Aviation Volunteers Needed - Any Here?

[RareAviation]

Hi, this is Steve Rhode, Chief Pilot and Archivist of Rare Aviation. Before you read my plea for assistance, here is some background about Rare Aviation.

RARE AVIATION MISSION:
Rare Aviation rescues and restores historic aviation items for public access.

WHY:
Without the efforts of Rare Aviation many historic aviation items would have been lost forever. For example, just a few years ago the U.S. government destroyed over three million feet of historic aviation films due to a lack of storage and funding, material that is donated to museums often sits lost and locked away in warehouses never to be seen again and historic aviation films are just lost to natural film deterioration each day. History that is locked away is history forgotten. People deserve to have the opportunity to learn more about see the bravery, courage and skill of past aviators.

I recently acquired a large collection of aircraft manuals and it has prompted me to work on putting together the largest online collection of aircraft and pilot manuals ever. Hour after hour I have been sitting here reviewing and scanning all of these original works so that you'll be able to access this reference material when you need it.

I currently have another 9,000 manuals to weed through and review but in the meantime I would be ever so grateful if you would be willing to make a donation of material to this collection. I don't want you to give up your treasured manuals; all I ask is that you send in a scanned copy of any manual that you may have for the collection.

I'm looking for ANY aircraft, pilot or engine model for any aircraft. While I might already have one in the collection, the one you may send in may be a better copy.

If you own any hardcopy manuals that you would like to donate, you can forward them also, we will scan and archive those manuals for the future and consider the donation of the original hardcopy manuals a generous gift.

SCANNING TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS:
I'm looking for page images that are full original size, full color and scanned in at no less than 300 DPI. Be sure to include a scan of the manual cover as well. Please also include a text file or word document with your comments about the manual content, significance of the manual or aircraft and the condition of the original manual.

Please do not send copies of photocopied or poor quality manuals or documents.

HOW TO GET MATERIAL INTO THE COLLECTION:
To contribute your donation you can send it to me on a CD or you can upload it via FTP to a special place I will create for you if you wish to submit it via FTP.

IN MEMORY OF:
If you would like your manual donation to contain a special memorial message to honor the deceased pilot that may have once owned the manuals you are contributing, send it along with your donation and I'll make sure the memoriam message accompanies the final manual.

FACT: WITHOUT YOUR HELP, AVIATION HISTORY MAY BE LOST FOREVER
This project is important because unlike aviation museums that keep their manuals lost in warehouses or locked behind doors, this collection will be available for access via the Internet.

So, if you are interested in being a volunteer and sending in any scanned flight, aircraft or pilot manual that you might have of civil, military, experimental aircraft or space vehicle, I would be eternally grateful and you'll be doing your part to help save aviation.

As a special thank you for your contribution I will reward those who make a donation of a manual that can be used in the final collection with a private link into the collection, when it is ready, so you can download a comparable number of manuals you would like to have. The collection will also include high-resolution digital aviation images and full texts as well.

To those of you like Bill and Bruce that have already done so much to help me on this project, I salute you and from the bottom of my heart thank you for your participation.

If you want to send a manual contribution on CD or donate a hardcopy of an original manual by mail you can send it to:

Steve Rhode
Rare Aviation
310 Watkins Pond Blvd
Rockville, MD 20850

If you would like to make your donation by FTP you can contact me by private message, let me know what you can contribute and I'll email you back access to upload the PDF files.

Thank you in advance for whatever assistance you may be able to give.

Steve
http://rareaviation.com

 

[JIMC5499]

Does that include maintenance manuals as well??

 

[RareAviation]

All Aviation Manuals

I should have been a bit clearer in my previous posting. Yes, all aviation related manuals are appreciated. Pilot Handbooks, Flight Manual, Erection and Maintanence, Service, Illustrated Parts Catalogs, etc.

Steve Rhode
Chief Pilot and Archivist
RareAviation.com

 

[Goober]

Hate to be a buzzkill here boys and girls, but the front cover of my Natops has a destruction notice that specifically says: "...destroy by any method that will prevent disclosure of contents or reconstruction of the document."

If you want manuals, the right answer ain't a back door request through the operators.

Mods - recommend close/lock this thread.

 

[A4sForever]

Wait !! WAIT !!! Before it's closed ... remind me to post a link to my publisher when my book is done ---- with credit card payment info ---- heck, I'm just tryin' to provide a service and help everyone here ---- the money is not important ...

Right??? Right .....

AW 'ing lamp is lit ....

 

[RareAviation]

Not Anything Classified

I'm not looking for any manuals that should not be distributed. If you don't think you should share it, then please don't.

Most of my work is in the 1920 - 1970 range and those manuals have been declassified.

For the past couple of years I've really been burried in restoring WWII gun camera films so I've fallen way behind on the manual project.

I'm also looking for civil manuals as well.

Steve Rhode
Chief Pilot and Archivist
RareAviation.com

 

[squeeze]

DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT C. Distribution authorized to U.S. Government agencies and their contractors to protect publications required for official use or for administrative or operational purposes only, determined on 1 July 1999. Other requests for this document shall be referred to Commanding Officer, Naval Air Technical Data and Engineering Service Command, Naval Air Station North Island, P.O. Box 357031, Building 90 Distribution, San Diego, CA 92135-7031.

DESTRUCTION NOTICE - For unclassified, limited documents, destroy by any method that will prevent disclosure of the contents or reconstruction of the document.

there you go... the official address to request a copy of NATOPS. The flight manuals are typically unclass and available in .PDF format from the Navy. Try mailing them to attain them.

edit- nevermind the fact that there's no one in their right mind who would sit around and scan a 3" thick book page-by-page.

 

[Steve Wilkins]

I didn't get the impression that he was requesting any NATOPS manual or other classified or official use only type stuff. Sounds to me that he is looking for Pilot's Operating Handbook and the like. You guys that are in possession of stuff that shouldn't be distributed, DON'T DISTRIBUTE IT. But if you happen to have a copy of an old 1940 Cessna T50 Twin manual, I think this is what he is looking for.

 

[Goober]

Well, I'm not beatin' up on the guy, but he did say:

So, if you are interested in being a volunteer and sending in any scanned flight, aircraft or pilot manual that you might have of civil, military, experimental aircraft or space vehicle, I would be eternally grateful and you'll be doing your part to help save aviation.

I'm not knocking his effort, but this IS a forum for naval aviators (and naval officers in general), and most of what we discuss (minus the hamburger and hot dog thread) centers around what we do now (present tense). If it's a gov't manual, it's FOUO even if it doesn't say so in black and white. I admire his dedication; but his efforts to collect manuals might be better made in a warbirds forum, not one pertaining to the here and now.

 

[RareAviation]

Thank you

I certainly did not mean to create a controversy here. And let me say again for the record, if it is still classified material, please don’t send it to me.

One poster said that he could not imagine sitting down to scan a 3” think manual, well people do it all the time.

The only way aviation history gets saved is if someone saves it. It is certainly not glorious work but the rewards from the veterans and their families are well worth the effort.

Manuals are nice documents for a family member to be able to get their hands on when they want to know more about what grandpa flew in the war. WWII veterans look for copies to remember what it was like back in the cockpit.

They are also nice when historians are writing about a particular aircraft or someone wants to look back on their first plane.

Here is an excerpt from an email I received today regarding this manual project. The email was sent by the technical director of an aviation museum:

“Your comment about museums that keep their manuals lost in warehouses or locked behind doors is dead on the money.”

Steve Rhode
Chief Pilot and Archivist
RareAviation.com

 

[Steve Wilkins]

I certainly did not mean to create a controversy here.

Controversy?....There's no controversy on Air Warriors!