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John Matthew Miller III Collection

Creator:
Miller, John Matthew, III, 1896-  Search this
Names:
Kellet Autogiro Corp  Search this
Miller Aviation Corp (John Matthew Miller III) (Aircraft manufacturer) (1927-1929)  Search this
New Brunswick (NJ) Aero Club  Search this
Pitcairn (Pitcairn-Cierva)  Search this
Pitcairn Autogiro Co, Inc.  Search this
Pitcairn Aviation  Search this
Johnson, Robert Woods  Search this
Miller, John Matthew, III, 1896-  Search this
Extent:
0.8 Cubic feet (1 legal document box, 1 slim legal document box, 1 map folder (18 x 48 inches))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Financial records
Correspondence
Clippings
Pamphlets
Photographs
Scrapbooks
Logs (records)
Date:
1910-1973
Summary:
John Matthew Miller III (born June 3, 1896) was active in aviation throughout his life, as a naval aviator, air mail pilot, transport pilot, autogiro pilot, flight instructor, aircraft manufacturer, airport operator, agricultural pilot, and helicopter test pilot, working at different times for the United States Navy, the U.S. Aerial Mail Service, Pitcairn Aeronautical Corporation, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture; from 1927-1929 Miller operated his own business, the Miller Aviation Corporation of New Brunswick, New Jersey. The collection includes Miller's pilot licenses and log books, scrapbooks, photographs, newspaper clippings and assorted ephemera, predominantly from the 1914 to 1939 period of Miller's life.
Scope and Contents:
This collection contains both original materials and photocopies of materials loaned by the donor for copying. Original materials include Miller's United States Navy Naval Aviator Certificate, an aircraft log book for the Curtiss Seagull "Jacques Cartier" (owned by The Chicago Tribune), a photo album entitled "The Miller Corporation, New Brunswick Airport" featuring images of the Miller (Corp) MCA-1 Amphibian Biplane, assorted loose photographs, correspondence from Robert Woods Johnson (of Johnson & Johnson), two panoramic group photographs of the US Navy Flight A Naval Aviation detachment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1917, newspaper clippings (several covering James G. Ray's autogiro flight over Washington, DC in 1934), assorted ephemera relating to Miller's aviation career, and two bound books: Flying Officers of the U.S.N. (US Navy): 1917-1919 and Saga of the US Air Mail Service: 1918-1927, (Air Mail Pioneers, Inc., 1962). Photocopied materials include two of Miller's pilot log books, two of Miller's pilot licenses, a scrapbook, and selected pages from additional scrapbooks from which individual photographs were copied by the National Air and Space Museum in 2001. The collection also includes Smithsonian Institution numbered copy prints of these selected photographs.
Arrangement:
Materials in this collection are grouped into Series by type; materials within a series are generally arranged chronologically, grouped by subject.
Biographical / Historical:
John Matthew Miller III was born June 3, 1896, at Tacoma, Washington. As a teenager, Miller came east to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and found summer employment with the Burgess Company aircraft manufacturers at Marblehead, Massachusetts. In 1917, following the entry of the United States into World War I, Miller was accepted into the Massachusetts School for Naval Air Service (Flight A Naval Aviation detachment at MIT), and, after two months, moved on to elementary flying instruction at Hampton Roads, Virginia, and then advanced instruction at Pensacola, Florida. He was commissioned into the United States Naval Air Service as an Ensign on March 16, 1918, and stationed at Naval Air Station Rockaway Beach, New York, where he performed patrol and convoy work off New York harbor, until ordered to inactive duty on December 15, 1918. Miller promptly joined the US Aerial Mail Service; after training in Dayton Wright DH-4 air mailplanes at Belmont Park, Long Island, Miller was posted to Bustleton, Pennsylvania, as station manager. Following his two years of air mail service, Miller worked at a number of aviation jobs, including time with the America Trans Oceanic Company (Miami, Florida, 1920), survey flights in Quebec (Canada, 1922), and managing operations for Pitcairn Aeronautical Corporation at their base adjacent to Hadley Field in South Plainfield, New Jersey (the New York terminal for the New York to Chicago and New York to Atlanta air mail routes). Miller was an active member of the New Brunswick (NJ) Aero Club, owners of a Pitcairn PA-3 Orowing based at Pitcairn's field. On August 1, 1927, Miller organized the Miller Aviation Corporation, operating out of New Brunswick Airport (a.k.a. "Miller Field"), a short-lived airfield located southwest of the city of New Brunswick. Miller Aviation offered flying instruction, local sightseeing flights, and charter passenger flights in the mid-Atlantic seaboard region. In 1928-1929, the Miller Aviation Corporation designed, constructed, and tested the Miller (Corp) MCA-1 Amphibian Biplane; sadly, the aircraft crashed during its first ground landing. After his company failed, Miller returned to Pitcairn Aeronautical as an autogiro pilot, making a number of flights through the 1930s for Pitcairn, the US Department of Agriculture, and others. During World War II, Miller temporarily rejoined the Navy as a Lieutenant Commander, serving as a helicopter test pilot at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland. Miller later worked for the Department of Agriculture until his retirement in 1956.

NOTE: John Matthew Miller III (born 1896, died circa 1980s), the subject of this collection, should not be confused with fellow air mail and autogiro pilot John McDonald "Johnny" Miller (1905-2008), occasionally referenced in this collection. Johnny Miller was more closely associated with the Kellett Autogiro Corp (Philadelphia, PA), and was famous for being the first to land an aircraft on the roof of a building.
Provenance:
Lee M. Gunther-Mohr, Gift, 2001, NASM.2001.0036.
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:
Burgess Aircraft Family  Search this
Autogiros  Search this
Aircraft industry -- United States  Search this
Aircraft industry  Search this
Airplanes  Search this
Aeronautics, Commercial -- United States  Search this
Aeronautics, Commercial  Search this
Aeronautics -- Societies, etc.  Search this
Aeronautics  Search this
Pitcairn PCA-2 Autogiro  Search this
Miller Corp MCA-1 Amphibian Biplane  Search this
Kellett Autogiro Family  Search this
Pitcairn PA-3 Orowing  Search this
Waco 10 Family (Aircraft)  Search this
Genre/Form:
Financial records
Correspondence
Clippings
Pamphlets
Photographs
Scrapbooks
Logs (records)
Scrapbooks
Citation:
John Matthew Miller III Collection, Acc. NASM.2001.0036, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
NASM.2001.0036
See more items in:
John Matthew Miller III Collection
Archival Repository:
National Air and Space Museum Archives
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/pg2a83059ef-9c92-493a-968b-5c76acd10a91
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nasm-2001-0036
Online Media:

Eastern Air Lines Collection

Creator:
Eastern Airlines, Inc.  Search this
Names:
Civil Aeronautics Board  Search this
Eastern Airlines, Inc.  Search this
Pitcairn Aviation  Search this
Extent:
19.76 Cubic feet (20 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Publications
Reports
Video recordings
Date:
bulk 1930-1976
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of newspaper articles, brochures, newsletters, magazines, photographs, negatives, and transparencies documenting Eastern Air Lines. The thrusts of the collection are the photographic images (concentrating on aircraft and personnel) and the publications of Eastern, including the newsletter "The Falcon" and "The Great Silver Fleet News" magazine.
Biographical / Historical:
Eastern Air Lines was originally formed as Pitcairn Aviation, Inc. in 1927. In July 1929 it was acquired by the North American Aviation Corp. as the Eastern Air Lines Division and, in January 1930, was renamed Eastern Air Transport. By February 1933, Eastern had acquired Ludington Airlines, giving Eastern routes to most major eastern cities, including New York, Atlanta, Miami, Atlantic City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. In 1934 the airline was renamed Eastern Air Lines and introduced Douglas DC-2s on its longer routes. In 1937 Eastern began Douglas DC-3 service and acquired Wedell-Williams Air Service Corp., thereby extending its routes westward to Houston. North American sold its holdings in Eastern to a group headed by Captain Eddie Rickenbacker. By 1960 Eastern had extended its coverage to Puerto Rico, Canada, and Mexico, as well as westward to Detroit and St. Louis. In January 1960 Eastern introduced jet service with Douglas DC-8s and, in April 1961, inaugurated "Air Shuttle" service between Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C. with its propeller-driven aircraft. By 1975 Eastern's network covered 100 cities in 30 states, as well as Mexico, Canada, and the Caribbean. In 1986 Eastern was bought by Texas Air Corp., making Texas Air the largest airline in the United States. Following labor problems, including a strike by Eastern's machinists which was supported by the pilots and flight attendants, Eastern declared Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in 1989.
Provenance:
Eastern Airlines, Inc., transfer, 1987, NASM.1987.0038.
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  Search this
Aeronautics, Commercial -- United States  Search this
Airlines  Search this
Genre/Form:
Publications
Reports
Video recordings
Citation:
Eastern Air Lines Collection, Acc. NASM.1991.0070, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
NASM.1991.0070
Archival Repository:
National Air and Space Museum Archives
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/pg2be889dbc-19be-459b-9318-434ffea9cdf6
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nasm-1991-0070
Online Media:

News wing : house organ of Pitcairn Aviation

Author:
Pitcairn Aviation  Search this
Subject:
Pitcairn Aviation Periodicals  Search this
Physical description:
3 v. : ill. ; 28 cm
Type:
Periodicals
Place:
United States
Date:
1927
1927-1929
Topic:
Air mail service--Periodicals  Search this
Call number:
HE6496 .P68
HE6496.P68
Data Source:
Smithsonian Libraries
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_sil_374756

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