Abstract William Frederick "Bill" Barns (1920-1995) joined the United States Air Force in 1942 and flew in the European Theater during World War II. After the war, Barns served in the USAF in several capacities until his retirement in 1966 when he went to work in the private sector, including for Garrett Corporation. The collection contains a broad array of textual materials as well as photographs and digital images related to his military and professional careers.

Overview Alan Lonsdale Patterson worked extensively in the field of aviation from the 1920s to the 1980s. Throughout his career he worked as a barnstormer, pilot and established multiple companies that facilitated the sale of aircraft and aeronautical equipment, predominately between companies based in the United States and China. The collection represents both his professional and personal life through correspondence, photographs, business records, clippings and audiovisual materials, as well as...

Contents of the Collection The Margery Watson World War II Photographs is a small collection comprised of 31 photographs either taken or gathered by Margery Watson while she was employed at North American Aviation in Inglewood, California as a draftsperson between 1943-1945. The photographs are primarily small black-and-white snapshots that document NAA personnel adding a Merlin engine and performing engine tests on the prototype P-51 nicknamed "Baby" for United States Army Air Force ground crews. Some of the photographs...

Interview Summary Iva Metz is interviewed about her life and her secretarial career in the aviation and aerospace industries from the 1940s through the 1980s. She discusses her professional experiences working for the U.S. Navy, the Cessna Aircraft Company, the Boeing Aircraft Company, and North American Aviation. The interview focuses in particular on her time at NASA and her involvement with the space program. Iva also touches on her husband’s (Homer) career in the military and with Boeing on various missile...