William F. Yeager Aviation Collection

The William F. Yeager Aviation Collection is divided into six series. The bulk of the collection is more than 25,000 photographs and negatives that were part of Mr. Yeager's aviation photography business.

Series I, William Yeager Personal Information and Memorabilia, is grouped into four major groups of material. The first group contains photographs of Mr. Yeager ranging from a photograph of him as a child to his 1990 funeral at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D. C. Researchers should especially note the photographs of Mr. Yeager during World War II while he was flying with the 320th Bomb Group. In particular, there are a number of photographs taken of the bomb groups operations in North Africa, Sardinia, and France. The grouping also contains a number of photographs of Mr. Yeager after World War II, including his official U.S. Air Force photograph used for promotion boards.

The second major group of Series I is personal information. Of particular note is a letter, which was used for a 1943 Look Magazine article, entitled "An Account of My First Raid Over North Africa." Also included is the General Order awarding him the Air Medal on September 13, 1943, membership certificates, resumes' of his experience, and his Last Will and Testament.

The third major group of Series I is Memorabilia, including Souvenir Programs. Included in this group is the graduation program for Pilot Training Class 42-G on July 23, 1943, "The Thunderbird Annual" for 1941-1942," the Gardner Field, CA "Bee Tee" for 1942, and information on the 319th Bomb Group Association for the period 1974 to 1988. There are a number of Souvenir Programs, including several from air races around the country. Finally, there are two boxes of material containing rank insignia, name tags, and of particular note Army medals, including Lt. Yeager's Distinguished Flying Cross.

Series II, Publications, is divided into four major groupings. The first major group is Aviation Brochures. This group contains general information brochures about such companies as American Airlines (1944), Boeing Aircraft (1958, 1980), Lockheed Aircraft (1929-1932), Northrop Aircraft (1933-1946), and Stearman Aircraft (c.a.1930s). The second group contains general aviation brochures such as "The Jet Aircraft of the World" (1950), "A Chronicle of the Aviation Industry in America" (1947-1950), and "The Organization - Research Activities and Facilities of NACA" (1943. The third group of material includes magazines, newsletters, booklets and catalogs. This group contains a variety of aviation-related materials ranging from Munsey's Magazine (1910, 1912) and Navy Air Pilot and Military Aeronautic Review (1918) to more recent aviation material such Spotlight Magazines article "Wings Over Cleveland." The bulk of the material in this group is dated between 1939 and 1960. The final group in Series II is oversize material. Most of the material in this group is from World War II and includes such material as The Bowman Bomber (1941) and Life Magazine (1942).

Series III, Flight Training Books, Records, and Tools, is divided into three major groups related to flight and flight training. The first major group contains flight records and information. This series contains information concerning Mr. Yeager's flying activities. It includes his U.S. Army Air Corps Pilot Log Books, his individual flight diaries, and his individual flight records from 1940 to 1963. It also contains Ferrying Orders and Flying notes during the same period. Additionally, the group contains Mr. Yeager's flight log books, daily flight logs, and schedules when he flew for World Wide Helicopters in Benghazi, Libya, Air Commuter Airlines in Cleveland, and Wright Airlines, also out of Cleveland. Finally, this group contains general information such as air traffic control procedures and regulations for the early 1950s, an amplified resume of his aeronautical experience, and FAA flight maps from the late 1940s. Researchers interested in flight training methods of the 1940s will find the second and third major groups interesting and informative. The second major group contains flight regulations, manuals and technical orders. Much of this material is Army Air Corps basic flight training material from the 1940s including flying regulations, technical orders for instrument flying, and fundamentals of flight maneuvers. The group also contains inspection handbooks, radio facility charts and FAA location identifiers. The last major group contains flight tools and books. This group contains hand held dead reckoning computers, distance and speed computers, flight operation guide cards for range and fuel consumption (P-51, B-24, and L-2), and several small handbooks for aircraft engines.

Series IV, Correspondence, contains letters received and sent by Mr. Yeager from 1937 to 1987. Most of the letters are business related, but also includes letters from friends and family written during and immediately written after World War II. Among the postcards in Box 18 is a postcard signed by Jimmy Doolittle.

Series V, Aircraft History, Design, and General Information, is grouped into five major areas. The first major area includes information on aviation history, design and analysis. This group contains a number of "Design Analysis" articles printed in Aviation Magazine from 1943 and 1944 and includes analysis of such airplanes as the Bell Airacobra, the North American P-51 "Mustang," and the Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortress." This major grouping also contains Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences "Historical Briefs" on a variety of subjects, Air Age Technical Library "Warplane Research" articles on American World War II aircraft, and booklets on the "History of the U.S. Air Force" and a chronology of Air Force Historical Events from 1907 to 1957. The second major area includes general aircraft information. This area includes aircraft lists, CAA Aircraft Specifications, and general information about U.S. aircraft. The third major group is oversize material. This group primarily consists of drawings of racing planes by R. S. Hirsch, drawings of aircraft by Mr. Yeager, and several blueprints or plans for miniature aircraft. The fourth major group consists of air racing information. This small group contains information such as official standings for eight years from 1929 to 1949, newspaper clippings about the National Air Races in Cleveland from the 1940s and 1950s, and an August 1973 article "Dole Derby: Roaring 20s Fatal Air Race." The fifth, and last major group, contains aircraft accident information. The accident summaries and reports in this area span a period beginning in 1930 and ending in 1964. There are also National Transportation Safety Board recommendations for the 1970s and early 1980s.

The sixth, and largest series, is Series VI, Photographs and Negatives. This series spans 94 boxes, 11,255 photographs and approximately 18,000 negatives. The series is divided into three subseries. Subseries VIA contains general aircraft photograph information. Included in this subseries is a list of photographs taken by Mr. Yeager, a photo card file used by him in his photo service, and a variety of photograph packs including Thompson Valves' "Famous Flights, 1926-1938," official photographs of U.S. Army and Navy planes, and photo packs of World War II Allied nations aircraft. There are also several photograph catalogs, along with photographs of AAF and U.S. Navy planes in action both in Europe and in the South Pacific.

The second (VIB) and third subseries (VIC) contain photographs and negatives. The images are grouped according to type of aircraft (civilian, military, and racing), manufacturer, and are in alphabetical order. Researchers should note that most of the images are of 1920s, 1930, and 1940s aircraft. In most cases, the images are in the public domain for copyright purposes, but some images are copyright protected, which is indicated on the reverse of the photograph. It is important to note that almost all of the photographs and negatives have been identified with their make and model number, their tail and/or aircraft number, the type of engine used in the aircraft, and the view of the plane. Also, in most cases, individuals in the photograph, such as Jimmie Doolittle and Charles Lindbergh, are identified.

Subseries VIB is divided into several major groups according to size of photograph, e.g. 8" x 10," 5" x 7," 5" x 8," and 4" x 5," and type of aircraft, e.g. civilian, military, and racing. The first group of photographs contains 1454 8"x 10" photographs of civilian and military aircraft. Photographs are grouped according to aircraft manufacturer and in alphabetical order. The largest group of photographs is of Lockheed aircraft. Other large groups include Boeing, Curtiss, Douglas, Fokker, Grumman, North American, and Northrop. The second group of photographs contains 283 photographs of racing airplanes. Represented in this group are a wide variety of racing aircraft including aircraft designed by the Granville Brothers, Keith Rider, and Wedell-Williams. Finally, at the end of the 8" x 10" photographs are a variety of other photographs including 52 photographs of the United States Air Force Museum in the late 1950s and 31 photographs of Charles and Anne Lindbergh's early 1930s Transatlantic Survey Flight for Pan American Airlines. The second major group consists of 506 5" x 7" photographs. The third major group consists of 120 5" x 8" photographs. The fourth, and by far the largest group, consists of 8,942 photographs ranging in size from 1" x 1" to 4" x 5." The box and file listing for group four is not as detailed as the previous groups described above. Group four is organized according to type of aircraft (civilian, military and racing) and then is arranged in alphabetical order according to manufacturer. However, individual photographs are not listed. Instead, ranges of files are provided for each manufacturer. In cases where there are large numbers of aircraft for a particular manufacturer, the photographs are grouped and listed according to their model number. Photograph researchers will note that there are 3039 photographs of civilian aircraft, 3924 photographs of military aircraft, and 1979 photographs of racing aircraft. Among civilian aircraft, there are a large number of photographs of Lockheed aircraft. Among military aircraft, there are a high number of photographs of aircraft produced by Boeing, Curtiss, Douglas, Grumman, Lockheed, Martin, Northrop, North American, and Vought. Finally, major concentrations of racing aircraft photographs include aircraft produced by Curtiss, the Granville Brothers, Howard, Laird, Lockheed, Keith Rider, Wedell-Williams, and Steve Wittman.

A selection of photographs from Subseries VIB, have been scanned and are available online in Wright State University's Campus Online Repository (CORE Scholar): http://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/special_ms223_photographs/. To search for a specific image from this collection in CORE Scholar, search for the item using the following format: ms223_BBB_FF_XXX, where "BBB" is the three-digit Box number listed in the finding aid, "FF" is the two-digit File number, and "XXX" is the three-digit item number. For example, to locate the Aeronca C-3 photograph found in Box 33, File 2, Item 1, search for ms223_033_02_001.

Subseries VIC consists of approximately 18,000 negatives. This subseries is also grouped according to size of negative (8" x 10," 5" x 7," and 4" x 5") and according to type of aircraft (civilian, military, and racing). Within each of these major divisions the negatives are in alphabetical order according to manufacturer. There are 334 8"x 10" negatives, 178 5" x 7" negatives, and a little more than 17,000 4" x 5" negatives. As in the 4" x 5" photographs, the 8" x 10" and 5" x 7" negatives are listed with a range of file numbers associated with a specific manufacturer. In the case of the 4" x 5" negatives, the 50 boxes containing negatives have the name of the manufacturer for the first file in the box and the name of the manufacturer for the last file in the box, i.e. Abrams - Avro. Because the number of negatives exceeds the number of prints listed in the collection, researchers will likely find photograph negatives of aircraft not listed in the photograph part of the finding aid. Please note that deteriorated cellulose nitrate and cellulose acetate 8x10 negatives in Box 69 were digitized and are only available in the reading room as digital images. To view, please request ms223_e0001 from the E-Archives.