This collection consists of material gathered by Towle to support his claim as the designer of the Ford Tri-Motor. The material consists of the following: newspaper and magazine articles; pamphlets; photographs pertaining to the history of the aircraft and its role in early air transportation; drawings; early flight test reports; technical notes relating to early Tri-Motor models; a short autobiography and resumeof Towle; and assorted postcards, stamps, articles, and so forth relating to Island Airways, an airline still flying Ford Tri-Motors
Biographical / Historical:
Thomas Towle (1897- ) was a mechanical engineer and main designer of the Ford Tri-Motor. Following graduation from Yale University (1920) Towle worked as an engineer for a number of aircraft companies, including Dayton-Wright (1921-22), Martin (1922-23), Aeromarine (1923-24), and Stout Metal Airplane Co (1924-25) before joining Ford Motor Company's Airplane Division (1925-27). While at Ford, Towle designed a three-motored aircraft to replace the Stout 'Air Pullman:, the rights to which Ford purchased with Stout in 1925. Towle left Ford in 1927 to form his own company, Towle Marine Aircraft (1927) and Towle Aircraft Company (1928-32). In 1933 Towle joined Monocoupe and later moved to Lambert Aircraft (1933-35) before leaving the aircraft industry.
General:
NASMrev
Provenance:
Tom Towle, Gift, unknown, XXXX-0102, 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
This collection consists of 202 black and white snapshots of aircraft at Roosevelt Field, Long Island, New York, during the 1930s.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of 202 black and white snapshots of aircraft at Roosevelt Field, Long Island, New York, during the 1930s. These images were taken by John Czajkowski and include aircraft from the following manufacturers: Abrams; Aeronca, Alco, American Eagle, Avro, Barkley-Grow, Bellanca, Berliner, Bleriot, Boeing, Bucker, Buhl, Bushey McGrew, Cairns, Chambers, Chester, Continental, Crosby, Curtiss, de Havilland, Delgado, Douglas, Fairchild, Fleet, Fleetwing, Folkerts, Ford, Fox, Franklin, Great Lakes, Grumman, Gee Bee, Hall, Heath, Hawks, Howard, Keith Rider, Kellet, Keystone, Kinner, Laird, Light, Lockheed, Luscombe, Marcoux-Bromberg, Martin, McKeen, Miles, Miller, Northrop, North American, Pearson Williams, Ryan, Seversky, Sikorsky, SPAD, Stinson, Swallow, Taubman, Taylor, Taylorcraft, Thomas-Morse, Travel Air, Turner, Viking, Vought, Waco, and Wedell-Williams. 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 Roosevelt Field Photograph Collection [Czajkowski] is arranged by content type.
General:
NASMrev
Provenance:
Andrew Wrench, Gift, 1999, 1999-0048, 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:
Aeronautics, Commercial -- United States Search this
Horace E. Weihmiller (1902-1963) was a professional aerospace consultant and pilot. During the 1950's he was an active member of the American Astronautical Society (AAS), serving as Vice President, Chairman of the Nominating Committee, Chairman of the New York section, Chairman of the National Affairs Committee and a member of the Scientific Research Committee. This collection consists of correspondence, notes and reports dealing with Weihmiller's activities in the AAS from 1957 thru 1963. 1 cubic foot (3 boxes).
Scope and Content:
This collection consists of correspondence, notes and reports dealing with Weihmiller's activities in the AAS from 1957 thru 1963.
Arrangement:
The materials are arranged in chronological order.
Biographical/Historical note:
Horace E. Weihmiller (1902-1963) was a professional aerospace consultant and pilot. Following his graduation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (BSE, 1925) he served briefly in the Army Air Corps (1926), receiving his wings at Brooks Field, Texas. He joined the Travel Air Corp and served as Chief Engineer from 1927 to 1928. Weihmiller then became the President and General Manager of the Corman Aircraft Company from 1928 to 1931. He later joined the Ford Motor Company, Airplane Division as an Aeronautical Engineer from 1931 to 1933. Weihmiller went on to work for the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation from 1933 to 1937 and Vice President from 1937 to 1943. In 1943 he formed a scientific and aircraft consulting service in Washington, D.C. and in 1945 was appointed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to survey the German aircraft industry, receiving the Patriotic Civilian Service Certificate, the Army's highest civilian award. Weihmiller acted as consultant to the Air Policy Commission under President Truman and as administrative assistant to the Director of Science Research at Republic Aviation Corporation. During the 1950's he was an active member of the American Astronautical Society (AAS), serving as Vice President, Chairman of the Nominating Committee, Chairman of the New York section, Chairman of the National Affairs Committee and a member of the Scientific Research Committee.
Seele, Jean W. (Jean Warren), 1924-1993 Search this
Extent:
12.11 Cubic feet ((1 shoebox) (7 slide and card cabinets))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Color slides
Color negatives
Black-and-white negatives
Photographs
Date:
[ca. 1950s-1970s]
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of approximately 6000 color slides and over 2000 negatives/prints (a mixture of color and black and white) of civil and military aircraft taken by Seele, circa 1950s-1970s. The shots were taken in the United States, specifically in the Midwest. Aircraft from the following manufacturers are represented: Aero Commander, Arrow, Aeronca, Beechcraft, Bell, Bellanca, Boeing, Bristol, Bucker, Callair, Cessna, Consolidated, Convair, Curtiss, Dassault, de Havilland, Davis, Dart, Douglas, ERCO, Fairchild, Fleet, Ford, Goodyear, Great Lakes, Grumman, Howard, Hawker Siddeley, Hughes, Heinkel, Jodel, Junkers, Lockheed, Ling-Temco-Vought, Lawson, Parsons, Pitts, Pitcarin, Piper, Pazmany, Piaggo, Porterfield, Republic, SAAB, Sikorsky, Stampe, Stearman, Stinson, Swearingen, Taylor, Vickers, and Waco. In June of 2001 the Smitihsonian's Museum of American History transferred an additional shoebox of Seele photography that had been sent directly to them from the widow. This color images included balloon events as well as aircraft shots. The ballooning images are color prints taken mostly around Topeka, Kansas, while the aircraft images are color transparencies of aircraft taken, again, mostly around Topeka.
Biographical / Historical:
Jean Warren (J. W.) Seele (1924-1993) was born in Topeka, Kansas, and spent almost his entire life there. After his graduation from Topeka High School he was enrolled for about one and a half years at the Spartan School of Aeronautics, Tulsa, Oklahoma. Although he worked for a few years at Bendix Aviation Corp, Kansas City Division during the 1950s, most of his professional career was spent as an engineering technician for the Kansas Department of Transportation. While he was not directly employed in the aviation field, Seele's hobby was photographing aircraft. Over a twenty year period, Seele photographed aircraft and at various times he was the official photographer for the National Antique Airplane Association, and for the annual fly-in sponsored by the Experimental Aircraft Association at Rockford, Illinois. Seele's photographs often appeared in the publications of both organizations, and several of this photographs also appeared in Jane's All the World's Aircraft during the 1970s.
General:
Additional materials: photographs taken by Seele of the Kansas countryside, including many of threshing demonstrations, were transferred to the Archives Center at the National Museum of American History.
NASMrev
Provenance:
Charline Seele, Gift, 2000, 2000-0057, NASM, except for images not taken by Seele.
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
