Scope and Contents

This collection consists of corporate materials of NAA and its successor North American Rockwell and materials created or organized by Atwood. The corporate materials include NAA house organs, i.e., newsletters, magazines and annual reports; NAA and Rockwell reports, special publications and press releases; and photographs. Materials created or organized by Atwood include manuscripts and copies of Atwood's professional writings; reports collected by Atwood from other organizations; subject files which include a variety of material; and his professional correspondence from 1936-1999.

Biographical / Historical

John Leland Atwood (1904-1999) received a BS in civil engineering from the University of Texas in 1928, and started his aviation career as a junior airplane engineer with the Army Air Corps at Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio. In 1930, Atwood left that position to become a design engineer with Douglas Aircraft Company. In 1934, Atwood left Douglas to join North American Aviation (NAA) as chief engineer and vice president. Atwood continued to play a seminal leadership role throughout his career at NAA until his retirement from North American Rockwell Corporation as chief executive officer in 1970. The NAA aircraft produced under Atwood's engineering leadership include: T-6 Texan; F-51 Mustang; B-25 Mitchell; F-86 Sabrejet; F-100 Super Sabre; B-45 Tornado; RA-5C Vigilante; X-15; and the XB-70. Atwood also played key roles in NAA's aerospace ventures, including providing key leadership for the government - industry team which accomplished the Apollo missions.