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

Keywords table of terms and types.
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
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