The Russian Aeronautical Collection is a mix of technical, historical, and cultural reference materials, including originals or copies of articles, documents and other historical materials relating to Russian and Soviet aviation from the Tsarist period through the Soviet era. The collection focuses on key events, personalities and aircraft designs, and certain subject areas are covered in depth, including the life and career of Igor Sikorsky, the transpolar flights of the 1930s, Soviet aviation in the Spanish Civil War, and the operational history of the Soviet Air Force in World War II.
Scope and Contents:
This collection contains newspaper clippings, articles, pamphlets/booklets, magazines/journals, reports, monographs, manuscripts, bibliographies and a few photographs.
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:
This collection was arranged by the creator first by what chronological era the subject matter dealt with, then alphabetically within each era by file unit title. Von Hardesty also created a grouping of materials that deals with aircraft design and designers and another grouping that contains reference material. Groupings and materials are in the order that the processing archivist received them which also correspondes to the guide that Von Hardesty created.
The processing archivist added the last 2 series which covers materials that were not listed in the original guide to the collection.
There are 8 series:
Series I: 1885-1917
Series II: 1918-1940
Series III: 1941-1945
Series IV: 1946-Onwards
Series V: Design
Series VI: Reference
Series VII: Loose Materials
Series VIII: Administrative Material
Biographical / Historical:
The Russian Aeronautical Collection (RAC) was assembled over the course of two decades by Von Hardesty, curator in the Aeronautics Division of the National Air and Space Museum. The RAC developed as a research project linked to the publication of Hardesty's book Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power, 1941 -1945 (first published in 1982.)
Provenance:
Aeronautics Division / Von Hardesty, Transfer, 2006
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.
Reina Pennington, Wings, Women and War: Soviet Women's Military Aviation Regiments in the Great Patriotic War M.A. Thesis, University of South Carolina, 1993. Folder 1 of 2. (photocopy)
Collection Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Russian Aeronautical Collection, ACC. 2006-0034, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Reina Pennington, "Wings, Women and War: The Formation and Development of Soviet Women's Military Aviation Regiments, 1941-42." Class paper, Fall 1991.
Collection Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Russian Aeronautical Collection, ACC. 2006-0034, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Von Hardesty, "Guide to the Russian Aeronautical Collection - A Study Archives Related to the History of Russian and Soviet Aviation and Aircraft Design," 2006.
Collection Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Russian Aeronautical Collection, ACC. 2006-0034, 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:
Russian Aeronautical Collection, ACC. 2006-0034, 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:
Russian Aeronautical Collection, ACC. 2006-0034, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Richard Ward, Soviet Military Aircraft Design and Procurement - A Historical Perspective (Fort Worth, TX : General Dynamics, 1983).
Collection Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Russian Aeronautical Collection, ACC. 2006-0034, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Gottemoeller, R. & Brooks, N. monograph. (Missing at the time of processing July 2014.)
Collection Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Russian Aeronautical Collection, ACC. 2006-0034, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Steven J. Zaloga, Target: Amerika - How the Soviet Union Designed the Weapons to Destroy the United States 1945-46, Manuscript First Draft, Presidio Press, 1992.
Collection Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Russian Aeronautical Collection, ACC. 2006-0034, 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:
Russian Aeronautical Collection, ACC. 2006-0034, 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:
Russian Aeronautical Collection, ACC. 2006-0034, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Mark Andrew O'Neill, "The Other Side of the Yalu: Soviet Pilots in the Korean War, Phase One, 1 November 1950-23 October 1951," Ph.D. dissertation, Florida State University, Summer 1996.
Collection Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Russian Aeronautical Collection, ACC. 2006-0034, 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:
Russian Aeronautical Collection, ACC. 2006-0034, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Jacques Marmain, "Lyulka - A Soviet Pioneer," Air Enthusiast. November 1971, pp.297-300. (clipping)
Collection Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Russian Aeronautical Collection, ACC. 2006-0034, 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:
Russian Aeronautical Collection, ACC. 2006-0034, 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:
Russian Aeronautical Collection, ACC. 2006-0034, 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:
Russian Aeronautical Collection, ACC. 2006-0034, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
I. I. Sikorsky, The Invisible Encounter (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1947). (photocopy)
Collection Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Russian Aeronautical Collection, ACC. 2006-0034, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Igor I. Sikorsky, The Message of The Lord's Prayer (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1944). (photocopy)
Collection Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Russian Aeronautical Collection, ACC. 2006-0034, 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:
Russian Aeronautical Collection, ACC. 2006-0034, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.