National Air Races ticket booklet with metal plate, Chicago, Illinois, 1930.
Betty Stockard was among the first specially trained flight attendants and attended a number of celebrities during her time as a flight attendant for United Airlines. She also worked for the Boeing Company.
Elizabeth “Betty” Jean Riley Stockard was born on May 16, 1919, in Kalispell, Montana to Valjean Riley and Charlotte Dryer. She graduated high school from Flathead County High School, which is on an Indian Reservation. Her family made their living as farmers, selling dairy products such as butter and milk. Growing up on a dairy farm, Stockard says her favorite food was ice cream due to it being in abundance on the farm.
After graduating from high school, Stockard knew she wanted to attend college, so she saved up money working at a women’s dress shop and stayed with a family friend while attending the University of Montana in Missoula. There were only two major options for women at that time at this university: home economics and business. Stockard decided on home economics but took a break before her senior year due to the United States’ involvement in World War II.
In 1942 Stockard began working for the Boeing Company at Boeing Field in Washington before seeing a United Airlines job posting regarding “stewardess” (flight attendant) positions. Following this, Stockard began the lengthy interview and training process before becoming a flight attendant. She was among the first women to be specially trained to become flight attendants, as all previous flight attendants had been nurses. During this process, Stockard took her first airplane flight from Seattle, Washington to San Francisco, California.
During her time as a flight attendant, Stockard had interactions with a number of celebrities and famous figures, including First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Stockard also met her husband, Wallace Raymond Stockard, on a flight she was attending. Stockard also had lengthy experience flying in the Douglas DC-4 airplane that came into use during World War II.
After being a flight attendant, Stockard married Wallace Stockard and had four children, three boys and one girl. By 1950, their family was living in San Mateo, California but later returned to the Seattle area. Wallace died in 1990 in Seattle; Betty was still living in the area as of 2014.
Biographical information derived from interview and additional information provided by interviewee.
Inscription on verso: "Chanute Field, Rantoul, Illinois, June 1929. Photograph by Aarne J. Pisila."
]]>Photograph of an automobile at Chanute Air Force Base, Illinois, June 1929.
Inscription on verso: "Chanute Field, Rantoul, Illinois, June 1929. Photograph by Aarne J. Pisila."
Inscription: "Planes on line / Victory Liberty Loan / Chicago."
]]>Photograph of four Curtiss JN-4 Jenny aircraft at Grant Park, Chicago, Illinois, circa 1910s-1920s.
Inscription: "Planes on line / Victory Liberty Loan / Chicago."
Inscription on album page: "Captured German Fokker / VII / Chicago: 1919."
]]>Photograph of two American servicemen with a captured German Fokker D.VII aircraft, Chicago, Illinois, circa 1919.
Inscription on album page: "Captured German Fokker / VII / Chicago: 1919."
Pilot Joseph E. Kimm is interviewed about his decade-spanning aviation career. He discusses his early experiences as a flight steward on Ford Trimotor aircraft, and his time as a copilot and pilot for Northwest Airways (later Northwest Airlines), spanning the 1930s to the 1970s. He also touches on his military service during World War II with Air Transport Command, U.S. Army Air Corps. Other topics discussed include his work building aircraft models, his experiences with various aircraft, and a memorable flight from Minneapolis to Seattle with Amelia Earhart.
Joseph Kimm had a 42-year long career with Northwest Airways and served with the Special Missions Group during World War II.
Joseph Edward Kimm was born August 18, 1911 in Minneapolis, Minnesota to Albert Peter and Catherine Kimm. He attended Central High School in Minneapolis, graduating in 1929. Because of the Depression, his family could not afford to send him to college, so he found a job helping make candy at a soda fountain.
As a child he enjoyed building model airplanes. At a meeting for model airplane makers he met Walter Bullock, an early aviator who shared Kimm’s hobby. When Kimm quit his job at the soda fountain, Bullock hired him to help make and sell model airplane kits. Bullock also flew for Northwest Airlines and invited Kimm on a flight. Having enjoyed the flight, Kimm then asked Bullock to help him get a job as a flight steward. Kimm was hired by Northwest Airways July 1, 1929 to serve as steward on the then-new Ford Trimotors. His primary task was to keep the airplane cabin clean. Kimm claims to have invented the air sickness bag while he was working as a steward. Realizing that being a pilot would be more a lucrative job, he sought out flight training. He began working for Northwest as co-pilot, and once he had earned his commercial pilot’s license he was promoted to captain in 1933 at the age of 23. His first route was between Fargo and Grand Forks, North Dakota.
Over the course of his piloting career, he was involved in opening up two important air routes, one from Minneapolis to Seattle, Washington across the northern Rockies. That flight had Amelia Earhart as a passenger, who was publicizing both her recent book and their history-making flight. He also opened a route across previously uncharted territory from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada to Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska.
Fascination with the P-12E motivated him to join the Army Air Corps Reserves prior to the U.S. entry into World War II. This later led to him being called into wartime active duty in 1941 as one of the few dozen pilots forming the Special Missions Group (Brass Hat Squadron) during the war. In this role, he flew various dignitaries around the world, including Senator Albert Hawkes, Mexican Air Force General Salinas, and then General Dwight D. Eisenhower.
In October 1956, Kimm and Senior Captain “Deke” DeLong marked Northwest’s 30th Anniversary by flying a restored Ford Trimotor coast to coast to mark the occasion. Treated like celebrities at every stop, Kimm and DeLong appeared on the Arthur Godfrey Show in New York.
Kimm flew his final Northwest Boeing 707 flight on August 17, 1971. In his retirement years he enjoyed skiing, scuba diving, and delivering Meals on Wheels until he was well into his 90s. Kimm lived to be 102 years old, passing away on September 19, 2013.
Biographical information derived from interview and additional information provided by interviewee.
Text: "The Research Directors' Association of Chicago / dedicated to fostering a creative and innovative environment for the utilization of science and engineering for the benefit of all mankind / and / recognizing the contributions of selfless and dedicated innovators, who have provided talent, energy, resourcefulness, patience and perseverance to create and promote materials and services for such purposes, does present this / Entrepreneur of the Year Award / for 1970 to / William P. Lear, Ph.D. / In recognition of his many personal achievements and especially those represented by / Lear Motors Corporation / Given the fifth month of 1970."
]]>Entrepreneur of the Year Award given to William P. Lear by the Research Directors' Association of Chicago, May 1970. A paper certificate is mounted under clear acrylic affixed to a wood base.
Text: "The Research Directors' Association of Chicago / dedicated to fostering a creative and innovative environment for the utilization of science and engineering for the benefit of all mankind / and / recognizing the contributions of selfless and dedicated innovators, who have provided talent, energy, resourcefulness, patience and perseverance to create and promote materials and services for such purposes, does present this / Entrepreneur of the Year Award / for 1970 to / William P. Lear, Ph.D. / In recognition of his many personal achievements and especially those represented by / Lear Motors Corporation / Given the fifth month of 1970."
Top plate text: "25 Silver Skies / National Intercollegiate Flying Association / May 10, 11, 12,/1973 / Host / Southern Illinois / University at Carbondale / SIU."
Bottom plate text: "In Appreciation of Your Support / William P. Lear."
]]>Appreciation plaque given to William P. Lear by the National Intercollegiate Flying Association, May 1973. Two blue and silver aluminum plates are affixed to wood base. The large top plate depicts a partial side view of a bird's head with beak.
Top plate text: "25 Silver Skies / National Intercollegiate Flying Association / May 10, 11, 12,/1973 / Host / Southern Illinois / University at Carbondale / SIU."
Bottom plate text: "In Appreciation of Your Support / William P. Lear."
Text: "The Research Directors' Association of Chicago, Inc. / Dedicated to fostering a creative and innovative environment for the utilization of science and engineering for the benefit of all mankind, / And / Recognizing the contributions of a selfless, dedicated innovator who has provided talent, energy, financing, resourcefulness, patience and perseverance to create and promote materials and machines for such purposes, does present this / Entrepreneur of the Year Award / For 1982 to / Moya Olsen Lear / Given the third month of 1982."
]]>Entrepreneur of the Year Award given to Moya Olsen Lear by the Research Directors' Association of Chicago, Inc., March 1982. The engraved metal plate is mounted on a wood base with a circular metal filigree embedded in top left corner.
Text: "The Research Directors' Association of Chicago, Inc. / Dedicated to fostering a creative and innovative environment for the utilization of science and engineering for the benefit of all mankind, / And / Recognizing the contributions of a selfless, dedicated innovator who has provided talent, energy, financing, resourcefulness, patience and perseverance to create and promote materials and machines for such purposes, does present this / Entrepreneur of the Year Award / For 1982 to / Moya Olsen Lear / Given the third month of 1982."
Handwritten label on reel: "Digital 7/99. Side 1. Lear story, tape two."
Handwritten label on box: "Tape 1 and 2, 7-62. Digital preservation 7-26-99. Bio 10-20s. AIFF-Format. WPL audio."
]]>Audio recording of William P. Lear discussing his life story, Geneva, Switzerland, circa 1960s. Part 2 of 3.
Handwritten label on reel: "Digital 7/99. Side 1. Lear story, tape two."
Handwritten label on box: "Tape 1 and 2, 7-62. Digital preservation 7-26-99. Bio 10-20s. AIFF-Format. WPL audio."
These audio recordings contain a three-part oral history of William P. Lear, recorded at the Lear home in Geneva, Switzerland, circa 1960s. In Part Two, Lear continues to discuss his engineering career in Chicago, Illinois during the mid-1920s and early 1930s, including his transition from automobile radios to aircraft radio equipment. He also begins to discuss his move to New York in 1934. Other topics discussed include his early aviation experiences; stories about Reeder Nichols, Clyde Pangborn, and other aviators; and a navigation race in Florida in the mid-1930s, which is continued in Part Three. Lear’s son, Bill Lear Jr., is also briefly heard.
During the recording, Lear references a person named Jean (possibly “Jeanne” or “Gene”), who asked for autobiographical information about Lear.