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Samuel Lewis "Lew" Wallick Boeing Test Pilot Collection

 Collection
Identifier: 2024-05-08

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Contents of the Collection

The Samuel Lewis "Lew" Wallick Boeing Test Pilot Collection documents the career and personal life of test pilot Lew Wallick. The materials date from 1928 to 2018, with the bulk of the material spanning from 1954 to 1984, when he tested and demonstrated aircraft for the Boeing Company. Also present are records on his involvement in the P-12 Model 100 restoration project, as well as materials that reflect his military service, and personal life with family and friends.

The collection consists of both visual and textual documents, although visual materials dominate this collection with a total of 1,951 photographic prints, 454 negatives, 358 slides, and 9 original artworks. The textual materials consist of program proposals and outlines, coordination sheets, meeting minutes, agendas, project bulletins, fact sheets, hand-written notes, memorandums, reports, news releases, correspondence, membership cards, certificates, awards, manuscript drafts, technical diagram, brochures, pilot qualification records, flight logs, identification cards, military records, typed speeches, committee lists, agreements, workorders, worksheets, indexes, financial records, articles of incorporation, bylaws, insurance records, biographical narratives, resumes, invitations, announcements, articles, clippings, vouchers, and printed ephemera.

Both the visual and textual materials in the collection bring to light Wallick’s work testing and demonstrating aircraft for the Boeing Company, with an emphasis on his contribution to Boeing's Model 700 commercial jetliner series. Also present are records on his involvement in the P-12 Model 100 restoration project, as well as materials that reflect his military service, and personal life with family and friends.

The collection has been arranged into three series: Professional Work, Restoration Projects, and Personal Documents, each of which is further divided into subseries.

A “Contents of Collection” note has been added for each series and subseries to further describe materials in the collection.

Dates

  • Creation: 1928-2018

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research and is accessible in the Dahlberg Research Center by appointment. The audiovisual materials have not been reformatted and may not be accessed at this time. 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.

Biographical Note: Samuel Lewis "Lew" Wallick, Jr.

Lew Wallick was a test pilot for the Boeing Company in the latter half of the 20th century.

Samuel Lewis "Lew" Wallick, Jr. was born in Independence, Montgomery County, Kansas on May 26, 1924 to Samuel L. Wallick and Ethel Rebecca (Appelbaugh) Wallick. He grew up on a farm with his parents and four siblings. He took his first airplane ride at age 12.

His aviation career began in 1943 as a Naval Aviation Cadet, learning to fly in open-cockpit biplanes. He soloed in a Taylorcraft plane on October 15, 1943. He was designated a Naval Aviator in January 1945 and qualified as a carrier pilot on Vought F4U Corsairs. Though he trained during World War II, he never saw combat. He was active with the U.S. Navy until 1945 and then was in the Naval Reserves until 1952.

Wallick attended Kansas State College of Agriculture and Applied Science (now Kansas State University), graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1949. After graduating he found a job with Beech Aircraft Company, based out of Wichita, Kansas, flying as a pilot on development and certification flight tests of the Beech Bonanza B35 and C35 and the Beech T-34/Model 45 Mentor. In 1951 Wallick left Beech to work for the Boeing Company, first based in Wichita and later in Seattle, Washington. He started out flying multi-engine jets such as the B-47, gaining early multi-engine jet pilot experience. While at Boeing, he graduated from test pilot school through the U.S. Air Force in 1953. As a test pilot he was involved in engineering development and flight testing of the B-47, XB-47D, B-52, 367-80, KC-135, all 707 models, all 720 models, all 727 models, 737 models through the 737-300, 747 models through the 747-300, the 757-200, and 767-200. He was the pilot for the first flight of the 727-100, with Dix Loesch as the co-pilot and M.K. "Shuly" Shulenberger as the flight engineer, on February 9, 1963. He also piloted first flights for the 727-200. He was co-pilot for first flights of the XB-47, 707-300, 720, 737-100, 747SP, 757-200, and 767-200.

By 1970 Wallick was the Chief Experimental Test Pilot for the Commercial Airplane division at Boeing. He became Director of Flight Test in 1974. He retired in 1986 after 35 years in engineering, flight testing, and management. Though he was too old to continue to fly commercially under FAA rules, he continued to fly small private planes for many more years. In 1977, Wallick and friend Bob Mucklestone acquired a Boeing Model 100/P-12. They led the restoration effort, returning the plane to flyable condition, with Wallick at the controls for its first flights after restoration. The plane was eventually donated to the Museum of Flight.

Wallick was a member of Society of Experimental Test Pilots, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Quiet Birdmen and various other aviation organizations. He was awarded the American Institute of Aeronautics' Octave Chanute Flight Award in 1983. In 1999 he was inducted into the Museum of Flight's Pathfinder Hall of Fame.

Wallick was married to Ruth Marie Richards with whom he had four children; they divorced in 1976. In 1982 he married Sara Elaine Torkelson who had been his secretary. Wallick's younger brother Jesse also worked for Boeing as a test pilot. Wallick died August 19, 2009 in Enumclaw, Washington.

Full Extent

25.7 Cubic Feet (11 5-inch letter size document boxes, 3 2-inch letter size document boxes, 3 5-inch legal size document boxes, 2 oversize boxes (20" x 16" x 3"), 1 oversize box (24" x 20" x3"), 1 oversize box (25" x 32" x 3"), 1 oversize folder (47" x 35") and 9 oversize folders (30" x 40"))

Language

English

Additional Description

Overview

The Samuel Lewis "Lew" Wallick Boeing Test Pilot Collection documents the career and personal life of test pilot Lew Wallick. The collection contains both visual and textual materials that date from 1928 to 2018, with the bulk from 1954 to 1984. These documents bring to light Wallick’s work testing and demonstrating aircraft for the Boeing Company, with an emphasis on his contributions to Boeing's Model 700 commercial jetliner series. Also present are records on his involvement in the P-12 Model 100 restoration project, as well as small number of documents that reflect on his military service, and personal life with family and friends.

Arrangement

After surveying the material, the Processing Archivist inferred that the records should be regrouped intellectually and physically into three main series: Professional Work, Restoration Projects, and Personal Documents. These were further refined into subseries to improve the organization and description of the materials. While most original folders were kept intact, the Processing Archivist imposed physical order where necessary to develop groups of related records arranged according to function or theme. Original folder titles were maintained as much as possible and are usually denoted in the inventory by quotation marks; all other folder titles have been derived by the Processing Archivist.

  • Series I. Professional Work
    • Subseries A. Aircraft Flight Tests and Demonstrations
      • Subseries i. U.S. Air Force Military Aircraft
      • Subseries ii. Boeing Model 367-80 "Dash 80" 707 Prototype
      • Subseries iii. Boeing Model 707
      • Subseries iv. Boeing Model 720
      • Subseries v. Boeing Model 727
      • Subseries vi. Boeing Model 737
      • Subseries vii. Boeing Model 747
      • Subseries viii. Boeing Model 757 and Model 767
    • Subseries B. Boeing Internal Operations and Employment Records
      • Subseries i. Wallick Personnel Files
      • Subseries ii. Flight Test Operations
      • Subseries iii. Retirements and Service Awards


  • Series II. Restoration Projects
    • Subseries A. P-12 Model 100 Restoration Project
      • Subseries i. Restoration Process
      • Subseries ii. Flights and Events
      • Subseries iii. Artworks
    • Subseries B. Assorted Restoration Projects
  • Series III. Personal Documents
    • Subseries A. Awards and Associations
    • Subseries B. Certification and Identification Records
    • Subseries C. Military Records
    • Subseries D. Visual Materials
    • Subseries E. Assorted Files

Accruals

No further accruals are expected.

Related Materials

Other processed collections related to Samuel Lewis "Lew" Wallick include:

Separated Materials

As part of the processing steps specific non-archival materials were separated and moved to the appropriate location. Serials, books, and other publications were moved to the Harl V. Brackin Library. Various pieces of ephemera were moved to the Trade Literature, Aviation Artwork, and Commercial Airlines artifical collections. For more information contact us.

The following items have been separated from the archival component and are kept in Objects storage.

  • "The Aviator" painting
  • First Flight 727 painting
  • P-12 OshKosh Champion 1978 trophy
  • G-1 flight jacket
  • M-44 USNR flight jacket
  • Leather USNR military flight jacket with Wallick ID patch
  • AN-2A leather flight jacket
  • B-47 test flight helmet
  • MA-1 green satin flight jacket, B-29 MOF patch
  • Blue Boeing Experimental Test Flight jacket
  • Olive green satin Experimental Test Flight jacket
  • Brown USNR summer weight flight suit
  • Blue Experimental Test Flight flightsuit
  • Orange flightsuit
  • Olive green flightsuit
  • Boeing 747SP Model
  • Boeing 737 Model
  • Boeing 757 Model
  • 727 desktop model with globe lighter and ashtray, Latin American tour, 1967
  • Boeing 80 Model
  • Hasegawa P-12 model kit
  • First Flight 727 plaque, 1963
  • Eastern Airlines 757 delivery plaque
  • Society of Experimental Test Pilots plaque
  • Quiet Birdmen Governor plaque
  • Chanute flight award, 1983
  • 757 first flight mirror
  • 727 mounted control wheel
  • 737 rotation limiter presentation piece
  • Boeing Supervisor ID card
  • Airspeed calculator in box
  • (2) USNR brown uniform shirts
  • XB-47D metal checklist
  • YC-14 Rollout medallion
  • 300th Jetliner medallion
  • 757 Rollout medallion
  • 747SP 1975 World Tour medallion
  • 767 belt buckle
  • P-12 belt buckle
  • 747SP World Tour belt buckle
  • 727/737 belt buckle
  • (2) Quiet Birdmen belt buckle
  • Glycine airmen watch in case
  • 767 preview coaster
  • 757 preview coaster
  • Quiet Birdmen clock
  • (4) Wallick USNR leather ID patches
  • Boeing black and gold patch
  • 767 scarf
  • 757 scarf
  • White flight scarf
  • (2) USNR wings
  • Military ribbon bar
  • USNR eagle insignia
  • (2) USNR officer bar pins
  • USNR mini-wings
  • FAA 1989 lapel pin
  • Quiet Birdmen wings
  • (2) Quiet Birdmen mini wings
  • Puget Sound Antique Aviation Club wings
  • P-12 enamel pin
  • Society of Flight Test Engineers lapel pin
  • B-47 lapel pin
  • (7) Boeing Service pins
  • Quantas hat pin
  • Brown canvas flight helmet, David Clark Co.
  • Brown leather helmet with attached goggles
  • NAF-1092A brown leather flight helmet with shearling lining
  • Brown canvas helmet with earphones
  • M380B cold weather flight boots
  • (2) Wallick Boeing Flight Test bag tag
  • P-12 model / ashtray made from surplus plane parts
  • 767 Type certificate, mounted
  • 747SP World Tour mounted photo
  • Red Boeing pen
  • 747 cufflinks + tie tack set
  • USN anchor cuff links
  • Goggle lenses set in canvas bag
  • USN flight goggles
  • Oxygen mask, marked Wallick
  • A-14 oxygen mask
  • Green oxygen mask
  • (2) NAF-48490-1 headset
  • Brown USNR garrison cap with officer bar pin
  • Brown leather flight gloves
  • Green USNR beret
  • 727 tie clip
  • USN tie clip
  • BO-105 helicopter tie clip
  • 1000th 727 tie clip
  • Quantas tie clip
  • (2) Quiet Birdmen nametag
  • Washington Pilots Association nametag
  • Quiet Birdmen 1986 keychain
  • USAAC Flying Bobcats lighter
  • 767 lighter
  • 747 lighter
  • 727 1974 pocket knife
  • Wallick fraternity charm
  • Hydro-Aire slide ruler
  • Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association rulers

Processing Information

The archivist disassembled a scrapbook for preservation purposes but maintained the materials in original order. Photographic materials were sleeved in archival sleeves.

Related Names

Subjects

Genre / Form

Geographic

Occupation

Topical

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title
Guide to the Samuel Lewis "Lew" Wallick Boeing Test Pilot Collection
Status
In Progress
Author
Charise Dinges
Date
2025 April
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Edition statement
1st edition

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the The Museum of Flight Archives Repository

http://www.museumofflight.org
Contact:
9404 East Marginal Way South
Seattle Washington 98108-4097
206-764-5874


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