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NPS Guidelines for Evaluating and Documenting Historic Aviation Properties

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NPS Guidelines for Evaluating and Documenting Historic Aviation Properties NATIONAL REGISTER BULLETIN Technical information on the National Registerof Historic Places: survey, evaluation, registration, and preservation of cultural resources. U.S. Department of the Interior: - National Park Service Cultural Resources GUIDELINES FOR EVALUATING AND DOCUMENTING HISTORIC AV IATION PROPERTIES The mission of the Department of Interior is to protect and provide access to our Nation's natural and cultural heritage and honor our trust responsibility to tribes. This material is partially based on work conducted under a cooperative agreement with the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers and the U.S. Department of the Interior. Photograph caption, cover: Air mail pilot Marvin O'Dell (Louisville to Cleveland route), Bowman Field, Louisville, KY, ca. 1930. Bowman Field Historic District, Jefferson County,KY. (Photographer unknown, courtesy of Kentucky Heritage Council) NATIONAL REGISTER BULLETIN GUIDELINES FOR EVALUATING AND DOCUMENTING HISTORIC AVIATION PROPERTIES BY ANNE MILBROOKE with Patrick Andrus, Jody Cook, and David B. Whipple U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES 1998 TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE ................................................................................. 5 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................. 6 I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................ 7 Aviation is More than Airplanes ............................................................7 Significance of Aviation Properties .........................................................7 II. AVIATION IN AMERICAN HISTORY ................................................... 8 Early Experiments in Aeronautics ..........................................................8 World War I Aviation ......................................................................8 Post-War Developments ....................................................................9 Aeronautical Research .....................................................................9 Air Mail Service ............................................................................9 General Aviation ...........................................................................9 Rocketry ..................................................................................10 Commercial Aviation ......................................................................10 World War II Aviation .....................................................................11 Changes in the Aeronautical Community .................................................12 The Space Race ...........................................................................12 Important Dates ..........................................................................12 III. TYPES OF HISTORIC AVIATION PROPERTIES ........................................20 Aircraft ...................................................................................20 Aviation Wrecks ...........................................................................20 Aviation Development and Production Facilities ..........................................21 Air Terminals on Land and Water .........................................................22 Military Air Bases and Stations ............................................................23 Aids to Navigation ........................................................................23 Administrative, Educational and Other Facilities ..........................................23 Missile Launch Sites and Complexes ......................................................24 IV. APPLYING THE NATIONAL REGISTER CRITERIA TO HISTORIC AVIATION PROPERTIES ................................................26 The National Register Criteria for Evaluation .............................................26 3 Criterion A-Event ........................................................................ 27 Criterion B-Significant Person(s) ............................................................ 27 Criterion C-Design/ Construction ........................................................... 28 Criterion D-Information Potential .......................................................... 30 Criteria Considerations ................................................................... 31 Criteria Consideration A: Religious Properties .................................................. 31 Criteria Consideration B: Moved Properties .................................................... 31 Criteria Consideration C: Birthplaces or Graves ................................................. 32 Criteria Consideration D: Cemeteries ......................................................... 32 Criteria Consideration E: Reconstructed Properties .............................................. 33 Criteria Consideration F: Commemorative Properties ............................................ 33 Criteria Consideration G: Properties That Have Achieved Significance Within the Last Fifty Years ....... 33 Evaluating the Integrity of Historic Aviation Properties ................................... 36 Seven Aspects of Integrity ................................................................... 36 Location ............................................................................... 36 Setting ................................................................................ 36 Aircraft Located in Museums ........................................................... 36 Materials .............................................................................. 37 The Nature of Aircraft Maintenance ..............................................38 The Essential Test for Integrity of Materials ............................................... 39 Design ............................................................................... .40 Workmanship ......................................................................... .40 Feeling ................................................................................ 41 Association ............................................................................. 42 V. NOMINATING HISTORIC AVIATION PROPERTIES ...................................42 Documenting the Property ................................................................42 Identifying the Historic Context ...........................................................43 Determining Important Characteristics .................................................... 44 Evaluating Significance .................................................................. .44 Evaluating Integrity ...................................................................... .44 VI. PREPARING THE NATIONAL REGISTER NOMINATION ............................ .45 Name of Property ........................................................................ .45 Classification ............................................................................. .45 Guidelines for Counting Aviation Resources .............................................. 45 Function .................................................................................. 45 Descr1pt1on .............................................................................. .45 Statement of Significance ................................................................. .46 Areas of Significance ...................................................................... 46 Boundary ................................................................................. 47 Photographs and Maps .................................................................. .47 VI. RECOMMENDED SOURCES ........................................................... .48 4 PREFACE Much of America's 20th century tured America's love of the romance senger and cargo carriers, transport­ history is inextricably linked to avia­ of flight in the movies; the first ing people and goods around the tion. At times, American inventors, Academy Award for best motion globe at speeds and distances incon­ scientists, engineers, pilots, and mil­ picture was presented to the 1927 ceivable to the generation that wit­ itary and civilian leaders headed film Wings, the story of American nessed the birth of manned flight. pioneering efforts to develop avia­ Army Signal Corps pilots battling General aviation experienced a great tion technology and uses. In differ­ the Germans in the sky over France. growth during this period. The ent periods, the United States America's entry into World War Soviet Union's launching of Sputnik lagged behind other nations and II was precipitated by a Japanese on October 4, 1957, was a pivotal needed highly dedicated and costly aerial attack on Pearl Harbor in event in the development of the effortsto catch up. Hawaii on December 7, 1941. The American space program. The Boththe public and private sectors United States responded with the United States responded to this contributed to aviation's develop­ massive mobilization of men and challenge with exceptional achieve­ ment in this country. The pioneers of war materiel that eventually ments: manned space flight, lunar America's aviation industry built the destroyed German Nazism and landings, exploration of the solar technological and industrial infra­ Italian fascism in Europe and the system, and development of the structure that enabled aviation to suc­ expansionist Japanese empire. The space shuttle program. ceed, while theexploits of daring fly­ bombers, fighters, and transports The Nation's
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