Author Archives: Elizabeth Borja

The Archives Department’s First Anniversary at the Udvar-Hazy Center

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On January 10, 2012, the National Air and Space Museum Archives Department officially opened its new reading room at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center to public researchers.  We welcomed six researchers that day, including two who had scheduled a trip from Germany to coincide with our grand opening.

The opening was the culmination of a massive move that took place during the fall of 2011, when the Archives Department consolidated the majority of its collections from the Museum in Washington, DC, and the Paul E. Garber Facility in Suitland, Maryland.  In only a month, the Archives Department transferred almost 17,000 containers, 18,000 reels of microfilm, 13,000 rolls of motion picture film, and 7,000 videos.

Archives Reading Room

Archives Open House at Become a Pilot Day 2012. (NASM 2013-00046)

In the past year, more than 270 researchers have visited the new reading room to make use of our collections.  They’ve pursued all manners of research, including our Captured German and Japanese Air Technical Documents Collection, our in-house photo database,and the numerous personal papers and corporate records collections that we hold.

Sometimes researchers find items in our collections that we don’t even know we have.  This fall, one of our researchers came across a fun photograph of Orville Wright.  According to the documentation that accompanied the photograph, Orville often went out to fly in business clothes and shoes, whereas the mechanics wore hip boots. This test flight of a flying boat had landed in Ohio’s Miami River, so a mechanic carried Orville piggyback-style and put him in the plane so he wouldn’t get his feet wet.

Orville Wright

Mechanic Bill Conover gives Orville Wright a piggyback ride to their aircraft waiting in the Miami River, 1913. (NASM 9A10110)

In June, at least 80 visitors attended our Open House at Become a Pilot Day.  This was a great opportunity to check out some of our more colorful collections, including the Ruth Law Scrapbook and selected documents and photographs from the Dino Brugioni Collection.

Ruth Law was the first woman to loop the loop, the first person to fly a plane at night, and a one-time holder of the Chicago to New York aerial speed record.  Law volunteered to fly for the United States during World War I, but was turned down.  She did, however, fly recruiting tours for the military during the war, earning the right to wear the uniform of a noncommissioned Army officer.

Ruth Law

Ruth Law “bombshell” Liberty Bond advertising leaflet designed to be dropped from her airplane in flight. (NASM 9A01634)

Dino Brugioni is the former Chief of Information at the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC).  During his 35 year career, Brugioni helped establish imagery intelligence as a national asset to solve intelligence problems. His aerial reconnaissance work played a major role in providing intelligence throughout the Cold War.  A portion of his collection deals with his work identifying and analyzing missile sites during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.

Guanajay IRBM

Aerial image of Guanajay IRBM (intermediate-range ballistic missile) Launch Site 1 with Probable Nuclear Warhead Storage Site, Cuba, 17 October 1962. (NASM 9A09015)

And that’s just a year of activity in the public reading room.  Behind the scenes, archivists are hard at work acquiring and processing new collections, filling order requests, and answering reference questions from all over the world.

If you’re in the DC metro area and have a research interest in air and space history, consider making an appointment to visit the Archives.  Although we hold large film and microfilm collections, the majority of our records are paper. So in our case, isn’t it fitting that the traditional representation of a first anniversary is paper?

Elizabeth C. Borja is a reference services archivist in the National Air and Space Museum’s Archives Department.

Life and Liquor at “Leftover” Field

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The Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay is one of the National Air and Space Museum’s most heralded artifacts, but a new addition to the National Air and Space Museum Archives Division’s collections provides a glimpse into the lives of the crew before they became worldwide names.  In May, the Archives accepted an accession of three State of Utah individual liquor permits for 1944 to 1945 (Acc. No. 2012-0027).  Two of these permits were issued to future members of the crew of the Enola Gay—Colonel Paul Tibbets, commanding officer of the 509th Composite Group, and Major Thomas Ferebee, the bombardier on the flight to Hiroshima.

Ferebee's Ration Card

Front view of Major Thomas Ferebee’s Utah liquor ration card. NASM 9A08342

 

Before shipping out to Tinian, the island in the Marianas from which the Enola Gay launched its flight to Japan, Tibbets and the 509th Composite Group were stationed at Wendover Army Air Field on the western edge of Utah.  The population of the town of Wendover was just over 100 people.  Surrounded by miles of salt flats, there so little to do in Wendover, Bob Hope reportedly called it “Leftover” Field.  This isolation was ideal for Tibbets, since he was especially concerned with operational security for his top secret B-29 program.  Tibbets hoped to keep his men out of the bars, where they could potentially talk about their lives and jobs.

Ferebee's Ration Card

Reverse view of Major Thomas Ferebee’s Utah liquor ration card. NASM 9A08342-A

 

Just because they were isolated in Utah, famous for its strict liquor laws even before wartime rationing, didn’t mean that alcohol was unavailable to the men of the 509th.  During their stay at Wendover, Tibbets and Ferebee were issued new 1944 to 1945 individual liquor permits.  According to the Salt Lake Telegram, the new 1944 to 1945 liquor permits were supposed to be a new “foolproof” design to curb rampant counterfeiting.  Before, purchasing liquor in Utah required a liquor permit and a ration card, which were both easily forged.  The new design was enclosed in cellophane and included a year’s supply of liquor.  In order to receive a permit, an applicant needed to produce a ration book and at least three other forms of identification, including a service identification card if a member of the military.

Tibbets’ Utah Liquor Ration Card

Reverse view of Colonel Paul Tibbets’ Utah liquor ration card. NASM 9A08343-A

 

From rations notices posted in the Telegram, we can roughly determine how much liquor was purchased by the two crew members between July 1944 and July 1945.  The first set of numbers 1 through 12 could be used to purchase one-fifth or a pint, if the store was out of fifths, of liquor per month.  The set of numbers 13 through 18 represented bonus rations, allotted throughout the year.  The letters along the bottom represented two fifths or one-half gallon of wine in monthly installments, plus bonus rations.  Though he was constantly shuttling between Utah; Los Alamos, New Mexico; Washington, DC; and, later, Tinian from July 1944 through July 1945, Tibbets usually used his rations, often taking advantage of the bonus rations.  Ferebee was not transferred to Wendover until September 1944 and may not have obtained his card immediately, since he did not begin using the card to buy liquor until February 1945.  While these liquor permits don’t provide new, groundbreaking insight into the crew of the Enola Gay, they do provide a quick look at a small aspect of their life in Utah.

Elizabeth C. Borja is a reference services archivist in the National Air and Space Museum’s Archives Division.

This post was originally published on the Smithsonian Collections Blog in October 2012.

The Tomboy of the Air

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Blogs across the Smithsonian will give an inside look at the Institution’s archival collections and practices during a month long blogathon in celebration of October’s American Archives Month. See additional posts from our other participating blogs, as well as related events and resources, on the Smithsonian’s Archives Month website .

One hundred and one years ago, on October 23, 1910, Blanche Stuart Scott made her first public flight with the Glenn Curtiss Exhibition Team in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Scott, billed as the “Tomboy of the Air,” is one of America’s earliest female aviators.  There is conflicting evidence regarding the exact date of Blanche Stuart Scott’s first solo flight, so we may never determine which of Scott or Bessica Raiche was, indeed, America’s first female to fly solo.

 

Blanche Stuart Scott

Blanche Stuart Scott seated at the controls of a Curtiss Model D, circa early 1910s. SI-72-4803-A

 

There are also conflicting reports on Scott’s appearance in Fort Wayne.  The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette reported that Scott flew across the field and landed immediately, though she had wished to make a few circles.  In later years, Scott remembered making eight circles of the field.  In most reports, Scott’s flew at a height of approximately twelve feet, ostensibly because show promoters did not want outside spectators to get a free show.

Regardless of these conflicting reports, Blanche Stuart Scott is a pioneer of American aviation.  The Blanche Stuart Scott Collection (Acc. No. XXXX-0062) at the National Air and Space Museum Archives Division contains 0.0283 cubic meters (one cubic foot) of material relating to the pioneering aviatrix. It includes correspondence, memorabilia, and a great many newspaper clippings.   A finding aid to the collection can be found in both PDF and HTML formats.  The Archives Division also has a sizeable file on Scott in its Biographical Technical Files.

Elizabeth C. Borja is a reference services archivist in the National Air and Space Museum’s Archives Division.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

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The 2011 Major League Baseball season starts today at 1:05pm, when the National Air and Space Museum’s hometown Washington Nationals host the Atlanta Braves at Nationals Park.

This afternoon the red and white uniforms of the Nationals will stand out against the bright green of the field.  In the late 1950s, players took to the field of the U.S. Naval Air Material Center in Philadelphia wearing a different uniform—B.F. Goodrich Mark IV spacesuits.  Photographs of this event were found in the Archives Division’s Frederick Clark Durant Collection (Acc. No. XXXX-0084).

space suit

Hey batter, batter! Swing batter, batter! NASM 9A05849, use courtesy of Goodrich Corporation

The game was staged as a flexibility demonstration for the spacesuit.  The final score of the baseball game is unknown, but the Mark IV would evolve to become the original Project Mercury spacesuit, a definite home run!

space suit

He checks the runner on second and turns to the plate... NASM 9A05850, use courtesy of Goodrich Corporation

There’s only one thing left to say as the season begins…

Play ball!

Elizabeth C. Borja is a reference services archivist in the National Air and Space Museum’s Archives Division.

The Curtiss-Wright Corporation Collection – Patent Files

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In 1929, the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company merged with the Wright Aeronautical Corporation to form the Curtiss-Wright Corporation. The merger of these two companies created one of the largest aircraft manufacturers in the country, which held numerous patents for aircraft. The National Air and Space Museum Archives Division holds two collections that include patent documents from Curtiss-Wright. I just finished processing and writing a finding aid for the files of the Patent Department and found the material quite intriguing.

patent

U.S. Patent No. 1246011, issued to Glenn H. Curtiss of Hammondsport, New York, November 6, 1917, for "Flying Boats"

The majority of the collection consists of original patent certificates issued by the United States Patent Office and Patent Office of Canada between the years 1911 and 1939. The United States certificates are aesthetically appealing, with a bright blue ribbon holding them together, sealed with a red sticker stamp. Early Canadian patents contain the original drawings submitted by the patent applicant.

For me, the most interesting part of the collection was the patent litigation files. With the consolidation of the patents held by the Wright brothers, Glenn Curtiss, and their associates, the Curtiss-Wright Corporation held patents for many of the early discoveries in the design and construction of aircraft. As such, the Patent Department of Curtiss-Wright was vigilant in protecting its patents, suing the Ford Motor Company, the Waco Aircraft Company, the Nicholas-Beazley Airplane Company, and the Bellanca Aircraft Corporation, among others, for patent infringement. The patent litigation files include materials created by Curtiss-Wright in pursuit of litigation, including copies of the proceedings, correspondence and memoranda, aircraft drawings and blueprints, advertising brochures, and copies of related patents.

The original file titles as written on the original folders were unremarkable, but accurate—proceedings, correspondence, memoranda. Although many of the files contained “legalese”—notice, stipulation, equity, annexed motion, etc.—I could usually browse each folder quickly to determine that the description most often did match the contents.

I finally came to a folder with the nondescript title: “Data Records Re: Evidence.” Inside were notes from a 1932 interview with Orville Wright. Following the interview was a signed letter from Wright, dated June 15, 1931, and a photograph taken on June 24, 1905. Although the letter and photograph have little value among the large catalog of Wright material in the world, it does contain a signature, so I removed the originals and placed them in our Rare Manuscripts Collection, inserting photocopies in the collection.

letter

June 15, 1931 letter from Orville Wright to the Curtiss-Wright Corporation regarding the design of the Wright 1905 Flyer

The letter and interview reveal an interesting aspect of patent litigation—patents that have been assigned (transferred) to second parties have lives much longer than their original owners may have dreamed. Although Orville Wright had long since ended his association with Wright Aeronautical Corporation, Curtiss-Wright contacted Wright in the hopes that he would provide information to establish that early work on the vertical surface on an airplane was covered by Wright patents. Wright had originally responded favorably, not understanding that the patent was under suit, thinking it had expired. Based on the later interview, Curtiss-Wright determined that Wright would most likely not testify on its behalf, since he was opposed to litigation between American companies and was actually quite friendly with Henry Ford, one of the defendants. Ultimately, the suit was settled out of court with the defendant taking a license from Curtiss-Wright under the patent.

wright flyer

July 24, 1905 photograph sent with 1931 Orville Wright letter, demonstrating patent for the vertical surface of a Wright Flyer

Given this new information, when creating a new folder title for this material, I kept the original title “Data Records Re: Evidence” but added “[Orville Wright Interview and Correspondence]” in brackets to let researchers know that this was an archivist-imposed addition.

The rest of the Curtiss-Wright Corporation Collection – Patent Files consists of file wrappers (a complete record of proceedings from the filing of the initial patent application to the issued patent); research reports and documents submitted to the U.S. Navy Department’s Bureau of Aeronautics; and minutes, notes, and reports from the Curtiss-Wright Patent Department and Development Division Technical Committee. A finding aid to the collection can be found on the National Air and Space Museum Archives Division website in both HTML and PDF forms.

Elizabeth C. Borja is a reference services archivist in the National Air and Space Museum’s Archives Division.