Annual Meeting, Scitech 2017, Pecos 2 Conference Room, Gaylord Texan, Grapevine, Texas

AIAA History TC

9 January 2017

Annual Meeting, SciTech 2017, Pecos 2 Conference Room, Gaylord Texan, Grapevine, Texas

Minutes

The meeting was interactive via telecom and WebEx, and opened with greetings and introductions at 4:30pm (CST). Dr. Hallion asked Kevin Burns to take the minutes for this meeting.

Attendance:

·  At the physical meeting in Texas

o  Richard Hallion

o  Cam Martin

o  Walter Gordon

o  Fernando Manuel da Silva Pereira dos Neves

o  John Blanton

o  Vergine Rollin

o  Julian Tiskoff

o  John Tylko

·  By Telecon:

o  Benjamin Davis

o  Kevin Burns

o  Roger Launius

o  David Loda

Secretary/Treasurer’s report

·  Secretary - Reading of the last minutes – The attached minutes from 16 March 2016 were reviewed. Bill Barry moved for approval, and they were approved by the committee.

·  Secretary – Correspondence – There was no correspondence to review.

·  Treasurer – It was noted that the committee has $9,000 in the TC account. It was reported that according to the TAC, all our accounts are in order with no discrepancies. It was noted, that the reason for the good report, is that we have not spent any funds in many years. All funding is requested through Betty Gullie, and that if any items or projects are to be funded by the TC, the paperwork and request forms can be obtained from her.

Steering Committee Report

·  The Chair asked about the Steering Subcommittee in the past, and it was noted that there was none for many years. He stated that he is forming a Steering Subcommittee and that its first order of business will be to review the History TC Charter. The Steering Subcommittee will be made-up of the TC Chair, Vice-chair, Secretary/Treasurer, and those others that may be appointed.

Membership Report

·  The Chair asked about the Membership Subcommittee in the past, and it was noted that there was none for many years. Kevin Burns stated that he had actively recruited new members and tried to insure that eligible committee members were submitted for membership upgrade over the last few years.

·  The Chair asked Cam Martin to be the Secretary/Treasurer, and he accepted.

·  The Committee approved the appointment of Cam Martin as Secretary/Treasurer.

·  Kevin Burns nominated Julian Tiskoff to the position of Vice-Chair/Chair Elect for the 2017-2018 term. In this position, he would be the Vice-chair under the second year of Richard Hallion’s Chairmanship, and would then be the TC Chair for 2018-2020. The nomination was accepted.

·  It was noted that the nominations for this position will remain open until 1 March, and that the election will take place at the 14 March 2017 meeting. The election winners will take office in May 2017 as the Vice-chair/Chair-elect, and will automatically be the Chair the year following.

·  The Chair asked Kevin Burns to chair the Membership subcommittee, and he accepted.

Conferences and Sessions

·  Future Conference Activities
What conferences do we want to participate in over the next two years.

o  SciTech 2018 (Orlando) – Richard Hallion, Chair
Dick Hallion confirmed that he will be chairing the History Track at SciTech 2018 which will be held in Orlando. He is looking for members to submit abstracts before the closing date.

o  SciTech 2019 (San Diego) – Kevin Burns, Chair
Kevin Burns is currently recruiting papers for the following topics and is open to any abstracts regardless of category. He is hoping to organize four to six paper sessions and perhaps one panel session.

§  History of Wind Tunnels

§  History of Rotary Wing Vehicles

§  Centennial Events

§  Local and Regional History

§  History of the AIAA

§  General Aviation History

§  General Space History

§  Cinema and Aerospace

o  SciTech 2020 (Orlando) – By this time next year, we hope to have a TC member volunteer as the Track Chair for this event.

o  Other Conferences? (Aviation, Space, etc.)

§  Aviation 2017 (Denver) – John Tylko suggested that we might try and get some papers in the Aviation Conference being held in Denver this June. Kevin Burns noted that the abstract deadline closed for that conference back in 27 October 2016. John said that we might be able to get a paper in the Green Engineering session. Dick Hallion suggested that John Tylko look into the possibility, and suggested that we focus on the SciTech Conference in Orlando.

o  General Conference Planning Discussion

§  Kevin Burns brought up the opinion that in order to do a proper job of organizing a History Track or session at a conference, the planning needs to start two years in advance. Dick Hallion heartily agreed, and suggested that the committee adapt this practice. Kevin Burns is also pushing the AIAA HQ to start conference planning two years in advance.

·  Report of Past and Present Conferences

o  SciTech 2017
Richard Hallion reported that this morning’s history session was a huge hit. We had never less than 80 people in a room designed for 72, and sometimes had up to 100, for over three hours. All the papers were presented and finished on time, and the panel discussion was so intense and interesting that people stayed an additional 20-min until 12:50 p.m. The History Track was made-up of 4 papers in a session, and a panel session.

·  The Chair asked John Tylko to chair the Conferences and Sessions subcommittee, and he accepted.

Communications and Publications

·  The Chair asked about the Communications Subcommittee in the past, and there was no response.

·  Publication of Minutes (History TC website) – It was noted that what few minutes were taken in the past were posted in the “Minutes” folder on the History TC website.

·  “History Highlights” article for December Issue of Aerospace America – It was noted that this article was submitted and published in the last Aerospace America and that it will be due again on 1 September 2017.

·  History TC informational brochure – There were a number of questions asked about this. Kevin Burns responded that it was brought-up because it was listed in the Charter as a task for the Publications and Communications Subcommittee. Others asked the value of it, and no one responded. It was motioned to be tabled and to be discussed by the Steering Subcommittee as they review the Charter.

·  History TC Website / Newsletter – It was noted that although there is quite a bit of content on the website it is highly under-utilized. One member stated that it is very difficult to use. Kevin Burns noted that the AIAA HQ stated that the entire SharePoint website will be replaced with something easier to use; but then, they have said that and put up something different every few years and it never gets any easier. Kevin also opinioned that with a little time on the website, it is not that difficult. The Chair asked if anyone thought that the website was of any use, and a number of members agreed that it was.

o  There was some question about social media such as the History TC Facebook page. Cam Martin stated that it was a means of retransmitting informational announcements to the members. The Chair noted that there was a lot of direction and concern for these pages by the AIAA HQ and that there has been new directives concerning these websites. John Tylko said that he will coordinate with the AIAA Social Media Coordinator (Hannah Thoreson; 703-264-7521; ) to insure that we comply.

·  Historic Sites

o  “Dutch Flats” in San Diego (Kevin Burns) – It was reported that the AIAA Historic Aerospace Sites (HAS) plaque for Dutch Flats (where Lindberg’s plane was built) was mounted in the Main Post Office across from the Marine Corps Recruiting Depot in 2001, and that the facility has been closed-down and the operations moved to North San Diego. Kevin stated that he has contacted the Post Office facilities manager to try and find out what happened to the plaque and what will be done with it. The facilities manager seemed hostile that anyone would even ask, and stated that once it was mounted, it became the property of the Post Office. The facilities manager stated that he might try and have it mounted somewhere in the new airport, and Kevin agreed that it would be an ideal location; but has not gotten any response since. Cam Martin stated that there was a video of all three plaques (Sons of the American Revolution, San Diego Air and Space Museum, and AIAA) at https://archive.org/details/Charles_Lindbergh_Dutch_Flats_Plaque_At_The_San_Diego_Post_Office_Location_23Aug#maincontent. He also suggested that Kevin contact Congressman Scott Peters of the 52nd Congressional District in his San Diego Office to request the plaque status via a Congressional District Caseworker. Kevin said that he would do that.

o  “Brainard Municipal Airport” in Hartford (David Loda) – David said that he is still working on the AIAA historic site designation package for the Brainard Municipal Airport in Hartford CT and hopes to submit something in the spring. The Hartford Jet Center is very interested and supportive in this designation. He further explained that the State of CT Legislature's completed a review of a recent study to close it for development. Along with the Hartford Jet Center FBO, David has been very active in the effort to educate the staffers which resulted in the 95 page report recommending it remain open as an airport and expanded. A number of historical contexts were also cited, which we had made them aware of (oldest municipal airport in the nation, links to Frederick Rentschler and Pratt & Whitney, Emelia Earhart, Howard Hughes/Katherine Hepburn, first ever nylon parachute test - done by a female pilot during WWII, etc.) A major remodeling of the terminal building and reopening of the adjacent restaurant (The Flying Monkey) in a 1930s aviation theme have added to the airport, which does a number of corporate jet and helicopter flights in addition to Lifestar State Police and private flying. David reported that he will be organizing the 96th anniversary air show event this June, and that last year he appeared at the 95th as Frederick Rentschler on horseback. The Chair, Richard Hallion, noted a number of other historic events that took place at that location, and David said that he would look into them.

o  The Chair suggested that if the committee needed to, we could use our funding to create the brass plaques. It was noted that the most expensive part of doing that was to create the first casting. Kevin Burns noted that this has been a point of contention with the AIAA HQ for a number of years, and that Tom Crouch was going to look into it.

·  Recommendations of historical publications to the national publications committee – The Chair asked about any relevance that this might have. Kevin Burns stated that it was directly from the History TC Charter, but believed that it referred to the committee members being aware of new manuscripts and suggesting the AIAA as a source of publication for them. The Chair asked that all committee members be on the look-out for any opportunities for the AIAA Technical Publications unit and to forward possible authors to AIAA HQ (Roger Williams, Managing Director of Technical Publications, 703-264-7560, ).

Education

·  National Education Programs – the STEM programs was discussed and how it fits into the AIAA’s national education program.

·  Biographies – It was asked what the biographies were about. It was stated that the Charter suggested that the History TC publish biographies of those who contributed greatly to the profession. Kevin Burns also noted that a few years ago, the AIAA HQ suggested that the History TC might write-up short biographies of each of the past presidents of the AIAA. There is a complete listing of the past presidents, there is a photograph in the files for each, there are a number of biographies that are already done, but they were looking for help in completing the series so that they could be published on the AIAA website.

·  Aerospace History curriculum – Discussed and tabled

·  Reference materials for teaching – Discussed and tabled

·  Historical Information Handouts Discussed and tabled

·  Museums

It was decided that the programs and responsibilities of the Education Subcommittee would be discussed in the Steering Committee as they review the Charter for possible updating. It was noted that much of this section was out of date and that there was absolutely no mention of STEM or the Educator Associate programs.

Honors and Awards

·  History Manuscript Award – It was noted that Layne Karafantis, Museum Curator for Modern Military Aircraft at the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum, won this award for the manuscript: "Under Control: Constructing the Nerve Centers of the Cold War" and that it would be presented at the Thursday Recognition Luncheon (12 January) at the SciTech Conference.

·  Gardner-Lasser Aerospace History Literature Award – It was noted that Dr John M Logsdon of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University won this award for the book "After Apollo: Richard Nixon and the American Space Program"

·  Children’s Literature Award – It was noted that Andrea Beaty, Children's Author; won this award for the book: “Rosie Revere Engineer” and that it would be presented at the Thursday Recognition Luncheon (12 January) at the SciTech Conference.