Guide to the Bernard Lindenbaum Vertical Flight Research Collection

Biography of Bernard Lindenbaum

Bernard Lindenbaum was born in 1916. In 1943 he was appointed a de la Cierva Fellow at New York University's College of Engineering. In 1944 he received his Master of Aeronautical Engineering.

Lindenbaum has held a variety of positions during his engineering career ranging from Junior Aeronautical Engineer to Deputy for Analysis in the V/STOL Technology Division of the Flight Dynamics Laboratory. Some of the projects he participated in include: Sikorsky R-5, Kellett XR-8 "Synchropter," Firestone XT9 A&B, Kellett XR-10 Synchropter transport, Bell XR-12 utility and light transport, Firestone XR-14 twin tail rotor helicopter, Piasecki XH-16 tandem rotor transport, Hughes XH-17 pressure jet rotor helicopter, Sikorsky H-19 light transport, Piasecki H-21 Artic Rescue, American H-26 pulse jet driven rotor, Bell H-40 (renamed UH-1), Kaman H-43 local base rescue, Bell XV-3 tilt rotor, Hiller X-18 tilt wing, Curtiss-Wright X-19 tilt propeller, Vought XC-142 tilt wing, AVRO "Avrocar," Hawker P-1127, and others.

Lindenbaum retired from the United States Air Force in 1974. He served on the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Helicopter Subcommittee and was a U.S. Data Exchange Officer on V/STOL Aircraft with the Federal Republic of Germany and France. He authored the definitive Volume 1 of V/STOL Concepts and Developed Aircraft for the U.S. Air Force and Navy.

Lindenbaum is a founding member of the American Helicopter Society (AHS) and a member of the society since 1945. He participated on the AHS Board of Directors as a Midwest Vice President. In 1970 he was awarded an AHS Honorary Fellowship and in 1974 he was chosen to receive the Society's highest honor, the Alexander Klemin Award.

Bernard Lindenbaum died in 2002.

Scope and Content

The Bernard Lindenbaum Vertical Flight Research Collection is a very large collection documenting the history and development of helicopters and V/STOL aircraft from the mid-1940s to the 1990s. The collection contains research reports, conference reports, blueprints, and film documenting this development. Researchers should be aware that the collection was minimally processed in that each box was fully inventoried, but no effort was made to place the material in acid-free folders, number folders, or relocate similar material together. As a result, some boxes will have more than one-topic and the same reports may appear in multiple boxes in the same series or under different series. When researching the collection, researchers should look through all of the boxes with similar headings to locate material. The collection has been organized into twelve, broad series topics.

Series I, Rotary Wing Handbook, consists of one Record Center box containing eight of the eighteen volumes of the Rotary Wing Handbook. The series also contains Part I and II of the 1960 Russian book "The Aerodynamic Design of Helicopters."

Series II, NACA & NASA Reports, consists of five Record Center boxes containing National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA), and its successor, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), reports on helicopters, V/STOL aircraft, VTOL aircraft, air foils, and tilted rotors. The date span for the reports is 1929 to 1977. There are also NACA annual reports from 1934 to 1941 and the proceedings of V/STOL Technology and Planning Conference held September 23 to 25, 1969.

Series III, AVRO Avrocar, consists of three Record Center boxes containing reports, progress reports, and photographs on the development of the Avrocar. The reports span a period beginning in 1958 and ending in 1990. There is also film of the Avrocar in Series XII.

Series IV, Helicopters, is a fairly large series consisting of eight Record Center boxes containing reports spanning a period from1934 to 1997. The series includes early, pre-1960 reports on helicopters, blueprints of Kellett and Piasecki aircraft, and helicopter history articles and photographs. The series also contains helicopter brochures and information on early helicopters and towed helicopters.

Series V, Helicopter Aerodynamics, is a large series consisting of twenty Record Center boxes documenting helicopter aerodynamics from 1918 to 1993. The series includes reports on: helicopter dynamics, performance, and theory; rotors, rotor blades, and rotor aerodynamics; rotor blade test and helicopter controls; helicopter airfoils; helicopter vibration; aerial utility vehicles; hot cycle rotors and wing composite aircraft; and aerodynamics and the Kaman Model K-190. The series also contains American Helicopter Society Forum Reports from the 1970s and reports from the 1980 Propeller Propulsion Conference.

Series VI, Convertiplane, Autogiro, Composite Research Vehicle and Stowed Rotor, is another large series consisting of seventeen Record Center boxes containing reports from 1923 to 1999. This series contains reports on: the Convertiplane Model XV-1; stoppable and stowed rotors; convertiplane composite research aircraft; autogiros; compound helicopters; autogiro gliders and kites; tip-mounted power; and compound and rigid rotor helicopters.

Series VII, SR-175, Tri-Service Transport and V/STOL Transports, consists of nineteen Record Center boxes containing reports from 1938 to 1990. The topic of these reports center on tri-service and V/STOL transports. Included in this series are reports from the 1st National V/STOL Aircraft Symposium held November 3-4, 1965. The series also includes a wide-variety of other topics including: the Bell SR-175 and ducted propellers; the tilt-wing propelloplane; lift fans and fans in wings; V/STOL short-haul transports; the Bell X-22A program, and reports on tilt wing V/STOL aircraft including the CL-84, X-18, VC-400, and XC-142A. The series also contains reports from the Academic VTOL and American Helicopter Society Proceedings and the First Convertible Aircraft Proceedings, and American Helicopter Society Forum reports from 1947 to 1972.

Series VIII, Vertical Lift Theory and Aerodynamics - Non-Helicopter, is one of the largest series in the collection spanning twenty-five Records Center boxes. The reports span a period from 1932 to 1989. Included in this series are reports on: tri-service transports, the Harrier; V/STOL propeller technology concepts; lift-fan flight research; high-lift devices; V/TOL and GETOL ground effects; tilt-wing aircraft; downwash and ground effects; shrouded propellers and propulsion systems; stopped rotor compound helicopters; and ducted and shrouded propellers.

Series IX, Escape Systems, Crash and Rescue, is a small series consisting of three Record Center boxes. This series includes reports from 1929 to 1999 that include information on escape systems and crash rescue helicopters.

Series X, Power Plants, Propellers, RPV, Drone, Small Tactical Aerial Vehicle, and STAMP, is another small series consisting of four Record Center boxes. The series includes information on: drone aircraft; remotely piloted vehicles; power plants; propellers; and the Small tactical Aerial Mobility Platform (STAMP). The series also contains reports from the Conference on Propeller Propulsion held April 22-24, 1980 and a copy of Lindenbaum's presentation on "V/STOL Concepts and Developed Aircraft: A Historical Review."

Series XI, Microfilm, is located in one box (Box 106) and includes the records of the Prewitt Aircraft Company, Clifton Heights, Pennsylvania. The microfilm contains reports on the history of the helicopter and rotary wing aircraft history.

Series XII, Film, consists of 190 reels of 16 mm film and 10 VHS cassettes documenting vertical flight reports and history from 1938 to 1977. Some of the film is in poor condition and all need to be converted to a VHS or DVD format for viewing. The series includes film of the XC-4B Hummingbird, the Bell XC-142, and the AVRO Avrocar, plus film of many other vertical flight aircraft.

Statement of Arrangement

Restrictions on Use

Copyright restrictions may apply. Unpublished manuscripts are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.

Restrictions on Access

There are no restrictions on accessing materials in this collection.

Lindenbaum, Bernard, "V/STOL Concepts and Developed Aircraft, Volume I: A Historical Report (1940-1986), Universal Energy Systems, Inc., Dayton, Ohio, Report Number A973571, 26 Jun 1986.

Aviation books and Vertiflight Magazine, received with the collection, have been cataloged and placed on the shelves in the Special Collection and Archives Reading Room.

16 mm film contained in the collection is located in the Special Collections and Archives Film vault located in the basement of the Wright State University Medical Sciences Building. Researchers should call in advance to view the film.

Subject Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Subjects:

Persons:

Organizations/Corporations:

Places:

Material Types:

Preferred Citation

[Box #, Folder #], MS-364, Bernard Lindenbaum Vertical Flight Research Collection, Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio.

Acquisition Information

The collection was donated by Stephen Lindenbaum of Marietta, Georgia, son of Bernard Lindenbaum, on March 24, 2003.

Processing Information

This collection has been minimally processed and minimally organized. Each box has been fully inventoried and a list of items included in the container listing. No effort was made to replace folders with acid-free folders and reports remain in their original cover.

Other Finding Aid

The finding aid is available on the Special Collections & Archives, Wright State University Libraries web site at
https://wright.libraryhost.com/repositories/2/resources/89.