Clyde Pangborn Collection

The Clyde Pangborn Collection relates to the personal life, military service, and barnstorming career of Clyde Pangborn from approximately 1912 to 1981. Materials were collected by Pangborn and, after his death, family members. The collection contains photographs and illustrations, correspondence, advertisements, newspaper clippings, a date book, military service records, and ephemera along with other textual material.

The first series, Textual Material and Ephemera, consists of biographical information for Pangborn, including his resume, various licenses, and assorted clippings covering Pangborn's personal life, career, and honors after his death. Representative publications include the New York Evening Journal, Popular Aviation, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Seattle Times, Spokesman Review and the Wenatchee Daily World. There are also club documents, poetry, a small amount of philatelic materials celebrating Pangborn and Herndon's 1931 Trans-Pacific Flight, and business cards for Pangborn Aircraft Company and The Flying Fleet [barnstorming company].

Additionally, there are documents related to Gates Flying Circus, such as a 1923 catalog and price list and a photocopy of a full page advertisement, a datebook covering early 1956, and military documents, including blank stationary embossed with silver "US" military logo, a booklet titled "Instructions and Problems in Guard Duty for the Private Soldier," and a certificate appointing Pangborn a Lieutenant in the Naval Reserve. The collection also contains documents related to Pangborn's nomination into the OX5 Club Hall of Fame.

The second series, Correspondence, consists of a large amount of correspondence to Pangborn's mother, Opal Pangborn, ranging from 1917-1958. It includes letters, telegrams, and postcards mainly from Clyde Pangborn but with some additions by his brother Percy. There is also a typewritten forty-nine page transcript of all the correspondence in the collection, believed to have been compiled and annotated by collection donor Elliott Couden.

The third series, Photographs, consists of a variety of portraits and snapshots, depicting civilians and military personnel, locations, aircraft, and barnstorming activities. Some of the photographs include captions on verso that identify people, aircraft, locations, and date. Additionally, some photographs have stamps on verso. Identified people include Clyde and Opal Pangborn, Hugh Herndon, members of the Gates Flying Circus and The Flying Fleet, Rosalie Gordon, Roscoe Turner, and military personnel such as Royal Air Force Ferry Command members. Various aircraft are featured in the images, including the Bellanca Skyrocket CH-400 "Miss Veedol" that Pangborn and Herndon flew for their successful Trans-Pacific flight. Other aircraft include Burnelli (Upperçu-Burnelli) UB-14, Curtiss JN-4D Jenny, New Standard D-25, and Northrop C-125 Raider. There is also a photograph of Pangborn's funeral at Arlington National Cemetery and several aerial photographs, including a panoramic photograph of Clyde Pangborn in the cockpit of an aircraft over Tenaya Lake in Yosemite National Park, circa 1920s.

At the end of the collection is a framed D'orotone print of a panoramic photograph of Clyde Pangborn in the cockpit of an aircraft over Tenaya Lake in Yosemite National Park, circa 1920s.

Digitized Materials: A selection of archival materials has been digitized from this collection.

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.