Minutes, AIAA History TC Quarterly Meeting, 10 June 2014
1. Bill Barry chaired the History TC quarterly meeting telecom
and calling in were: John Blanton, Kevin Burns, Mike Lavelle,
Cam Martin, Virginie Rollin, Dave Whalen, and Pete Young.
2. The major discussion item was organizing plans and papers
for a NACA Centennial presentation at SciTech 2015 scheduled
for early January 2015 in Kissimee FL.
- Bill Barry is putting together summaries of NACA publications,
monographs, insignias, and histories.
- Dave Whalen suggested two papers: the first by Simine Short
and the second prepared by the Archives Panel. Dave will
work details with Bill offline.
- Bill made an urgent request for additional relevant papers from the
History TC. Individuals should contact Bill directly, ASAP, if
they can prepare topics for presentation.
3. There is a pending July 1 deadline for nominations for History
TC-sponsored book awards, including the AIAA History Manuscript
Award, the Gardner-Lasser Historical Literature Award, and
the Children's Literature Awards. For more details on the nomination
process, contact Carol Stewart at , 703-264-7623.
4. Kevin Burns urged all the TC members to visit the TC website often and to use
the website as a central location to conduct TC business - minutes, exchange of ideas, articles
of historical interest, etc. Every member should be able to login using their regular AIAA
login ID and password; if any difficulties are encountered, contact Kevin at
and he'll provide assistance. All History TC members should have full read/write permissions for
the website and be able to contribute to its upkeep. The website uses SharePoint and is readily
edited with new content by using easy intuitive dropdown menus.
The basic website address is https://info.aiaa.org/tac/ETMG/HISTC/default.aspx and the Blog pages
can be reached by clicking on the menu on the left side.
5. <Bill - the following item was difficult to hear so my summary needs cross checks and
corrections>. Bill brought up that regarding recent conference attendance limitations imposed by the
GAO, progress is being made to mitigate the cost and conflict-of-interest issues. The Air
Force Academy would like to make presentations on their "best practices" at the upcoming SciTech
2015 as their previously scheduled presentations couldn't be made at the last SciTech.
6. Pete Young brought up that as part of a 3-day symposium marking the Centennial of MIT's
Aero-Astro Department, a full day will be devoted for an Apollo astronaut reunion and presentations.
Those who have indicated their intentions to attend include Walt Cunningham, Charlie Duke, Jim
Lovell, Ed Mitchell, Jack Schmitt, and Rusty Schweickart. Invitations were also sent out to
all other living Apollo astronauts, including Apollo-Soyuz missions, and Space Shuttle astronauts.
Updates are being posted on http://aeroastro.mit.edu/aeroastro100
7. New business:
- Bill Barry mentioned that, related to NACA's Centennial, he and Roger Launius are planning
a formal presentation at the Smithsonian A&S Museum March 3, 2015, during which NACA's
insignia will be formally handed over to the Museum's permanent historical collection. Bill and
Roger are also working with the NASA Advisory Committee to coordinate further activities to
mark this historical occasion.
- The Experimental Aircraft Association has approved Bill's proposal to make a presentation
at this summer's EAA Oshkosh event on NACA's influence on design engineering in the
homebuilt aircraft community. Cam Martin offered to assist if NASA travel funding approval
becomes an issue.
Peter Young
10 June 2014