Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (Ohio) Search this
Extent:
733.77 Cubic feet (1508 document boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Correspondence
Publications
Reports
Photographs
Date:
1915-1955
Summary:
Throughout its history the Engineering Division/Materiel Division at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio, maintained a catalogued library of technical documents, which was turned over to the Air Force Museum and later donated to the National Air and Space Museum. The collection consists of reports and other documents on a variety of aviation-related topics, including general science (aeronautics, physics, chemistry, etc); military air service personnel, organization, and equipment for both US and foreign air forces; as well as operations, and so on. Currently, the finding aid only covers documents from the D52.1 subject code (Airplanes, arranged alphabetically) and only those that are physically located in the Wright Field Technical Documents Library.
Scope and Contents:
The collection consists of reports and other documents on a variety of aviation-related topics, including general science (aeronautics, physics, chemistry, etc); military air service personnel, organization, and equipment for both US and foreign air forces; as well as operations, and so on. Information on foreign services and equipment is usually from military intelligence reports, although some foreign documents or translations are included. The material also includes a large section of test reports from the Material Division itself.
Arrangement:
Every document in the collection has been assigned a multi-part Wright Field Number. This number is adapted from the Air Force central decimal correspondence filing system. Wright Field Numbers are written in the format:
• Subject Code: This number begins with an alpha-numeric subject code. For example, D52.1 (Airplanes, arranged alphabetically).
• Category Suffix: A more specific textual subject reference. For example, in the D52.1 subjects, the suffix is usually a manufacturer name, aircraft name, or a general type of aircraft. (Original Wright Field cataloguers could be inconsistent in how they classified an airplane. For example, a document on a Japanese Mitsubishi A6M could be filed alphabetically under A6M, Mitsubishi, Zeke, Zero, or Misc. Japanese.) It is possible to not have a category suffix.
• Sequence Number: The individual number assigned to the document within its subject code and category. If a document was formerly classified as "Security Information," the sequence number starts with "S," for example "S-1." These are usually filed at the beginning of a range of documents. Sometimes technical manuals are filed using the technical order (TO) number. For example, 01-20EE-3 is the sequence number used for a Boeing B-17 Handbook of Overhaul Instructions, TO-01-20EE-3.
• Sequence Modifier: If there is a revision or multiple parts of a document, this is reflected in a sequence modifier. Ex. Dates, revision numbers, etc.
The documents are arranged alpha-numerically by Wright Field Number in the order of:
Each record contains the title and source from the index cards. Information from the subject field on the cards appears as a scope and content note.
Currently, the finding aid only covers documents from the D52.1 subject code and only those that are physically located in the Wright Field Technical Documents Library. Please contact the NASM Archives regarding additional documents. Some may be located in the Technical Reference Files, cataloguing information may be only on the index cards, or the document has been catalogued as missing from the collection.
Biographical / Historical:
In 1917, the United States Army Air Service established an aviation engineering section at McCook Field in Dayton, Ohio. In 1927, the Engineering Division, as it was then known, moved to nearby Wilbur Wright Field and remained there as the Air Force Materiel Division (AFMD) and Air Materiel Command (AMC) until Wright Field combined with Patterson Field to become Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in 1948. The Engineering Division was responsible for Army Air Services research and development and served as a clearinghouse for information on aviation development worldwide. Throughout its history the Engineering Division/Materiel Division maintained a catalogued library of documents, which was turned over to the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson and was later donated to the National Air and Space Museum.
Provenance:
United States Air Force Museum, Transfer, 1962, NASM.XXXX.0428.
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
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (Ohio) Search this
Extent:
5.45 Cubic feet ((5 records center boxes))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Project files
Negatives
Reports
Date:
1917-1926
bulk 1920-1925
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of the project books for aircraft tested by the Experimental Division in the early 1920s. Most project books contain photstats of the specifications and contracts for these aircraft as well as Air Service inspection and test reports. The collection also includes an extensive negative collection documenting the project book aircraft.
Biographical / Historical:
In 1917 the United States Army Air Service established an aviation engineering section at McCook Field in Dayton, OH. In 1927 the Engineering Division, as it was then known, moved to nearby Wilbur Wright Field and there remained as the Air Force Material Division (AFMD) and Air Material Command (AMC) until Wright Field combined with Patterson Field to become Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in 1948. The Engineering Division was in charge of research and development for the Army Air Services and was a clearinghouse for the Army Air Services on aviation development worldwide.
General:
NASMrev
Provenance:
No donor information, Gift, unknown, XXXX-0058, 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
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (Ohio) Search this
Extent:
899.25 Cubic feet ((825 records center boxes))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Date:
1918-1971
Scope and Contents:
This collection contains the file of still photographs taken by the Air Force Material Division at McCook Field, Wright Field, and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The material consists of over 340,000 black and white and color photographs illustrating the design, development and testing of military aircraft; structural components; and personal, emergency, and survival equipment. The collection also contains documentation of unsatisfactory materials and components, aircraft accident investigations, publicity, and development of McCook Field facilities to the present day Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The majority of the photos were taken as integral parts of the testing or investigation procedure for inclusion in resulting reports.
Biographical / Historical:
In 1917 the United States Army Air Service established an aviation engineering section at McCook Field in Dayton, OH. In 1927 the Engineering Division, as it was then known, moved to nearby Wilbur Wright Field and there remained as the Air Force Material Division (AFMD) and Air Material Command (AMC) until Wright Field combined with Patterson Field to become Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in 1948. The Engineering Division was in charge of research and development for the Army Air Services and was a clearinghouse for the Army Air Services on aviation development worldwide.
General:
NASMrev
Provenance:
University of Wisconsin, Transfer, 1981, XXXX-0172, Public Domain
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
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (Ohio) Search this
Extent:
2.18 Cubic feet ((2 records center boxes))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Reports
Date:
1921-1946
bulk 1935-1943
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of reports from propeller tests conducted at Wright Field by the Engineiner Division and Material Division.
Biographical / Historical:
In 1917 the United States Army Air Service established an aviation engineering section at McCook Field in Dayton, OH. In 1927 the Engineering Division, as it was then known, moved to nearby Wilbur Wright Field and there remained as the Air Force Material Division (AFMD) and Air Material Command (AMC) until Wright Field combined with Patterson Field to become Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in 1948. The Engineering Division was in charge of research and development for the Army Air Services and was a clearinghouse for the Army Air Services on aviation development worldwide.
General:
NASMrev
Provenance:
No donor information, gift, unknown, XXXX-0417, 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
The aviation pioneers of McCook Field candid interviews with American aeronautical visionaries of the 1920s Jerry Koszyk, foreword by Jonna Doolittle Hoppes, with James H. "Jimmy" Doolittle III
De Seversky, Alexander P. (Alexander Procofieff), 1894-1974 Search this
Extent:
0.35 Cubic feet (1 flat box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographic prints
Date:
Circa 1923
Summary:
This collection consists of ten black and white photographs of bombing control instruments and equipment designed and manufactured by Alexander de Seversky and the Sperry Gyroscope Company, circa 1923.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of ten black and white photographs of bombing control instruments and equipment designed and manufactured by Alexander de Seversky and the Sperry Gyroscope Company, circa 1923. The mounted photographs, which measure 12 by 10 inches including the mount and are labeled, include views of the sight cradle, the gyroscopic stabilizer mechanism, the pilot director mechanism, automatic machinery for logarithmic spiral drums, and the installation of the complete Sperry Type C-1 bombsight in a Martin bomber.
Arrangement:
Collection is in original order.
Biographical / Historical:
In the years following World War I, the US Army Air Service Engineering Division at McCook Field, Ohio worked to develop improved bombsights. One such project, undertaken with the Sperry Gyroscope Company and Alexander de Seversky (the designer), produced the Sperry Type C-1 bombsight, which used a gyroscopic stabilizer.
Provenance:
Donor unknown, material found in collection, NASM.XXXX.1141
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 includes the following types of material chronicling John Macready's exceptional aviation career: two 3/4" (U-Matic) video tapes; a VHS tape "Macready and the Mackay"; an August 1957 National Geographic Magazine containing article "History Written in the Skies"; newspaper and magazine articles, photographs, speeches, correspondence and a 21" x 25" brown scrapbook containing newspaper clippings of Macready's many aviation accomplishments.
Biographical / Historical:
John A. Macready (1887-1979) enlisted in the US Air Service in 1917 and earned his pilot's wings at Rockwell Field, San Diego. While a flight instructor at the Army Pilot School at Brooks Field,Texas, he authored a book, "The All Through System of Flying Instruction as Taught at Brooks Field" which became the basic manual for student pilots in the early years of US military aviation. During the postwar years, he was assigned to the Air Service Experimental Test Center at McCook Field, Ohio, where he was the chief test pilot for the Air Service from 1920 to 1926. On October 5, 1922, Lt. Macready and his associate, Lt. Oakely Kelley established a world flight endurance record of 35 hours, 18.5 minutes in the skies over San Diego. This endurance flight led to experiments that produced the first air-to-air refueling system. In May 1923, Lts. Macready and Kelley took off from Roosevelt Field, New York in a Fokker T-2 and landed some 27 hours later at Rockwell Field, San Diego after having completed the first nonstop US transcontinental flight. Besides these endurance and altitude flights, Macready also had the following firsts: he made the first night parachute jump; he invented the first aviator glasses; he was the world's first crop duster; he took the first photos of a solar eclipse; he made the first aerial photographic survey of America; he conducted the first tests in a pressurized cockpit; and he was the first and only person to three times win the Mackay Trophy for outstanding aviation achievement.
Provenance:
Sally M. Wallace, Gift, 2004
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 1.5 cubic feet of material chronicling George B. Patterson's aviation career.
This collection is in English.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of 1.5 cubic feet of material chronicling George B. Patterson's aviation career and includes the following types of material: military records and certificates; correspondence; photographs; technical publications, including ones written by Patterson; and a pilot log book.
Arrangement:
Arrangement by archival type.
Biographical / Historical:
George B. Patterson (1895 - 1968) was a World War I flight test pilot and later served at McCook Field where he helped to develop the first scientific methods of measuring flight test performance. Patterson enlisted in the Aviation Section Signal Corps, Reserve, in 1917, and was first stationed at Chandler Field at the Signal Corps Aviation School in Essington, Pennsylvania. There he first soloed in a seaplane before Chandler Field was transferred to Gerstner Field in Louisiana. Patterson served stateside for the whole of World War I, and after the war he was stationed at Wilbur Wright Field and then McCook Field, both in Ohio. During this time, Patterson served as Assistant Chief of Flight Branch and then as Chief of the McCook Technical Data Branch. Patterson's only overseas assignment was in 1922 when he was stationed at Camp Nichols in the Philippines. Later that year he requested, and was granted, discharge from the service. Patterson then went to work for Curtiss Wright in 1929. A bad aircraft crash in 1934 left Patterson injured and he left military aviation and went to work as an aviation staff engineer at Socony Company for 15 years. Patterson returned to the Air Corps during April of 1942 and served with the Air Service Company until 1945 as a Chief Liaison Officer.
Provenance:
Stephen Allen, Gift, 2020, NASM.2021.0003
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 material collected by Walter J. Boyne in preparation for the writing of a series of articles about McCook Field. The collection consists of the following: numerous photographs, a small number of negatives, some technical notes and reports, correspondence, magazine clippings, a decal, publications, and several questionnaires. The photographic component consists of images of aircraft, both on the ground and airborne, as well as photos of parts of aircraft. In addition, there are photos of workers in the process of constructing airplanes and of crash tests and their results. A few personal photographs of members of the air crew can also be found within the collection. The questionnaires in the collection were created by Boyne and were sent in 1977 to various individuals who were connected with McCook Field in various capacities.
Biographical / Historical:
McCook Field, established in Dayton, Ohio in 1917, was the first military aviation facility developed for research and experimentation in the United States. The testing of airplanes, including new experimental models, continued until 1927 when the facility was closed. Operations were subsequently moved to nearby Wright Field, which later evolved into the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in 1948.
General:
NASMrev
Provenance:
Walter J. Boyne, gift, unknown, XXXX-0569, 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:
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:
Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. Collection, Acc. 1992.0023, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
This album contains eleven photographs of the de Bothezat Helicopter in flight, a photograph of Dr. George de Bothezat, an illustration of the de Bothezat Helicopter, and memorandum from the War Department Air Service Engineering Division from April 28, 1923 concerning the test flights of this helicopter at McCook Field.
Biographical / Historical:
During the early twenties many experimenters in aviation undertook the challenge of making a craft which would rise vertically and hover in the air. Realizing that such a machine would have military value for observation and fire-control, the war department of several nations encouraged such inventions. The de Bothezat Helicopter was developed by the U. S. Air Service, Engineering Division in 1921 with these ideas in mind. Dr. George de Bothezat, a noted Russian aeronautical engineer at the time, designed the helicopter. The de Bothezat was 65 feet long, 65 feet wide, and 10 feet high. It was powered with a 180 h.p. engine and weighed 3,600 lbs. The engine was located at the center above the four-wheeled chassis. Four triangular framework arms extended at right angles, and at their extremity each supported a six-bladed air screw, which is the chief feature of the de Bothezat. Many power tests were made at McCook Field in Dayton, Ohio. The test on December 18, 1922 was notable with a duration in the air of one minute 42 seconds which was attained at a maximum height of six feet.
Provenance:
Phillip Weiner, Gift, 2002
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
