National Air and Space Museum. Archives Division. Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Restrictions:
The majority of the Archives Department's public reference requests can be answered using material in these files, which may be accessed through the Reading Room at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. More specific information can be requested by contacting the Archives Research Request.
National Air and Space Museum. Archives Division. Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Restrictions:
The majority of the Archives Department's public reference requests can be answered using material in these files, which may be accessed through the Reading Room at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. More specific information can be requested by contacting the Archives Research Request.
Aeronautical engineer Fred E. Weick (1899-1993) had a profound effect on light aircraft development. He was responsible for the development of NACA's low-drag cowling for radial engines, introduced the concept of "fifty foot obstacle clearance" as a measure of aircraft take-off performance, and was instrumental in the development of several aircraft, including the Piper Pawnee and Piper Cherokee.
Scope and Content:
This collection consists of transcripts of Weick's dictation for this autobiography, published as From the Ground Up: Autobiography of an Aeronautical Engineer (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1988). A copy of this book can be found in the Smithsonian Library at the National Air and Space Museum.
Biographical/Historical note:
Aeronautical engineer Fred E. Weick (1899-1993) had a profound effect on light aircraft development. While working for the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA) he developed the NACA low-drag cowling for radial engines (1928) and built a low landing speed aircraft as an independent project sparked by a series of light aircraft design seminars at NACA's Langley Research Center (1931). He introduced the concept of "fifty foot obstacle clearance" as a measure of aircraft take-off performance, which remains a standard measure today. In 1936 he joined Henry Berliner at the Engineering and Research Corporation (ERCO) to develop and market a commercial version of Weick's aircraft. Although the resulting Ercoupe faded in the general aviation slump following World War II, Weick moved to Texas A&M (1948-56) where he developed a series of agricultural aircraft which evolved into the Piper Pawnee series. He remained at Piper until he retired (1956 to c. 1970) and developed the Piper Cherokee with John Thorpe and Karl Bergey. After retirement, Weick remained active in aeronautics, assisting in design studies for Beech Aircraft as well as undertaking private projects in aircraft trim and control.
Provenance:
Fred E. Weick, gift, 1984, XXXX-0425
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.
Erco (Engineering and Research Corporation) Search this
Extent:
49 Cubic feet ((47 boxes))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Logbooks
Correspondence
Publications
Photographs
Technical reports
Date:
bulk 1940s-1990s
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of over 45 cubic feet of material created or collected by Fred Weick, which chronicle his distinguished aeronautical engineering career from the 1920s to the 1990s. The collection consists of the following types of material: log books, patents, proceedings and lectures, lawsuits, brochures and publications, photographs, correspondence, memorandums, scrapbooks, technical reports and engineering data sheets. Most of this material relates to Weick's engineering designs with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and with the following aircraft models: Weick W-1; Piper PA-25 Pawnee; Piper-28 Cherokee; Piper-32 Cherokee; ERCO Ercoupe models; and Texas A&M College AG-1 and AG-3.
Biographical / Historical:
Fred E. Weick (1899-1993) was an aeronautical engineer who had a profound effect on light aircraft development. While working for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) he developed the NACA low-drag cowling for radial engines (1928) and built a low landing speed aircraft as an independent project sparked by a series of light aircraft design seminars at NACA's Langley Research Center (1931). At the same time he coined the concept of "50 foot obstacle clearance" as a measure of aircraft takeoff performance, which has remained a standard measure ever since. In 1936 he joined Henry Berliner at the Engineering and Research Corporation (ERCO) to develop and market a commercial version of Weick's aircraft. Although the resulting Ercoupe faded in the general aviation slump following World War II, Weick moved to Texas A&M (1948-56) where he developed a series of agricultural aircraft which evolved into the Piper Pawnee series. He remained at Piper until he retired (1956-c.1970) and developed the Piper Cherokee with John Thorpe and Karl Bergey. After retirement, Weick remained active in aeronautics, assisting in design studies for Beech Aircraft as well as private projects in aircraft trim and control.
Provenance:
Donald V. Weick, Gift, 2016
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 82 scanned photographs and four DVDs relating to Tri-Rotor Spray & Chemical's aircraft and operations.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of 82 scanned photographs and four DVDs relating to Tri-Rotor Spray & Chemical's aircraft and operations. The scans of the photographs were produced by the National Air and Space Museum's Archives Division, from originals lent by, and returned to, Mr. Larry Smith. The DVDs were made from four VHS-C format tapes of crop spraying runs also lent, and returned, to Mr. Smith. The following aircraft are represented: Bell UH-1B; Air Tractor AT-400A and AT-602; Hughes 269C; Hiller UH-12E; Ayres Corp. S2R-G6 and 660 (S2R-T660); Piper PA-25-235 Pawnee; Cessna 340A; and Weatherly Aviation Co. 620A.
Arrangement:
Arranged by type of media.
Biographical / Historical:
Tri-Rotor Spray & Chemical, a division of J & L Smith Farms, is a crop spraying business run by Larry Smith based in Ulysses, Kansas. Tri-Rotor was started with the purchase of a Hughes 269A in 1978 as a way to get crop spraying on Smith Farms done in a timely manner. That first year a neighbor came by and said, "It looks good, could you do mine?" and so started Tri-Rotor's expansion. In 1979, Tri-Rotor purchased a Hughes 300-C that they kept for four years, during which time they sprayed between 7000 to 12000 acres a year. In 1982, they bought a Hiller H-23E, and started to enlarge their fleet in response to demand, buying two additional Hiller H-23Es and one spray coupe ground rig. In 1988, they sold one of the Hillers and purchased a Bell 204B. After a fatal accident in the Bell during May of 1989, Tri-Rotor switched to turbine airplane spraying and bought their first Air Tractor AT-400. Currently Tri-Rotor has three Air Tractors AT-402s and one AT-602, one Ayres Corporation 660 Turbo-Thrush, one Bell OH-58 Kiowa, one Hiller 12E Soloy, one Hiller H-23E (Model 12E), and four ground rig machines. They spray in Texas and Kansas, and have a business in Arizona where they spray predominately lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli, cotton and alfalfa. In Arizona, Tri-Rotor also sprays for mosquito control and noxious weed control for the State. They are preparing to be involved in tamarisk control on the major watersheds to increase and improve ground water and to be involved in fire fighting with the US Forest Service. Currently Tri-Rotor employs 50 personnel and sprays approximately 450,000 acres per year. They also sell chemicals directly to farmers.
Provenance:
Larry Smith, 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
