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Robert C. Truax Collection

Creator:
Truax, Robert Collins, 1917-2010  Search this
Extent:
11.99 Cubic feet
12.95 Linear feet (21 Legal Size Boxes, 1 Slim Legal Size, 3 Shoe Boxes, 1 Flat Box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1929-2005
bulk 1980-2000
Summary:
Robert Truax was one of the great originals of American rocketry and a major proponent and inventor of ultra-low-cost rocket engine and vehicle concepts.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of material relating to the career of Robert Collins Truax including correspondence, photographic material, technical drawings, technical manuals and reports, presentation and conference materials, papers by Truax, news clippings, published materials and business records for Truax Engineering, Inc.

Projects and programs referenced in this collection include the Knievel Rocket Car (Truax X-2 Sky-Cycle); X-3 Volksrocket; amphibious launchers, including the "Sea Dragon," "Sea Horse," and SEALAR (Sea Launched Rocket); the Space Shuttle program; the Gemini and Apollo programs; Rocketdyne LR89 Liquid-Fuel Motors; Rand Project; the Corona Reconnaissance Satellite; and Project Private Enterprise.

The researcher should note that the collection also contains audio-visual material. These items are not included in the finding aid but the NASM audio-visual archivist can assist you regarding access.
Arrangement:
This collection was arranged into series by the processing archivist. There was no original order when the collection was received.

Series 1: Personal & Business Papers

Series 2: Papers Authored by R.C. Truax

Series 3: Drawings

Series 4: Images

4:1 - Slides

4:2 - Photos, Negatives & Floppy Discs
Acronyms:
Numerous acronyms were used by the creator when labeling his file units. Some will be obvious to the researcher but the archivist has identified some acronyms that might be more unclear. Not all acronyms were able to be identified.

AFRL - Air Force Research Lab

ATD - Advanced Technology Development

BAA - possibly Broad Agency Announcement

BMDO - Ballistic Missile Defense Organization

CDRL - Contract Data Requirements List?

CPAI - Chemical Propulsion Information Agency

ITAR - International Traffic in Arms Regulations

KACST - King Abdulaziz City for Science & Technology

MSFC - Marshall Space Flight Center

PMRF - Pacific Missile Range Facility

RSLP - Rocket Systems Launch Program

SEALAR - Sea Launch & Recovery

TEI - Truax Engineering Inc.

TPIPT - Technology Planning Integrated Product Teams
Biographical / Historical:
Robert Truax (1917-2010) was one of the great originals of American rocketry and a major proponent and inventor of ultra-low-cost rocket engine and vehicle concepts. A longtime member of the American Rocket Society (serving as its president in 1957,) He received the Robert H. Goddard award for outstanding work in liquid propellant rockets as well as the Legion of Merit citation for his conceptual work on making the "Polaris" guided-missile submarine a primary naval weapon. Truax was also inducted into the Air Force Space and Missile Pioneers Hall of Fame in 2003.

Inspired by Robert Goddard, Truax began building rockets when he was a teenager in California. From 1936 to 1939, while enrolled at the United States Naval Academy, he tested liquid-fueled rocket motors. During the late 1940s, he organized the US Naval Missile Test Center's propulsion laboratory at Point Mugu, California, and headed rocket development within the Navy's Bureau of Aeronotics where he advanced the concept of a staged combustion system upon which the Space Shuttle's main engines would eventually rely. In 1946, Truax led a team that interrogated the rocket engineer for Nazi Germany, Wernher von Braun.

By 1955, however, his proposal for a submarine-launched ballistic missile had failed to win Navy approval and he joined the Air Force's newly established Western Development Division (WDD) From 1955 to 1958, Captain Truax headed the Thor intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) development program. Truax studied the sea launching of rockets, such as the Sea Bee and Sea Horse projects. In 1959 he retired as a Captain, and headed the Aerojet-General Advanced Development Division and Aerojet's Sea Dragon project in the Advanced Development Division until leaving in 1967. In 1966 Robert Truax founded Truax Engineering Inc. (TEI,) which studied sea launch concepts similar to the earlier Sea Dragon—the Excalibur, the SEALAR (Sea Launched Rocket,) and the Excalibur S. Here his low-cost booster program plan was elaborated and further studied, but he was again unable to interest NASA or the USAF in the concept of cheap access to space.

In the 70's and early 80's, Truax, heretofore prominent in scientific communities, emerged in popular culture. Literally building rockets from his own backyard in Saratoga, Truax built both of Evel Knievel's "Skycycles" for his 1974 for attempt to jump the Snake River Canyon. He later competed in the original X-prize competition to send a private astronaut into suborbital flight.

Robert Truax, died on September 17 aged 93, as a key figure in the rocket research that took America into the space age, while also being an inspiration to the do-it-yourself, back-yard amateur.
Provenance:
Truax Estate, gift, 2016
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Rights:
Permissions Requests
Topic:
Truax X-3 Volksrocket  Search this
SEALAR (Sea Launched Rocket)  Search this
Astronautics  Search this
Manned space flight  Search this
Space Shuttle Program (U.S.)  Search this
Kneival Rocket Car (Truax X-2 Sky-Cycle)  Search this
Rocketry  Search this
RAND  Search this
North American Aviation, Inc. Rocketdyne Division  Search this
Citation:
Robert C. Truax Collection, Acc. 2016-0008, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
NASM.2016.0008
See more items in:
Robert C. Truax Collection
Archival Repository:
National Air and Space Museum Archives
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/pg2263b6530-2539-40a0-9d6a-78b8f3e274e8
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nasm-2016-0008
Online Media:

"The Men who Brought the Dawn" Source Material Collection

Creator:
Greenwich Workshop, inc.  Search this
Names:
Enola Gay (Exhibition) (1995-1998: Washington, D.C.)  Search this
Extent:
4 Cubic feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Videotapes
Motion pictures (visual works)
Transcripts
Interviews
Date:
undated
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of the following source material, generated for the film "The Men who Brought the Dawn:" fifty-one 16 mm reels; seventy-one Betacam-SP cassettes; fifty-one VHS cassettes; three D2 digital tapes; twenty-four ¼ inch reel to reel tapes; four cassettes; and five DATs.
Biographical / Historical:
"The Men who Brought the Dawn: The Atomic Missions of Enola Gay and Bock's Car" is a documentary film produced in 1995 by Greenwich Workshop, Inc. The 64 minute film includes archival footage, along with personal interviews of the crew of Bock's Car and the Enola Gay, including their reflections on their participation in the historic events of 1945. This film was shown in the National Air and Space Museum's Enola Gay Exhibit.
Provenance:
Greenwich Workshop, Inc., Gift, 2003
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:
Naval Aircraft Factory F-5L (PN-5), NASM  Search this
Kneival Rocket Car (Truax X-2 Sky-Cycle)  Search this
Boeing B-29 Superfortress  Search this
World War, 1939-1945  Search this
Atomic bomb  Search this
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Videotapes
Motion pictures (visual works)
Transcripts
Interviews
Citation:
"The Men who Brought the Dawn" Source Material Collection, 2004-0010, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
NASM.2004.0010
Archival Repository:
National Air and Space Museum Archives
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/pg265d580f6-7f0b-47ee-be90-ff6a2c68da69
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nasm-2004-0010

509th Composite Group Images [Levy]

Creator:
Levy, Charles  Search this
Names:
United States. Army Air Forces. 509th Composite Group  Search this
Levy, Charles  Search this
Extent:
0.45 Cubic feet ((1 legal document box))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Color transparencies
Black-and-white negatives
Date:
[ca. 1940s]
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of 524 b&w copy negatives and four color transparencies documenting Levy and the 509th Composite Group. The images cover the following: personnel at work and play; aircraft -- mostly B-29s; base buildings at Tinian; and native populations. Copy prints were also made of the 509th newspaper, Daily Mission, and the route maps which were used for practice and actual bombing missions. There are also four oversized prints of the bombing sites.
Biographical / Historical:
Charles Levy (509th Composite Group) was the bombardier for Bocks Car, the B-29 that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.
General:
NASMrev
Provenance:
Charles Levy, gift, 1994, 1994-0033, 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
Topic:
World War, 1939-1945  Search this
Aeronautics  Search this
Aeronautics, Military  Search this
Atomic bomb  Search this
Boeing B-29 Superfortress  Search this
Kneival Rocket Car (Truax X-2 Sky-Cycle)  Search this
Genre/Form:
Color transparencies
Black-and-white negatives
Identifier:
NASM.1994.0033
Archival Repository:
National Air and Space Museum Archives
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/pg230f10dc7-bff8-4379-b69e-26bc2995d98c
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nasm-1994-0033

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