Fred Woods World War II Collection

The Fred Woods World War II Collection is comprised of photographic prints, negatives, a photograph album, and a small amount of documents that relate to the World War II experience of United States Navy pilot Fred Woods. The collection has been arranged into two series, visual materials and textual materials.

Visual materials, which are the bulk of the collection, include 26 loose black-and-white photographic prints and 27 negatives. Sizes vary from 3x5" to 8x10" and very few have any identifying information. Images are primarily candid snapshots, although there are two formal group portraits, and depict military personnel, ships, aircraft such as the Boeing B-29 and the Curtiss SB2C-1 Helldiver in flight, and civilians. There is also a small photograph album with approximately 50 prints. Captions are common, although quite brief and often only identify people by first and/or last name. Most of the images are military-related, but personal images, including "Pop" and "Mom," are also included. There are at least two images captioned as "Fred," one of which is a young man in the cockpit of a plane and is likely Fred Woods. Some locations are identified also, including Sasebo, Japan and Saipan.

Textual materials include two pilot log books for Woods; a small amount of ephemera, including a handwritten cockpit procedure checklist; an American Red Cross card; a booklet, John Britain, which provides a high-level character drawing of the "average" British civilian and how the war affects them; and a typed 11-page letter, "A Letter Home from the Ticonderoga by Hellcat pilot Lieutenant Fred Woods." The document, which is not addressed to anyone and is possibly a draft as it includes minor edits, describes the anticipation of pilots before a strike and describes a particular mission in July 1945 to strike a "Tone Class C.A.S. cruiser near Shikaka, Japan."

Digitized Materials: Visual materials related to Woods's military service have 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.