Remi Charles O’Connor Collection

The Remi Charles O'Connor Collection primarily relates to the 1941-1956 military service of O'Connor, a Naval Aviator in World War II and the Korean War. The collection is comprised of textual materials such as logs, correspondence, and clippings, as well as 10 photographic prints and one 8mm film reel.

The bulk of the collection consists of O'Connor's flight logs, including two from his student pilot training in 1941 and five that cover his flying career from 1941-1964. The logs often include contextual information such as date, type of aircraft, duration of flight, arrival and destination points, pilot, crew, and/or passenger names, and other notes, such as "First time Lucille [O'Connor's wife] flew with me." Additional materials include O'Connor's 1942 naval aviator identity card and training completion certificate, a 1944 letter from "Little Remi" to family and/or friends while on duty in the Pacific Theater, and a clipping from an unidentified newspaper about a rogue drone that O'Connor was involved in capturing.

There are also 10 photographs, both black-and-white and color, which range in size 3x5" to 8x10". Some images have brief captions on the reverse that include contextual information such as name, aircraft, location, and/or date. Three black-and-white images depict O'Connor; two are casual snapshots, while one is an official portrait released by the United States Navy. The remaining seven images depict aircraft, both in flight and on the ground. Identified aircraft include the Grumman F3F, Grumman F8F Bearcat, Grumman F6F Hellcat, and Vought F4U Corsair.

An 8mm film, "Flight operations on USS Dayton on Mediterrean, 1947," is also included. The film contains multiple shots of Curtiss SC-1 Seahawk seaplanes, as well as footage of sailors on board the USS Dayton and footage filmed in a Mediterranean town. The film is 12 minutes long.

At the end of the collection are two April 1999 obituary clippings from the San Diego Union-Tribune announcing O'Connor's passing.

Digitized Materials: The bulk of this collection, apart from the clippings, has been digitized.

Please note that materials on TMOF: Digital Collections are presented as historical objects and are unaltered and uncensored. See our Disclaimers and Policies page for more information.