Vintage Aviation Books and Periodicals

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Noha307
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Re: Vintage Aviation Books and Periodicals

Mon Apr 08, 2024 6:59 pm

JohnB wrote:I can't imagine a modern day Air Force Chief of Staff being that popular to warrant something like that today.

I've actually had that same thought, but in reference to the B-25 being named after Billy Mitchell.

The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, or NACA, published a series of 209 "Aircraft Circulars" from March 1926 to November 1937. Generally, each circular is a roughly 10 to 20 page document that described a particular model of airplane and listed specifications along with a three-view drawing. The text of the following list is from an RCGroups.com thread that was lightly edited for formatting and had links inserted:

NACA Aircraft Circulars

However, this is just one category of the multitudes of papers that NACA produced over the years. Others include:
Jesse Garrison wrote:
  • Aircraft Circulars (AC) - Reprints of articles giving specifications of individual aircraft, often from other countries.
  • Annual Reports (AR) - Contain NACA’s Annual Report to Congress as well as Technical Reports produced in that year.
  • Control Reports (CR)
  • Technical Memorandum (TM) - Reprinted reports from other laboratories, often translations from foreign languages.
  • Technical Notes (TN) - Report partial results or material of narrower interest. Selected information from these reports was often analyzed and refined for later publication in the more formal Technical Report series.
  • Reports (TR) - also called NACA Technical Reports (TR). Usually the final report on a project, summarizing earlier interim reports.
  • Research Memorandum (RM) - Less formal reports issued to meet the need for rapid dissemination of aeronautical information.
  • Wartime Reports (WR) - Published after World War II to make more widely available wartime research that had been previously issued in restricted series.

(Source: Iowa State University)
Last edited by Noha307 on Sat Feb 08, 2025 11:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Noha307
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Re: Vintage Aviation Books and Periodicals

Sat Jul 13, 2024 1:35 pm

The U.S. Navy produced a series of booklets called "The Pilot Meets the [Airplane]" during World War II:

The Pilot Meets the [Airplane]

A few notes:
  • They are usually known as "Meet the [Airplane]" based on the cover, but the "The Pilot Meets the [Airplane]" is the actual name on the title page.
  • These could be considered somewhat similar to the USAAF's pilot training manuals mentioned in a previous post in that they are more informal and less detailed than the actual flight manuals.
  • The booklets were intended to accompany an identically named set of training films according to a list of 1 February 1943 issue of the Bureau of Aeronautics News Letter and the fact that the N3N booklet begins with the statement "[t]his film introduces the pilot to the important features of the N3N-3" [emphasis added].
  • They were produced by the Jam Handy Organization, which was well known for making instructional filmstrips. Interestingly, a significant collection of materials from the company ended up at the at the Archive of Recorded Sound at Stanford University, so it is possible the original films may reside there.

The series also included non-aircraft related manuals:

Other Booklets
  • Airway Aids[1]
  • Flight Control Systems[1]
  • Flight Instruments[1]
  • Parachutes...[1]
Last edited by Noha307 on Sat Jul 13, 2024 10:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
JohnB
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Re: Vintage Aviation Books and Periodicals

Sat Jul 13, 2024 5:32 pm

At the now closed museum where I volunteered, someone dropped of a copy of "Meet the NP-1".
I was amazed, it's a great idea to reinforce the film strip of motion picture.

I'm ashamed to admit I was totally unfamiliar with the aircraft. It rates just a paragraph in my Navy aircraft book.

A friend was restoring a N3N, so I bought a " Meet the..." book for him.
Last edited by JohnB on Wed Aug 14, 2024 12:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
Noha307
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Re: Vintage Aviation Books and Periodicals

Sun Aug 11, 2024 8:22 pm

Despite finding multiple examples of both scanned and physical copies of the -17 manual below, most of the other volumes from the Air Service Command "1M" sequence remain elusive:

Air Service Command Manuals

Another sequence of manuals, the 30-series, Training Aids, also frequently (but not always) have distinctive covers. While the 30-100 portion was already mentioned in a previous post, additional examples are listed below:

Training Aids Manuals

EDIT (24-10-08): Add Aircraft Final Assembly Mechanic: P-40-E Preliminary Instruction Manual entry.
Noha307
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Re: Vintage Aviation Books and Periodicals

Tue Oct 08, 2024 10:32 pm

Back in the "before times" when computers hadn't been invented yet, everything had to be kept on paper. This led to the creation of catalogs and "stock lists" to keep track of all of the equipment the military (and the enemy) used:

Aviation Supply Office Catalog
(Source: AirCorps Library)

Foreign Equipment Catalog
(Source: Smithsonian Institution)

Graphic Survey of Radio and Radar Equipment
(Source: Hangar Thirteen)

Index of Army Aeronautical Equipment with Navy and British Equivalents
(Source: AeroAntique, AirCorps Library)

Other
Noha307
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Re: Vintage Aviation Books and Periodicals

Mon Dec 09, 2024 7:29 pm

The Aviation Training Sense series of pamphlets mentioned in a previous post, with the designation NAVAER 00-80Q, appears to have ended around 1961. Its role seems to have been taken over by the NAVAER/NAVAIR 00-80T series (although this series goes back to at least 1944), which is significantly less informal and more along the lines of standard technical manuals, and continues to this day:

General Training Publications

Thanks to Ken, whose question brought its existence to my attention.

EDIT (24-12-15): Add NAVAIR 00-80T-31 entry with reference.
Noha307
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Re: Vintage Aviation Books and Periodicals

Wed Jan 08, 2025 5:50 pm

The Civil Aeronautics Authority published a series of postwar technical manuals as replacements for the the prewar bulletins mentioned in a previous post:

C.A.A. Technical Manuals
Noha307
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Re: Vintage Aviation Books and Periodicals

Sun Feb 02, 2025 8:05 pm

Similar to the NACA Aircraft Circulars mentioned in a previous post, the Civil Aeronautics Authority issued a series of at least 347 "Technical Development Reports" starting in October 1937 and running until at least May 1958:

Technical Development Report

A few notes:
  • When the report included "Part" in the title, it is included in parentheses at the end of the entry.
  • Since the reports are bound together, if you want to quickly find the title pages, search "Technical Development Report" in the text. To find an exact report, search "No. XXX".
Noha307
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Re: Vintage Aviation Books and Periodicals

Sun Feb 23, 2025 10:14 pm

The British apparently had their own set of "Sense" pamphlets similar the American examples mentioned in a previous post:

Sense Pamphlets (British)

A few notes:
  • The above were also part of the standard Air Ministry pamphlet series and had a separate number as part of said sequence.
  • ATM stands for Air Member for Training. DGMS stands for Director-General of Medical Services.

Lastly, a similar sized pamphlet published by the Air Ministry, but otherwise unrelated to the above called Bag the Hun! is available from the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive.
Noha307
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Re: Vintage Aviation Books and Periodicals

Sun Apr 20, 2025 8:29 pm

Similar to the Flight Preparation Training series mentioned in a previous post the Bureau of Aeronautics apparently partnered with a private company, in this case the International Textbook Company, to publish a series of 26 books about aircraft design and manufacture:

Aircraft Fabrication

A note:
  • The title "Aircraft Fabrication" does not appear in any of the wartime copies, but the International Textbook Company seems to have republished the series around 1951 with that title, if a copy of Templets purportedly from that year is any indication. As no name for the series could be found in the former, this name was used instead.
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