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Maynard L. Flickinger


Reference Code:

Repository: >University of Akron Archival Services

Title:

Dates: 1920-1960

Extent: Cubic feet: approximately 0.75

Number of containers: 1 carton (plus oversize items)

Creator:

Language: English

Access: Collection is open for research.

Finding Aid prepared by: Eric Brothers, April, 2001

Related Material:

Biographical Information:

Maynard L. Flickinger was born in Barberton, Ohio in 1900 and graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1921. He came to Akron in 1923 to work at Goodyear on the semi-rigid airship RS-1 for the U.S. Army. When that job was finished, he was assigned to the planning department.

After Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation was formed to build rigid airships, he interviewed with that division's head, Dr. Karl Arnstein. "Flick" was hired and given a job just outside of Arnstein's office. One of his first projects was to make a drawing showing the largest possible rigid airship that could be constructed in Goodyear's only hangar in 1925, the one located at the company's Wingfoot Lake base.

Flickinger helped to write speeches and reports for the German-speaking engineers Goodyear-Zeppelin Corp. brought to Akron to direct rigid airship construction. He also helped to get the German engineers oriented to life in the United States. In 1926, Flickinger was assigned to preliminary design. By 1929, he was one of the most trusted engineers. Flickinger also had lessons in airship flying from Goodyear's chief blimp pilot, Jack Boettner.

Flickinger worked on the design of the ZRS-4 (USS Akron) and participated in the first trial flight of that airship. He also worked on the design of the ZRS-5 (USS Macon). Flickinger contributed to the design of the Navy's L and K-ship blimps of the late 1930s that he helped to develop further in World War II. He was a trouble-shooter for problems that arose with the airships, and contributed to solutions involving the landing gear, mooring system and load-bearing fabric patches. During the war and afterward, Flickinger was in charge of field service (including responsibility for service bulletins) and handbooks for the U.S. Navy airships and also the Goodyear-built F2G-1 Corsair Navy fighter plane.

After WWII, Flickinger worked on various airship proposals, including one for a nuclear-powered blimp, and on design of all of the Navy blimps from the "Nan" N-ships (later designated ZPG-2) through the early-warning radar equipped ZPG-3W airship. He retired in 1965 with 42 years' continuous service. He died in Akron on October 8, 1990, at the age of 90.

Sources: Buoyant Flight 20, no. 1 (November-December, 1972): 1, 2

Buoyant Flight 20, no. 2 (January-February, 1973): 2, 4-5

Buoyant Flight 29, no. 3 (March-April, 1982): 1

Buoyant Flight 29, no. 5 (July-August, 1982): 2, 4

Buoyant Flight 38, no. 3 (March-April, 1991): 7-8

Scope and Content:

The Maynard L. Flickinger Collection at the University of Akron Archives contains memoranda, reports, photographs, printed materials and mementoes collected by an aeronautical engineer who worked successively for the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co.'s Aeronautics Department, Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation, and Goodyear Aircraft Corporation. His career, primarily in airship design, spanned from the 1920s to the 1960s.

The collection is predominantly photographs and printed materials pertaining to airship design or airship travel. There are company photographs as well as personal snapshots from the era of the large United States Navy rigid airships USS Akron and USS Macon. The photographs also include a set of published and unpublished stereoscopic (stereo view) card photographs of these airships. In addition to U.S. airships, there are also materials on German airships of the 1920s and 1930s.

Most of the material in the collection relates to the period from 1929 to the 1950s, and includes information on several types of Goodyear-built airships, including both military and civilian blimps.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged in one series. It was accessioned from Mr. Flickinger's heirs in February 2001.

Container List:

Box Inventory

(by folder)

Box 1

Folder

    1. Flickinger. Career: seven 8x10 in. b&w photographs of Flickinger and co-workers, 1943-1963

    1. Flickinger. Akron-Macon photographs (large): 31 8x10 in. b&w photographs of Goodyear-Zeppelin Corp. rigid airships ZRS-4 and ZRS-5 (Akron and Macon) under construction; detail views of girders, engines, control car; and in flight, 1929-1931

1-3. Flickinger. Akron-Macon photographs, hook-on airplanes: 4 b&w photographs of Consolidated N2Y-1 and Curtiss F9C-2 airplanes, airship trapeze, 1931-1934.

1-4. Flickinger. Akron photographs (small): 22 b&w photographs 5x7 in. or smaller showing USS Akron interior details; preparations for first flight, 1931.

    1. Flickinger. Macon photographs (small): 8 b&w photographs 5x7 in. or smaller showing USS Macon preparations for first flight, 1933.
    2. Flickinger. Goodyear-Zeppelin Corp. commercial and passenger airship proposals: 10 b& w photographs of artist renderings and plan views of rigid passenger airships, 1928-1934.
    3. Flickinger. German airships, USS Los Angeles: 4 b& w photographs, 1924-1929
    4. Flickinger. German airships, USS Los Angeles: 4x7 in. color reproduction of a painting of USS Los Angeles under construction in 1923 (mounted on cardboard); inscribed by Karl Arnstein, September 1969
    5. Flickinger. German airships, Graf Zeppelin: 10 b& w photographs (including dated photo-postcards) of the German passenger airship Graf Zeppelin (LZ 127) in Germany; interior views; in flight; visit to Akron, 1928-1933.
    6. Flickinger. German airships, Hindenburg - General: photograph of writing room; W. E. Dörr drawing of hull (2 photostat prints); and soft-cover book: Robinson, Douglas H. LZ 129 "Hindenburg." Dallas, Texas: Morgan Aviation Books, 1964 (with scale drawings by Richard Groh)
    7. Flickinger. German airships - schedules: Deutsche Zeppelin -Reederei brochure, ".und nun über den Nordatlantik" listing 1936 flights of airship Hindenburg to North America; single-sheet "Schedule of 1937 North-American Demonstration Service A. S. 'Hindenburg' of German Zeppelin Transport Co. (Deutsche Zeppelin Reederei) issued May 1st, 1937"; and single-sheet flier "Luftschiffbau-Zeppelin - Hamburg Amerika Linie Sailings of the Airship 'Graf Zeppelin' (1933)"; "U.S. Naval Air Station, Lakehurst, N. J., Special Pass in connection with Transatlantic Airship Demonstration, 1936." [for first landing of Hindenburg at Lakehurst]
    8. Flickinger. German airships, Hindenburg photographs (large): 10 b& w photographs 6x9 in. and larger showing the German airship Hindenburg under construction, ca. 1933-1935
    9. Flickinger. German airships, Hindenburg photographs (small): 14 b& w photographs 5x7 in. and smaller showing the German airship Hindenburg under construction, ca. 1933-1935
    10. Flickinger. German airships, Hindenburg: 1936 color postcard showing the passenger lounge aboard the airship Hindenburg; presumably retrieved from the airship's wreckage, the card is damaged with burnt edges from the fiery crash in May 1937.
    11. Flickinger. USS Shenandoah photographs: 3 8x10 in. b&w photos of the U.S. Navy rigid airship ca. 1923 (1964 prints); brochure about Lewis Gray's 30 ft. model of the ZR-1 Shenandoah of the 1970s.
    12. Flickinger. Airship ground handling photographs: 3 8x10 in. b&w photos showing USS Macon and mooring mast; USS Los Angeles stern riding-out car; USS Akron and stern riding out car.
    13. Flickinger. "Rigid Airship Data" (May 7, 1946) [comparisons of U.S., British and German airships] and "General Information on U.S.S. Akron, Goodyear-Zeppelin Dock and Other Similar Items" (ca. 1931)
    14. Flickinger. "Memorandum: R-101 Wreck": Goodyear-Zeppelin Corp. memoranda on causes of the crash of the British airship R-101, November-December 1930.
    15. Flickinger. USS Akron correspondence, memoranda: Letter from P. W. Litchfield (June 21, 1930); memo from Karl Arnstein with notification to observers on first trial flight with attached "Instructions to G-Z Personnel for Trial Flights" (September 17, 1931); "U.S.S. Akron Trial Flight No. 1 Authorization and Instructions for Personnel." from Lt. Cdr. C. E. Rosendahl; Goodyear News Service information file ".concerning outstanding features of the U.S.S. Akron, built for the U.S. Navy by the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corp." (1931)
    16. Flickinger. USS Akron newspaper clippings: Cleveland Plain Dealer art gravure sections for August 16, August 30, and September 27 1931 featuring Goodyear airships.
    17. Flickinger. Akron-Macon Miscellaneous: Ticket that ".will admit Mr. M. L. Flickinger, Dept. Zeppelin, to Luncheon [at] Goodyear Gymnasium, Saturday Aug. 8th - 1 P.M. Preceding Christening Ceremonies of U.S. Airship Akron" (1931); "Building the World's Largest Airship Factory and Dock" booklet (1931); Special Committee on Airships, Report No. 3 Technical Aspects of the Loss of the Macon January 30, 1937 (Stanford University Press)
    18. Flickinger. Akron-Macon blueprints: "U.S.S. Akron Airship ZRS-4 General Arrangement, Goodyear-Zeppelin Corp. Drawing 6P 0708" (1928) half-size reproduction of 1:100 scale diazo print (purple line on white paper); U.S.S. Macon Airship ZRS-5 General Arrangement, Goodyear-Zeppelin Corp. Drawing 6P 0814" (1931) half-size reproduction of 1:100 scale positive blueprint (blue line on white paper); Control Car Assembly [U.S.S. Macon], Goodyear-Zeppelin Corp. Drawing 6B0001 (1931; approved for ZRS-5, Feb. 27, 1932; "Check Print"; includes location and list of all control car accessories) 1: 20 scale blueprint; torn, stained faded in places. [all prints are folded]
    19. Flickinger. Investigation of Dirigible Disasters: Hearings Before a Joint Committee to investigate Dirigible Disasters, Congress of the United States 73rd Congress, 1 ST session.May 22 to June 6, 1933. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1933 [soft-cover; annotated; some chips missing from front cover, binding mended]
    20. Flickinger. USS Akron framed print: 8x10 in. photograph reproduction, "Plate 1, General Arrangement, U.S.S. Akron, Built by Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation" from "Some Features of a Modern Airship - U.S.S. Akron," by Cdr. Garland Fulton, Transactions, Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers Vol. 39 (1931) [in black-painted wooden frame with GLASS]
    21. Flickinger. Goodyear Blimp photographs: Pony Blimp (ca. 1920, at Aeronautical Exposition) and U.S. Army TC-2 blimp (1920s); four 8x10 in. b&w photographs [these prints made in 1964]
    22. Flickinger. Goodyear Blimp photographs, World War II: three 8x10 in. b&w photographs of K-3 (1941); one each 8x10 in. b&w photograph of L-2 (ca. 1940); and "Safety line along catwalk M-4" (28 May 1945)
    23. Flickinger. Blimps. Goodyear Aircraft Corporation. United States Navy K-Type Airships Control Car Assemblies. Akron, Ohio: Goodyear Aircraft Corporation, November, 1943. [annotated]
    24. Flickinger. Goodyear Blimp photographs, Post-World War II: five 8.5x11 in. b&w photographs of the U.S. Navy N-1 airship in the Air Dock, roll-out, and first flight (1951); one 8.5x11 in. b&w photograph of comparison of Navy Airships Types L, G, K, M and N (1949)
    25. Flickinger. Goodyear Blimp U. S. Navy Early Warning Type: Drawing, ZPN Fin Data (1949); Drawing, ZPN Ruddevator Data (1949); Drawing, ZPN Outrigger and Nacelle Data (1949) [all annotated]; Drawing, Photostat [unlabelled; appears to be ZPG-3W airship proposal; annotated]; Illustrations from Goodyear Aircraft Corp.Manual GAP 1099 S1 showing ZPG-2W and ZPG-3W control car details, car interiors, hull views [ca. 1958]
    26. Flickinger. Goodyear Blimp Miscellaneous: two 8x10 in. b&w photographs of 28 in. dia. Automatic Air Valve for U.S. Army Air Corps Semi-Rigid Airship RS 1 [Flickinger's first assignment in Goodyear's aeronautical department, November 1924]; 8x10 in. color photograph of "Silent Joe II" (registration N4A) stern-propulsion test (1969); "Blimp facts" clipping from Akron Beacon Journal comparing Goodyear GZ-22 and Skytalk blimps (ca. 1986)
    27. Flickinger. Goodyear Aerospace Corp. calendar, 1987: Spiral-bound, missing one page; shows various Goodyear-built airships [In 1987 Goodyear sold its aerospace division to Loral Defense Systems, Inc.]; Goodyear Aerospace Corp. catalogue envelope [annotated with Flickinger's departmental address, ca. 1965]
    28. Flickinger. Goodyear Blimp photographs, Oversize: five 11x14 in. b&w photographs of WWII K-ship and M-ship blimps; one apporox. 10x12 in. cardboard sheet with photographs on both sides of K-ship blimps in flight; two 10x13 in. color photographs mounted on cardboard of K-ship on mooring mast [ca. 1943]
    29. Flickinger. Rolled panoramic photograph: "Hangar Interior, Lakehurst, N. J." shows USS Los Angeles and three J-class blimps [J-3, J-4, J-1?] inside Hangar 1, Lakehurst Naval Air Station [b&w photograph approx. 8x20 in., with edge tears]
    30. Flickinger. "U. S. S. Akron, Lynn Skeels, Ravenna, O." printed in gold-colored ink on two-piece blue cardboard box, approx. 8x3x2.75 in. Contents are 45 published and unpublished stereo (three-dimensional) view cards of the USS Akron, USS Macon, Goodyear blimps Defender and Columbia, photographed by Lynn Skeels in Akron from 1929-1933. Images with printed captions are Skeels numbers 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 18, 20, 21, 22, 25, 27, 28, 30, 31, 33, 34, 36, 37, 39, 41, 45, 46, 47, 48, 52, 54, 55, 57, 58, 59, 61, 65, 70, 72, 75, 78, 81, and 83. One additional card is an unpublished "Home Stereo" view showing the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corp. engineering office with Flickinger at far right. Flickinger has numbered the images out of sequence, in ink, at top margin of the cards; the original box has been retained, but is now lined with acid-free paper.]
    31. Flickinger. Stereoscope: Holmes-type stereo pair viewer; wood, metal, glass, velvet fabric; ca. 1930s
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