The Russell W. Whitcomb World War II Naval Aviation Collection is a small collection consisting primarily of textual materials documenting the military service of Russell W. Whitcomb during the second world war. There is also one photographs present.

Two logbooks and a typed copy of a diary document and describe Whitcomb's service in the U.S. Navy as an ordnanceman. The logbooks primarily span April 1945 through January 1946, but a few flights from 1948 and 1951 are also listed. Whitcomb's flights included training in Corpus Christi, Texas as well as flights in the Pacific theater, primarily in Martin PBM-3 and PBM-5 Mariners. The typed 115-page diary describes Whitcomb's military experiences, starting on September 7, 1943 when he enlisted in the Navy, continuing through his training at various locations stateside, leaving for the Pacific Theater on October 31, 1945, including his return to the U.S. in early 1946 and finally covering his subsequent work with the U.S. Navy Reserves. The last entry is from 1952 and relates how he did not pass a physical and was barred from further flying as a crewman. The entries describe both leisure and duty-related activities, lodgings, food, getting sick, and they mention his friends in the service and family back home. It is unclear if the diary is a transcription of a contemporaneously hand-written diary, or if it was written later on from memories; it was printed in 2011.

In addition to the textual materials, there is one photograph: a group portrait of six unidentified men and one boy standing in front of a biplane, circa 1920s. The print is 5.75 x 8 inches, black-and-white though it has discolored.