trimotor), and what is probably a Lohner Type L Flying Boat or a Macchi L.1 (License built Lohner L-40). Also seen are views of a Caproni Ca.3 bomber, possibly at a different location. This is followed by views of an airship hangar, a close-up view of an airship cockpit, and views of the SCA (Stabilimento di Costruzione Aeronautiche) airship M.9 in flight above a speedboat of the Regia Marina's Motoscafi Anti Sommergibili (M.A.S., Anti-Submarine Motorboats). The next part of the album contains views of several captured Austro-Hungarian aircraft, featuring the sinking of the UFAG (Ungarische Flugzeugwerke A.G.) T1 c/n L 137 (a.k.a. Lohner Type T Flying Boat) shot down by M.A.S. Several aerial reconnaisance photo mosaics appear at the end of the album, including views of Pola (Pula, Croatia) and Isola (Izola, Slovenia) on the peninsula of Istria, Durazzo (Durrës, Albania), and Trieste (now part of Italy). At the time the photographs were made, all these Adriatic port cities were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (Austria-Hungary).
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged in a photo album with no apparent order.
Biographical / Historical:
The Servizio Aeronautico della Regia Marina [Royal Navy Aeronautical Service of the Kingdom of Italy], first created in 1913 as a section of the Italian Royal Navy, gained greater importance following the entry of Italy into World War I on May 24, 1915. Their air fleet consisted predominantly of hydroaeroplanes (seaplanes, flyingboats) and airships (dirigibles), the latter being particularly useful for spotting enemy submarines.
Samuel Wesley Stratton (1861-1931), owner of the album, was the founder and first director of the National Bureau of Standards, a member of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), and the eighth president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Provenance:
Family of Samuel Wesley Stratton (through Wesley S. Hobbs), Gift, 1964 [National Air Museum Acquisition R-12-64, Scrapbook S-47], XXXX.0235.
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 files on Aero Service Corp and Virgil Kauffman.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of correspondence, published materials, press clippings, photographs, and maps documenting Aero Service and its photogrammetrist work, as well as material on Virgil Kauffman in particular.
Arrangement:
Arranged by the archivist in chronological order.
Biographical/Historical note:
Virgil Kauffman (1898-1925) was a photographer and photogrammetrist. Kauffman was a unit photographer in the U.S. Army during World War I and was assigned to the Air Service for aerial reconnaissance. After the war Kauffman joined the Aero Service Corporation and eventually became President of the company. Aero Service was founded in 1919 to carry out a wide variety of projects, including aerial photography, photo mapping, and remote sensing. The company participated in several important projects, including work with the Tennessee Valley Authority, U.S. Geological Survey, and mapping work for the European and Pacific theaters during World War II.
Provenance:
Virgil Kauffman Estate and C. Eric Storms, gift, 1986, 1987-0146, 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.
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:
William Jones World War II Scrapbook, NASM.2006.0067, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
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:
Thomas DeWitt Milling Collection, NASM.XXXX.0133, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
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:
Thomas DeWitt Milling Collection, NASM.XXXX.0133, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
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:
Thomas DeWitt Milling Collection, NASM.XXXX.0133, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
![view The Atomic Bomb [Knudsen] digital asset: Finding aid](https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?max=170&id=https://sirismm.si.edu/siris/findingaid.gif "Finding aid")
