MS-282
The Jimmie A. Reedy Hartzell Propeller Collection
Introduction
The Jimmie A. Reedy Hartzell Propeller Collection was accessioned into the Piqua Public Library Archives and Special Collections in November 2020. The collection is the result of a donation by Mr. Jimmie Reedy. Mr. Reedy was employed by Hartzell Propeller in c. 1973 as a Sales Representative. He rose in the company to department manager and ultimately to Vice President of Sales. Mr. Reedy retired in c. 2008 after approximately 35 years service with Hartzell Propeller.
Mr. Reedy’s Hartzell files were generally in alphabetical order by first letter of the file when they were donated. That order has been maintained as much as possible in this processing. The collection is housed in four Hollinger boxes containing 97 files. The collection has been deeded over to the Piqua Public Library Archives and Special Collections and there are no known restrictions on the use of the materials in the collection.
Scope and Content
The Jimmie A. Reedy Hartzell Propeller Collection is divided into the following nine series, maintaining the alphabetical order in which the build of the files were donated:
SERIES I: Files beginning with the letters “A” and “B” – Box 1, Files 1-9
SERIES II: Files beginning with the letters “C” and “D” – Box 1, Files 10-22
SERIES III: Files beginning with the letters “E” and “F” – Box 1, Files 23-28
SERIES IV: Files beginning with the letters “G” and “H” – Box 1, Files 29-31 and Box 2, Files
1-19
SERIES V: Files beginning with the letters “J” and “L” – Box 3, Files 1-10
SERIES VI: Files beginning with the letters “M,” “N” and “O” – Box 3, Files 11-20
SERIES VII: Files beginning with the letters “P,” “S,” “T” and “V” – Including Photographs –
Box 3, Files 21-26 and Box 4, Files 1-10.
SERIES VIII: Files beginning with the letter “W” – Box 4, Files 11-19
SERIES IX: Special Newspaper Articles from the Piqua Daily Call – Box 4, Files 20 & 21
Container List
SERIES I: Files beginning with the letters “A” and “B”
BOX 1
File 1 Early Aircraft Listings
a. History of Aviation – a catalog of the aviation holdings in the Special Collections and Archives of the Paul Laurence Dunbar Library, Wright State University.
b. A listing of back issues of World War I Aeroplanes, Inc. from the website www.ww1aeroplanesinc.org/docs/back issues.htm
c. Miscellaneous early aviation material – a bibliography dated May 13, 2003.
d. Brief History of Early Aviation including: [1] Chronology 1918-1938; [2] Dept. of the Army Regulations for Operation of Aircraft Commencing January 1920; [3] Letter to Mr. Reedy from David H. Bahnson, M.D. concerning a “Liberty” propeller; [4] Wings of History – The 1928 American Eagle; [5] North American L-17 Navion; [6] Riley Twin Navion Custom Conversion.
2 A list of aircraft on which Hartzell Wood Propellers were installed.
3 Aviation and Aeronautical Engineering magazine – reprints of articles from the
September 1, 1920 edition and October 1, 1920.
4 Aircraft Owner: FAA Registry N-Number Inquiry for and airplane, serial number 1,
manufactured by Hartzell, model “Corben Baby Ace D, fixed wing, single engine airplane.
5 Photographs: 3 ¼” x 4 ½” black/white photos of a single wing, single engine aircraft
at the Piqua Airport.
6 Barnstormers Free Classified Ads, August 7, 2003.
7 “The World of Beechcraft,” a booklet produced by the Beech Aircraft Corporation
with pictures and descriptions of Beech Aircraft models. The booklet was produced c. 1978.
8 David Jonathan Biermann, 1907-1998 – two copies of a biography of David Biermann
entitled “Morgan Field and Other Stories.”
9 Clayton John Brukner, 1896-1977.
SERIES II: Files beginning with the letters “C” and “D”
File 10 Frank W. Caldwell, 1889-1974
11 Frederick Charavay, 1886-1961, builder of the 1923 Hartzell FC-1 airplane.
12 Jean Charavay, son of Fred Charavay
13 Glen Curtiss, aircraft manufacturer of the Navy-Curtiss NC-4 Flying Boat and the P-
40 War Hawk.
14 DH-4 Airplane
15 Dayton Library
16 Dayton-Wright Airplane Co.
17 Charles Dickinson, Jr. 1890-?
18 Edward Deeds and Charles Kettering
19 Driggs-Johnson Canary – the first commercial airplane manufactured in Dayton, made
its maiden flight on March 10, 1925, at Johnson’s field.
20 Dayton Wright Airplanes
21 DeHaveland DH4 and DHA-3 Drover Mk3
22 Curtis JN-4 “Jenny” – America’s most famous World War I airplane.
SERIES III: Files beginning with the letters “E” and “F”
File 23 Engines on which Hartzell wood propellers were installed.
24 Aircraft engines
25 Early advertising for Hartzell wood propellers – c. 1920.
26 Department of Transportation – Federal Aviation Administration, Type Certificate
Data Sheet No. A-787
27 Hartzell FC-1 wins the International Air Meet in St. Louis, Missouri, October 2-4,
1923. The FC-1 was designed and built by Fred Charavay at the Hartzell Propeller Co., Piqua, Ohio, and piloted by Walter E. Lees.
28 Hartzell FC-2 – Walter E. Lees won first place in Event No. Two, the National Cash
Register Company Trophy in the Hartzell FC-2, at the International Air Races, Dayton, Ohio on October 2-4, 1924. The FC-2 was designed and built by Fred Charavay at the Hartzell Propeller Co., Piqua, Ohio.
SERIES IV: Files beginning with the letters “G” and “H”
File 29 Richard Grimes, biographical and other information.
30 Richard Grimes, letters and other communications.
31 Richard Grimes, engineering reports, presentations and other documents.
BOX 2
File 1 Hartzell Propeller brochures, pamphlets and booklets:
a. “The Story of Hartzell Walnut Propellers”
b. “1875-1955, 80 Years of Progress and Leadership, Hartzell Industries, Inc.”
c. “Flying With the Best, Hartzell,” the 1981 Hartzell Propeller booklet.
d. “A Proud Past… Hartzell Celebrates 125 Years… A Dynamic Future”
2 Hartzell Patent Index, 1919-1965
3 Hartzell Propeller Incorporated Milestones
4 History files.
5 Hartzell family genealogy
6 Hartzell Industries
7 George, Thomas and James Hartzell
8 George William Hartzell
9 Robert Hartzell
10 Hartzell obituaries
11 Newspaper articles on Hartzell Propeller
12 Hartzite Propellers
13 Hartzite Patents
14 Letters from Bureau of Steam Engineering, Navy Department, Washington, D.C.
15 Miscellaneous Hartzell Items
16 Thomas F. Hamilton
17 Hamilton Standard Propellers
18 Robert P. Hewitt
19 Robert P. Hewitt
SERIES V: Files beginning with the letters “J” and “L”
BOX 3
File 1 Folder containing an email and a series of attachments from Edward Cashin. The
email is signed “Jessica” and the folder is labeled “Jessica.”
2 Johnson Airplane & Supply Company; Johnson Flying Service; Al (A.E.) Johnson;
Jimmy Johnson.
3 The Liberty aircraft engine of World War I
4 Letters to Robert Hartzell on celebrating 50 years on the aircraft industry.
5 Walter Lees
6 Charles Lindberg
7 Charles Franklin Kettering
8 American airplanes: Lo-Lu - Lockheed
9 Loening
10 Lincoln Standard
SERIES VI: Files beginning with the letters “M,” “N” and “O”
File 11 McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio and the McCook Field Test Stand
12 Hartzell Wood Propellers Tested at McCook Field Dayton, Ohio – and – Hartzell
Propeller Tests run at McCook Field – tables of propellers
13 Reports of Destructive Whirling Tests of Hartzell propellers conducted by the War
Department Air Service, Engineering Division, McCook Field, Dayton, OH – Mar. 1919-Oct. 1923.
14 Reports of Destructive Whirling Tests of Hartzell propellers conducted by the War
Department Air Service, Engineering Division, McCook Field, Dayton, OH – Jan. 1924-June 1930.
15 Reports of Destructive Whirling Tests of propellers from other manufacturers,
including the Engineering Division of the U.S. Air Service, conducted by the War Department Air Service, Engineering Division, McCook Field, Dayton, OH – Apr.1923-Jul. 1925.
16 Dayton – Miami Valley Inventors and Inventions
17 Miscellaneous items and documents
18 Naval Aviation, 1920-1929.
19 Northrop P-61
20 Certificate, FAA Approval and drawings of the Hartzell Anti-Overspeed Kit for the
Hughes Helicopter Model 269C.
SERIES VII: Files beginning with the letters “P,” “S,” “T” and “V” – Including Photographs
File 21 Piqua Area Chamber of Commerce
22 PHOTOGRAPHS: Twenty 8 x 10 black/white photographs of the process of
producing a four blade walnut propeller from pictures of the Hartzell general office to the arrival of walnut logs by train, to cutting the logs, creating the laminate rough propellers to the finishing and packing the propellers for shipment.
23 PHOTOGRAPHS: Twenty 5 x 7 black/white photographs of the process of
producing a four blade walnut propeller from pictures of the Hartzell general office to the arrival of walnut logs by train, to cutting the logs, creating the laminate rough propellers to the finishing and packing the propellers for shipment.
24 PHOTOGRAPHS: Photographs and copies of photographs of propellers, propeller
parts and damaged propellers
25 PHOTOGRAPHS: Piqua Airport – photographs of the dedication of the
improvements and hard surface runway at the Piqua Airport, c. 1959.
26 PHOTOGRAPHS: photos of test equipment, propeller test stand and metal
reinforced propeller blades.
BOX 4
File 1 PHOTOGRAPHS: 3 ½ x 5 black/white factory photographs – 23 photos
2 PHOTOGRAPHS: photographs of the Hartzell F,C.-1 and F.C.-2 airplanes.
3 PHOTOGRAPHS: copies of early airplane photographs and airplane accidents.
4 Miscellaneous Hartzell photographs
5 Propellers – fixed pitch wood propeller specifications and data.
6 Snap-O-Matic propeller manual.
7 Sensenich Aircraft Propellers
8 Data from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
9 Test Club
10 Vimy Aircraft Project – Vimy Propellers Repaired at Ipswich
SERIES VIII: Files beginning with the letter “W.”
File 11 Waco Aircraft
12 Wooden Propellers by other manufacturers from the 1920’s to Vietnam era.
13 Wright Brothers
14 Wright Brothers Aeroplane Co.
15 Wright “B” Flyer Agreement between the Wright Brothers and the Signal Corps, U.S.
Army dated February 10, 1918.
16 Wright Field – The move from McCook to Wright Field and “Aerofiles” Wright Field,
P-1 to P-199, aircraft test, their serial numbers, type and the disposition of the aircraft.
17 Wright Pat Data – location of propeller information at Wright Patterson AFB.
18 “What Dreams We Have: The Wright Brothers and Their Hometown of Dayton,
Ohio” – this is Chapter 11 in Aviation in the Miami Valley.
19 The History of Aviation Collections in the Wright State University Archives and
Special Collections – a list of their holdings with brief descriptions.
SERIES IX: Special Newspaper Articles from the Piqua Daily Call
File 20 Special article in the “Piqua’s Bicentennial 1807-2007” section on Saturday, March
24, 2007 – “Diversity, innovation serve Hartzell well,” article written by Tom Millhouse.
21 Special article on the enshrinement ceremonies for the National Aviation Hall of
Fame, Class of 2015, written by Mike Ullery for the Saturday, October 10, 2015 edition of the Daily Call. During these ceremonies, Robert N. Hartzell was enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame.