Air pilots, Military--United States

Scope and Contents Carl O. Dunbar, Jr. served in the U.S. Marine Corps Fighter Squadron VMF-214 as a pilot in the Pacific Campaign during World War II. This collection contains news articles, navigation log books, photographs, and a scrapbook with artifacts, government documents and letters, photographs, and ephemera. Dunbar's flight mission log book recorded action at Guadalcanal and the Solomon Islands. This collection also contains a manuscript written by Dunbar's son, Peter, which highlights his father's military career and flying experiences. The photographs are from before, during, and after World War II. Dunbar included materials from his activities after the war, including his career as a lawyer...

Scope and Contents

The collection of Clarke M. Brandt contains an oral history transcript and various publications about army life during World War II. In it are examples such as George (Bob) Caron who was a tail gunner on the "Enola Gay" B-29 Bomber. The oral history includes Caron's eyewitness account of the bomb being dropped on Hiroshima. Also included are pamphlets and newsletters including "War Buddies," which covers the relationship between a soldier and his canine companion through his years as a member of the US Marine Corps. "War Buddies" is written by Earle Welch and Dick Roberts.

Scope and Contents

This collection contains Franklin Merle Peterson's personal correspondence, newspapers, ephemera, and photographs from Peterson’s lifetime. Peterson was a veteran of the First World War in France and the Second World War in the U.S. Army Air Corps.

Content Description

This collection pertains to Joe Friday and his service in the Army Air Force during World War II in the Pacific Theater of Operation.The collection contains information and photographs of Joe Friday compiled by his son in hopes of finding someone that knew him. The photographs include Joe in service flying different aircrafts, his colleagues and locations of places that he had flown to. The collection also includes a typed document that contains biographical information on Joe's service.

Scope and Contents

This World War II collection relates to Harold Truman Speck, a copilot Flight Officer of nine B-17 bombing raids over Europe. He served with the 545th Bombardment Squadron, 384th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force. This collection consists of photocopies of photographs, military personnel records, books, medals, pins, and Speck's personal POW journal provided by the Harold Truman Speck family.

Scope and Contents

This collection contains six Aviator's Flight Log Books from Captain Hilliard C. Smathers' time as a pilot with the U.S. Navy, from 1930-1951. Also included is the flag that flew in Smathers' honor over the United States Capitol in Washington D.C. and two certificates confirming this occasion. The US Naval Aviator certificate contains a picture of Smathers, as well as the date on which he was officially certified as a Naval Aviator - March 21, 1942 - and three instrument rating cards.

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of an oral history interview transcript of Roy Mack Holt, who was enlisted in the U.S. Navy and worked as a Navy aircraft pilot during World War II, serving on anti-submarine patrols on the Atlantic coast and the Caribbean Sea (Cuba, Brazil, and Morocco). The interview covers his life before and after service. The interview also describes his years after the war studying at Florida State University. This collection also includes a small fragment of his obituary.

Content Description

This collection relates to Richard Lewis who served in the U.S. Army Air Corps from 1942 to 1945 in the European Theatre. This collection contains an oral history transcript where Lewis details his missions on a B-24 Bomber and B-17 Bomber during World War II and briefly describes his service in the Korean War.

Scope and Contents

The Loren E. Jackson manuscript "Epilogue to a War Story" documents Lieutenant Colonel Loren E. Jackson's experience as a prisoner of war when he was shot down during D-Day from his B-17 that he piloted with the 385th Bomb Group during World War II. His manuscript details his encounter with the German Gerhard Graf von Schwerin who he met in the 1960s after not seeing him since he was interrogated by him. Jackson recounts the conversation he had with General and touches on multiple subjects, such as German memory of war, behaviors of the Germans, morale, and the surrendering of Germany.

Content Description

This collection relates to Viola B. McClellan (Women's Auxillary Corps) and Dewey S. McClellan (U.S. Army Air Corps) who both served in the European Theater of Operations as a pilot during World War II. This collection also relates to Charles S. Smith who served as a civilian contractor and Japanese prisoner of war at Wake Island in the Pacific Theater of Operations. This collection contains documents, ephemera, and photographs.

Scope and Contents

This collection relates to William J. McCusker III who served as a C-47 pilot with the 18th Troop Carrier Squadron during World War II.  The collection includes letters, documents, photographs, flight records, certificates, pilot manuals, and pilot training class yearbooks. The collection also contains handwritten notebooks kept by William J. McCusker III during his service as a police officer with the New York Police Department.

Content Description

This collection relates to John L. McQuigg (Lieutenant Colonel with the US Army Air Force) who served with the 8th Air Force in Photographic Reconnaissance in the European and Mediterranean Theaters and participated in the North African and the Italian Allied Photo Reconnaissance Wing, including surveillance for the Anzio Landing. The collection contains military papers, ephemera, photographs, artifacts, and maps covering John L. McQuigg's communication with his wife and children, surveillance operations during the war, and documents from the Air Force reserves following the war.

Content Description

This collection relates to Colonel William G. Walker Jr., and his service in the Army and Army Air Force during World War II in the European/Pacific Theater of Operation. The collection consists of a manuscript he wrote for his grandchildren describes his experiences in the during the war years and includes some photos of himself and aircrafts. He shares a timeline of his time in World War II, starting with his enlistment and training as a pilot shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He also includes certain anecdotes of missions he carried out in Newfoundland and the Owi islands, including naming the specific aircrafts he used.

Scope and Contents

This collection centers around a Brigadier General in the U.S. Air Force.  It includes items related to his time in the military and his personal life before and after retirement. It includes personal letters, special orders, magazines, books, newspapers and clippings, event brochures, pamphlets, education records, personnel files, flight logs, photographs, VHS Tapes, cassette tapes, and flags spanning from the 1930s until the early 2000s.