- Collection:
- Darr Aero Tech Flying School (Albany, Georgia) Collection
- Title:
- Darr Aero Tech Scrapbook #1
- Creator:
- Wheeler, Gordon Boyce, 1919-2007
- Contributor to Resource:
- Dougherty County Public Library
- Date of Original:
- 1944
- Subject:
- Darr Aero Tech School (Albany, Ga.)
Arnold, Henry Harley, 1886-1950--Military leadership
United States. Army. Air Service
United States. Army. Air Corps
United States. Department of the Air Force
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Allied Forces--Organization
World War, 1939-1945--Aerial operations, American
World War, 1939-1945--Aerial operations, British
Women in aeronautics
Soldiers--United States--Training of
United States--History, Military
United States--Armed Forces--Organization
Air pilots
World War, 1939-1945--Participation, Female
Combined operations (Military science)--History
United States--Foreign relations
Great Britain--Foreign relations
Military education
Scrapbooks
Turner Field (Albany, Ga.)
United States--History--World War, 1939-1945
World War, 1939-1945--United States
World War, 1939-1945--Great Britain
Segregation
Women Airforce Service Pilots (U.S.)
Women air pilots--United States
Mitchell (Bomber)
Airplanes--Dispatching
Armed Forces--Uniforms - People:
- Darr, Hal, 1893-1955
Wheeler, Gordon Boyce, 1919-2007
Arnold, Henry Harley, 1886-1950
Nathan, Doris B. (Doris Burmester), 1916-2013
Eppstein, Dorothy Jean Dodd, 1918-2010
Dressler, Elizabeth Virginia Chadwick, 1919-1998
Hansen, Helen Marie Skjersaa, 1921-2008
Kirkland, Betty E., 1923-
Henry, Grace - Location:
- United States, Alabama, 32.75041, -86.75026
United States, Georgia, 32.75042, -83.50018
United States, Georgia, Dougherty County, Albany, 31.57851, -84.15574 - Medium:
- scrapbooks
clip binders
black-and-white photographs
photographs - Type:
- Text
- Format:
- image/jp2
- Description:
- 70-page scrapbook created by Gordon B. Wheeler, Captain, Air Corps, about Darr Aero Tech, the flying school established by Harold S. Darr in 1944. Throughout the scrapbook, there are group portraits, aerial photographs of Darr Aero Tech, photos of barracks, beacons, inspections, recreational activities like shooting pool, ground school learning, airplane engines, mass calisthenics, and a U.S. Army Air Forces Model 75 Kaydet aircraft. A multiracial waitstaff comprised of white women and African American men and women serves food to RAF officers in the mess line; while white women in aeronautics work are gathered for a group portrait on page 46 labeled "Paper Dolls." The women identified in this shot include Betty E. Kirkland, second from left, and Grace Henry, center, both in plain clothes. A third woman in plain clothes, on the far right, is unidentified. Four women in the group are wearing official American Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) dress uniforms. Darr Aero Tech notes reflect that these women are believed to be Doris Burmester Nathan (1916-2013), Dorothy Jean Dodd Eppstein (1918-2010), Elizabeth Virginia Chadwick Dressler (1919-1998), and Helen Marie Skjersaa Hansen (1921-2008), who served as engineering test pilots or administrative pilots, possibly with B-25J Mitchell bombers, which were nicknamed "paper dolls." On page 47, titled "Dispatching," a female airplane dispatcher with a clipboard stands surrounded by an informal group of pilots awaiting their flight assignments. On page 54, titled "Ship 108??," a blond woman in a light-colored dress (possibly a dispatcher) signs a document in front of a group of air pilots and air techs dressed in their working garage uniforms. And finally, on page 63, titled "Parachute Packing," a woman and man are situated separately at long counters packing parachutes. Segregation in the United States Armed Forces was official policy until 1948, and in Southern states until 1964, thus, all people in official military and clerical support services we see are white. Thousands of British Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots were trained at the Darr Aero Tech Flying School in Albany, Georgia. The school's training was based on the "Arnold" or "Arnoldian" scheme, a three-phase World War II training plan with primary, basic, and advanced phases, established by U.S. General Henry Harley ("Hap") Arnold. This school and scheme trained thousands of British pilots in the Southeastern United States, when they could not train at home due to military threats inside and around Great Britain. Courses were run by civilian United States Army Air Corp (AARC) and Royal Air Force (RAF) instructors on single and multi-engine planes; each training center was assigned RAF administrators to handle the discipline and pay for British trainees.
- External Identifiers:
- Metadata URL:
- https://dlg.usg.edu/record/zgn_darr-aerotech_scrapbook-01
- Digital Object URL:
- https://dlg.usg.edu/record/zgn_darr-aerotech_scrapbook-01#item
- IIIF manifest:
- https://dlg.usg.edu/record/zgn_darr-aerotech_scrapbook-01/presentation/manifest.json
- Language:
- eng
- Extent:
- 70 pages
- Holding Institution:
- Dougherty County Public Library
- Rights:
-
