World War II Flight Nursing, 1943

The records of the Flight Nurses Section of the Aerospace Medical Association began in 1963 when the Section was created. However, the occupation of flight nursing dates back to the Second World War. While the vast majority of the Flight Nurse Section records deal with the agency itself, they include some additional material on World War 11 flight nurses and their reunions.

The records within the collection are divided into nine different record groups or series. Due to the nature of the organization itself, with leadership changing annually and no standardized method of record keeping, there was no consistent method of organization. Originally, all the records for the Section were kept by the President in a single notebook. As the organization grew additional files, for example, correspondence or committees, were added. Yet the President continued to keep an annual notebook. Therefore many of the records may be duplicated in one or more series. The collection is divided into series based upon different functions of the Flight Nurse Section. At the same time, as much of the original order as possible has been maintained.

There is a large gap in the collection coverage. There is no readily available record of when the section changed its name from "Flight Nurse Section" to "Aerospace Nursing Section", nor of when the section became the "Aerospace Nursing Society". A limited number of files from the era of the Aerospace Nursing Section were added from the Aersopace Medical Association Records processed in 2009. Although these additions were provided by the AsMA, the files clearly originated with the Aerospace Nurses Section Representative on the AsMA Council at the time (presumably, also the ANS President/Chair). Thus, these records were accessioned to the Flight Nurses Section Records rather than the AsMA Records.

Series I, Administration, contains administrative records such as the Constitution and By-laws of the Flight Nurses Section. It also contains the minutes of the Flight Nurse Section Executive Committee and Aerospace Medical Association Council documents that originated from the Aerospace Nursing Section's representative on the Council at that time. Series I covers the years 1963-2000, with the bulk of the records coming from the 1970s and 1980s.

The heart of the Flight Nurse Section record is contained in Series II, Annual Meetings, Series III, Correspondence, and Series IV, Committees. Series II consists of the Flight Nurse "Annual." The "Annuals" appear to be the Section's Annual Meeting, which is held each year in conjunction with the Aerospace Medical Association Convention. The main activity of the Flight Nurse Section is their Annual Meeting, and most of the information in the -Annuals- deals with preparations for this meeting. The Flight Nurse Section "Annuals" for 1972 and 1973 contain Newsletters, which apparently were only produced during those two years. Series II dates from 1966-1999. After 1980, correspondence was no longer filed with the "Annuals," with the exception of some annual meeting planning correspondence files that were processed in 2009 and roughly cover the span of 1977-1999.

Series III, Correspondence, begins in 1965 with a file on the WWII Flight Nurse Association. The rest of the correspondence is of a general nature and spans the period 1974 to 2000.

Series IV, Committees, covers the years 1967-2000. Both Flight Nurse/Aerospace Nurses Section and Aerospace Medical Association Committees are represented.

Series V is comprised of news articles and clippings about the Flight Nurse Section. A majority of these articles are taken from Aerospace Medicine. They cover the years 1963-1954. There is also a 1943 article about flight nursing during WWII.

Series VI consists of photographs. Most of the photographs were taken at the Annual Meetings. A few are official photos of members of the Flight Nurse Section. For quick reference, the photographs are indexed in a separate photo name file.

Series VII appears to be a scrapbook. It contains both photos and correspondence which has been filed in its original order. The material dates from 1963-1979.

Series VIII contains blueprints of a C-9 with plans for nursing stations and patient care. The blueprints date from 1965-1966.

Two miscellaneous items, the plaque from the first Flight Nurse Presidents' gavel and the pattern for the Flight Nurse Section Flag can be found in Series IX, Miscellaneous.