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Archives at The Museum of Flight


Frank R. Yager Collection

 Collection — Box: One
Identifier: 2018-07-04
The Frank R. Yager collection consists of items documenting Yager's career as an airmail pilot. Included are three logbooks, his pilot's licenses and certificates, and 14 photographs. The photographs consist of both snapshots and formal group portraits as well as some views of airmail planes. There are few identifications with the photographs, but also depicted are Lee Patterson, Jack Knight, and C.F. Egge. Addiontally, there are photocopies of other images. There is one folder of correspondence, primarily to or from other family members regarding Yager and also including two airmail covers from a re-enactment of the first night air mail flight of 1921. One folder includes clippings, articles and other printed ephemera collected by his family regarding air mail service.

Dates

  • 1918-1946, 1994

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research and is accessible in the Dahlberg Research Center by appointment. For more information contact us.

Conditions Governing Use

The Museum of Flight (TMOF) Archives is the owner of the physical materials in the archives and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from TMOF archives before any publication use. TMOF does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners. Consult repository for more details.

Extent

0.2 Cubic Feet ( - 1 half-width letter size document box)

Biographical Note: Frank R. Yager

Frank R. Yager, born in 1889 in Audubon, Iowa, was known as an airmail pioneer. He trained at the U.S. School of Military Aeronatics at the University of Illinois from November 1917 to February 1918 and then continued in flight training at various locations, including Gerstner Field, Louisiana and Langley Field, Virginia. It does not appear that he was trained in time to serve in World War I. He then went on to fly for air mail service, becoming a pioneer for night air mail. He flew the first night flight between Cheyenne, Wyoming to North Platte on February 21, 1921, part of a longer transcontinental air mail flight. Two planes had departed from Oakland, California, but one pilot, W.L. Lewis crashed in Reno, Nevada. Pilot Jim Murray brought that leg into Cheyenne where Yager picked up the next leg. He reached North Platte, Nebraska where pilot Jack Knight headed to Omaha, Nebraska, flying through a blizzard. Knight then had to replace another pilot to fly the next leg to Chicago, Illinois. The transcontinental flight continued during daylight to New York. Due to this exhibition flight, transcontinental day-and-night airmail service was enacted and began July 1, 1924. Yager flew the Cheyenne to Omaha portion of the route. During heavy fog and bad visibilty, he was known to fly low to the ground, "hopping" over fences. Yager later flew with Boeing Air Transport flying from San Francisco to Chicago.

Separated Materials

The following book has been separated from the archival component of this collection and is kept in the Library:
  • Flying Fortress: The Boeing B-17 by Ernest R. McDowell
  • Vision: the Story of Boeing by Harold Mansfield


The following items have been separated from the archival component of this collection and are kept in Objects storage:

  • Flight goggles
Title
Guide to the Frank R. Yager Collection
Status
Completed - Level 2
Author
N. Davis
Date
2019
Description rules
dacs
Language of description
English
Edition statement
1st edition

Repository Details

Part of the The Museum of Flight Archives Repository

Contact:
9404 East Marginal Way South
Seattle Washington 98108-4097
206-764-7874


The Museum of Flight | 9404 E. Marginal Way South | Seattle WA 98108-4097 | 206-764-5874
Contact us with a research request
curator@museumofflight.org