http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8p84g34 Online items available The Descriptive Finding Guide for the Reuben Hollis Fleet Personal Papers SDASM.SC.10049 Alan Renga San Diego Air and Space Museum Library and Archives 1/26/2015 2001 Pan American Plaza, Balboa Park San Diego 92101 URL: http://www.sandiegoairandspace.org/ The Descriptive Finding Guide for SDASM.SC.10049 1 the Reuben Hollis Fleet Personal Papers SDASM.SC.10049 Language of Material: English https://www.flickr.com/photos/sdasmarchives/albums/72157649470821987 Contributing Institution: San Diego Air and Space Museum Library and Archives Title: Reuben H. Fleet Personal Papers Identifier/Call Number: SDASM.SC.10049 Physical Description: 0.6 Cubic Feet3 Boxes Date (inclusive): 1904-1985 Abstract: Reuben Hollis Fleet was the founder of the Consolidated Aircraft Company Biographical / Historical Reuben Hollis Fleet was born 6 March 1887 in the Grays Harbor area in the Washington Territory, near Montesano. He attended public schools in Montesano, and was a 1906 graduate of the Culver Military Academy in Indiana, where his uncle was superintendant. Returning to Washington, he was involved in his family timber and real estate businesses, was an officer in the Washington National Guard, became a civic leader, and was elected to the state legislature in 1915, its youngest member. During this period, he became more and more interested and involved in aviation. His formal introduction came when he was selected for aviation training, reporting to the Army’s Rockwell Field, at North Island, Coronado. He earned Junior Military Aviator (JMA) wings Number 74 in 1917 at North Island, soon after receiving a commission as a major in the Army Signal Corps. He was assigned to a position in Washington, D.C., where he directed aviation training. He was then transferred to England, where he graduated from the flying instructor school at Gosport. Later, he was stationed in Dayton, Ohio, serving as business manager for McCook Field, then as the Army Air Services chief contracting officer. Reuben H. Fleet was given the responsibility for organizing the nation’s first Air Mail service in 1918. He resigned from Army service in 1922, joining Gallaudet Aircraft Corporation as general manager. He founded Consolidated Aircraft Corporation in 1923, purchasing the training airplane designs of Dayton-Wright from General Motors, and renting the Gallaudet factory in Rhode Island. In 1924, he moved to Buffalo, New York, leasing quarters in the government-built Curtiss plant. He purchased Thomas Morse Aircraft, and moved it to Buffalo, also purchasing the Hall Aluminum Aircraft Company. He moved his growing company to San Diego, California in 1935. In San Diego, Consolidated Aircraft Corporation became the world leader in building military training planes, also building seaplanes in larger numbers than all other flying boat manufacturers combined. His landplane bombers for World War II were built in greater quantity than any other aircraft ever produced. Three weeks before Pearl Harbor Reuben H. Fleet sold his stock interest in Consolidated. Among his many awards, he was elected to the International Air & Space Hall of Fame in San Diego in 1965, was named “Mr. San Diego” in 1968, and was elected to the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1975. Major Reuben H. Fleet passed away in San Diego on 29 October 1975. Conditions Governing Access The collection is open to researchers by appointment. Conditions Governing Use Some copyright may be reserved. Consult with the library director for more information. Preferred Citation [Item], [Filing Unit], [Series Title], [Subgroups], [Record Group Title and Number], [Repository “San Diego Air & Space Museum Library & Archives”] Immediate Source of Acquisition The materials in this Collection were donated to the San Diego Air and Space Museum. Scope and Contents This collection contains 3 boxes of correspondences, biographies, letters, interviews, photos, chronologies and newspaper clippings. This collection also includes digitized files from 3 scrapbooks which belong to Reuben Fleet and were loaned to the Museum for Digitization by the California Revealed Program. They are on Archive.org. Related Materials Consolidated/General Dynamics Collection Subjects and Indexing Terms Convair 990 Convair B-36 Peacemaker Convair 240 Convair-Liner "Caroline" The Descriptive Finding Guide for SDASM.SC.10049 2 the Reuben Hollis Fleet Personal Papers SDASM.SC.10049 Convair 880 Convair Convair 240 Convair-Liner Consolidated B-24 Liberator Family General Dynamics Corporation. Convair Division Convair XC-99 Convair F-106 Delta Dart Convair Model 116 Consolidated Aircraft (Firm) Vultee Aircraft, Inc. Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation Fleet, Reuben Hollis Box 01 Physical Description: Correspondence and Official Papers 1. General Correspondence (1918-1976) 2. Circular No. 188, Instruction for Final Payment of Officers Separated from the Service by Resignation or Discharge (1922) 3. General Correspondence – Consolidated Aircraft Corporation (1922-1936) 4. Correspondence, Alcoa, Future of Aluminum in Aircraft (1925) 5. Correspondence – Contracting for PT-1 (1925) 6. Correspondence – Secretary of the Treasury and Senator Fulbright – Capital Gains Tax Rate (1955) 7. Correspondence – Fleet Foundation Miscellaneous (1965-1974) Technical Reports and Special Studies 8. Curriculum of Instruction for Flying Schools (ca. 1918) 9. Congressional Aviation Acts (1926-1938) 10. Legislative Bill, Provide for the National Security and to Accelerate the Procurement of Implements of Air Power, and For Other Purposes (1946) Interviews, Recollections and Historical and Biographical Information 11. Culver Military Academy – the Early Years 12. R.H. Fleet Business Interests in State of Washington 13. R.H. Fleet Washington State National Guard Service (1911) 14. Washington State Legislature Service (1915) 15. R.H. Fleet @ North Island – Signal Corps Aviation School (1917) 16. Military Service Records (1918) 17. R.H. Fleet – Military Aviator (1917-1922) 18. Founding of Air Mail Service (1918) Box 02 Physical Description: 1. Fleet Aircraft History 2. Gallaudet Manufacturing Company – Fleet Employment (1922) 3. Air Service/Bureau of Aeronautics Organization (1922-1923) 4. Sale of Dayton-Wright to Consolidated Aircraft (1923) 5. R.H. Fleet Consolidated Move to San Diego (1935) 6. Consolidated/Convair Executive Profiles 7. Consolidated Aircraft Historical Information 8. Consolidated Aircraft Company Aircraft Produced, by Model 9. Fort Forth Facility History (1940) 10. R.H. Fleet Sale of Consolidated (1941) 11. Reuben H. Fleet Chronologies 12. Reuben H. Fleet Political Views 13. R.H. Fleet Family Information 14. Obituary and Funeral Service (1975) Published Information and Articles 15. Air Service Aircraft Accepted, Delivered, On Order (1917-1919) 16. Performance Test of Fokker D-VIII (1921) 17. Aircraft Development since the Armistice, McCook Field (1923) 18. Fortification of Seward Harbor, D.C. Brownell (1935) 19. Address, Dedication of New Plant (San Diego), R.H. Fleet (1935) 20. Between World Wars, Balloon to the B-17, 1907-1939 (Undated) 21. The President’s Column, Consolidator – R.H. Fleet (1937-1938) 22. Planemaker Reuben Fleet, Time, The Weekly Magazine, 17 November 1941 23. Flying Doughboys, R.H. Fleet (1942) 24. Air-Borne Armies, R.H. Fleet (1942) 25. Aviation, Savior of Civilization, R.H. Fleet (1944) 26. Origin of Air Service Engineering (Early North Island History), G.C. Loening (1964) 27. McCook Field, Flight Test Center of the 20’s (1970) 28. Reuben Fleet Poetry (1974) Newspaper Articles 29. Fleet Involvement in Tucson (1941) 30. 50th Anniversary – Airmail Pilots (1968) 31. Fleet Named “Mr. San Diego” (1969) 32. Fleet Donates Montesano Park (1969) 33. Reuben Fleet Induction – Aviation Hall of Fame (1975) 34. Reuben Fleet Obituary (1975) 35. Reuben Fleet Estate Probate (1975) 36. 50th Anniversary – Fleet Move to San Diego (1985) 37. Other Reuben Fleet Recognition Box 03 The Descriptive Finding Guide for SDASM.SC.10049 3 the Reuben Hollis Fleet Personal Papers SDASM.SC.10049 Physical Description: Box 3 Photographs 1. Montesano (Grey’s Harbor, Washington) 2. Culver Military Academy 3. Teacher Reuben Fleet with Class (1906) 4. Terah T. Maroney - Pilot of First Flights for Boeing and Fleet (ca. 1916) 5. Aero-Repair Department, North Island (ca. 1917) 6. George Hallett Technical Training Course at North Island (1917) 7. Curtiss JN-4D and Martin TT at North Island (ca. 1917) 8. Reuben Fleet at Merced, CA (1917) 9. Reuben Fleet – Air Mail Service (1918) 10. First Air Mail Service Collection (1918) 11. Dayton-Wright Company Executives H.E. Talbott, Charles F. Kettering, Harold E. Talbott Jr. (ca. 1919) 12. PT-1 With K.B. Wolfe, Carl Cover, Ralph Royce (1925) 13. McCook Field (1919-1922) 14. Colonel Thurman H. Bane, McCook Field (ca. 1920) 15. Early Parachute Tests at McCook Field 16. Launch Consolidated Commodore “Buenos Aires” (1928) 17. Curtis Flying Service (1929) 18. Fleet Aircraft Static Test (1929) 19. Lawrence Bell 20. Military Fleetster with F. Trubee Davison, Ira C. Eaker (1930) 21. Fleet Trainer – George Newman (1939) 22. Congressional Delegation - Aleutians in December 1941 ( Includes L.B. Johnson, A.L. Gates, L.E. Gehres and Others) 23. Reuben H. Fleet Portrait (c. 1970) 24. Omnimax Camera Shoot at Stonehenge “Capture the Sun” (1973) 25. Fleet Residences 26. Fleet Family Information 27. Miscellaneous Photographs Awards and Certificates 28. Appointment, United States Army, Captain, Air