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C. Townsend Ludington papers, 1910-1978

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Ludington, C.T. (Charles Townsend), 1896-1968
Title
C. Townsend Ludington papers
Dates
1910-1978 (inclusive)
Quantity
26.02 cubic ft. (31 boxes)
Collection Number
12625
Summary
C. Townsend Ludington was an aviation pioneer. Collection contains business records and professional and personal files regarding his aviation career, boating interests, and family.
Repository
American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming
American Heritage Center
University of Wyoming
1000 E. University Ave.
Dept. 3924
Laramie, WY
82071
Telephone: 3077663756
ahcref@uwyo.edu
Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions on the materials for research purposes, and the collection is open to the public.

Languages
English
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Historical Note

C. Townsend Ludington was an aviation pioneer. His aviation career began when he taught flying at the U.S. Naval Air Station in San Diego during WWI. After the war Ludington was interested in the emerging field of commercial flight and boating. He began pursuing these interests by barnstorming and manufacturing speed boats. In 1930, Ludington and his brother Nicholas started a flying service called Ludington Airlines. It was based out of Philadelphia and provided hourly plane service between the major east coast cities. By 1933 the airline merged with Eastern Air Transport, the precursor to Eastern Airlines. Before WWII Ludington joined up with Roger Griswold and they made one of the first wind tunnels to test wing design and other aviation developments. Throughout the War they continued contract work including supersonic designs for the Air Force and the development of a two-person training glider for the Navy. Ludington retired from active business in 1943 and began writing about aviation for various aviation journals and wrote "Smoke Streams: Visualized Air Flow", used as a basic textbook on aerodynamics. He was also the founder and first president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and founder and associate director of the aviation wing of the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.

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Content Description

Collection contains business records and professional and personal files that include correspondence, financial records, legal documents, drawings, reports, research notes and articles, manuscripts, photographs, photo albums, scrapbooks, slides, and films regarding Ludington’s aviation career, boating interests, and his family.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

Copyright Information

The researcher assumes full responsibility for observing all copyright, property, and libel laws as they apply.

Restrictions on Use

Statement on Potentially Harmful Language and Images Found in Collections

The American Heritage Center aspires to approach all areas of our work in ways that are respectful to those who create, use, and are represented in our collections. For a variety of reasons, however, users may encounter offensive or harmful language or images in some of our finding aids, catalogs, and collection materials.

Note that the AHC does not censor or alter contents of the collections as they provide context and evidence of a time, people, place, or event. Therefore, we encourage users to bring questions and concerns about descriptions in our finding aids to our attention via email or anonymous web-form. For more information, read our full statement.

Preferred Citation

Item Description, Box Number, Folder Number, Collection Name, Collection Number, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

Alternative Forms Available

Existence and Location of Copies

Digital reproductions of select material from this collection are available at https://digitalcollections.uwyo.edu/luna/servlet/uwydbuwy~159~159.

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Administrative Information

Related Materials

There are no known other archival collections created by C. Townsend Ludington at the date of processing.

Acquisition Information

This material was received from Charles Ludington (son) in July 2015 and Jim Moffett in January 2023.

Processing Note

The collection was processed by Jamie J. Greene in June 2016 and updated in December 2024.

Films were digitized by Kathy Gerlach in June 2016.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Container List

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Aeronautics -- Research
  • Aeronautics, Commercial -- United States
  • Air pilots
  • Aircraft industry
  • Boats and boating
  • Gliders (Aeronautics)
  • Wind tunnels

Corporate Names

  • Ludington Airlines

Form or Genre Terms

  • Correspondence
  • Manuscripts for publication
  • Motion pictures (visual works)
  • Photographs

Processed by Jamie J. Greene

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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