National Air and Space Museum Archives

John Leland Atwood Collection

Summary

Collection ID:
NASM.2000.0012
Creators:
Atwood, John Leland, 1904-1999
Dates:
[ca. 1920s-1990s]
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
19.81 Cubic feet
(9 records center boxes) (10 flatboxes)
Repository:

Scope and Contents

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

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.

Administration

Immediate Source of Acquisition
John Leland Atwood Estate, gift, 2000, 2000-0012, NASM and North American Aviation

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Use
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests

More Information

General

General
NASMrev


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Aeronautics Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Aeronautics, Commercial -- United States Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Astronautics Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Correspondence Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Publications Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Annual reports Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Brochures Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Reports Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Atwood, John Leland, 1904-1999 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
North American Aviation, Inc. Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
North American Rockwell Corp Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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