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National Air and Space Museum Archives
John A. Macready Collection
Summary
- Collection ID:
- NASM.2004.0060
- Creators:
-
Macready, John
- Dates:
-
bulk 1920-1968
- Languages:
-
English.
- Physical Description:
-
1.47 Cubic feet(1 flat box)
- Repository:
Scope and Contents
Scope and Contents
This collection includes the following types of material chronicling John Macready's exceptional aviation career: two 3/4" (U-Matic) video tapes; a VHS tape "Macready and the Mackay"; an August 1957 National Geographic Magazine containing article "History Written in the Skies"; newspaper and magazine articles, photographs, speeches, correspondence and a 21" x 25" brown scrapbook containing newspaper clippings of Macready's many aviation accomplishments.
Biographical / Historical
Biographical / Historical
John A. Macready (1887-1979) enlisted in the US Air Service in 1917 and earned his pilot's wings at Rockwell Field, San Diego. While a flight instructor at the Army Pilot School at Brooks Field,Texas, he authored a book, "The All Through System of Flying Instruction as Taught at Brooks Field" which became the basic manual for student pilots in the early years of US military aviation. During the postwar years, he was assigned to the Air Service Experimental Test Center at McCook Field, Ohio, where he was the chief test pilot for the Air Service from 1920 to 1926. On October 5, 1922, Lt. Macready and his associate, Lt. Oakely Kelley established a world flight endurance record of 35 hours, 18.5 minutes in the skies over San Diego. This endurance flight led to experiments that produced the first air-to-air refueling system. In May 1923, Lts. Macready and Kelley took off from Roosevelt Field, New York in a Fokker T-2 and landed some 27 hours later at Rockwell Field, San Diego after having completed the first nonstop US transcontinental flight. Besides these endurance and altitude flights, Macready also had the following firsts: he made the first night parachute jump; he invented the first aviator glasses; he was the world's first crop duster; he took the first photos of a solar eclipse; he made the first aerial photographic survey of America; he conducted the first tests in a pressurized cockpit; and he was the first and only person to three times win the Mackay Trophy for outstanding aviation achievement.
Administration
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Sally M. Wallace, Gift, 2004
Using the Collection
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access.
Preferred Citation
John A. Macready Collection, Accession 2004-0060, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
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
Keywords
Keyword Terms | Keyword Types | ||
---|---|---|---|
Aeronautics | Topical | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
Endurance flights | Topical | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
Fokker T-2 (F.IV) | Topical | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
Aeronautics -- Flights | Topical | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
Transcontinental flights -- United States | Topical | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
Parachuting | Topical | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
Mackay Trophy | Topical | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
Aeronautics -- Awards | Topical | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
Scrapbooks | Genre Form | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
Kelly, Oakley G. | Personal Name | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
McCook Field, Ohio | Corporate Name | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
National Air and Space Museum Archives
14390 Air & Space Museum Parkway
Chantilly, VA 20151
NASMRefDesk@si.edu