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Correspondence archive of aeronautical engineer Stuart C. Plummer, who championed the advancement of airships as viable sources of American transportation in the wake of the Hindenburg disaster in Lakehurst, New Jersey, on May 6, 1937. In his efforts to support the industry, Plummer wrote to figureheads like Vice Admiral Charles E. Rosendahl, commander of the Naval Air Station at Lakehurst, and Hugo Eckener, manager of Luftschiffbau Zeppelin aircraft manufacturing company. Rosendahl is represented in the archive with a total of nine TLSs signed “C. E. Rosendahl,” dated between April 29, 1935, and March 21, 1938, all typed on his personal U.S. Naval Air Station (Lakehurst) letterhead, and Eckener is represented with a TLS signed “Eckener,” from June 11, 1939, roughly three months before the start of World War II. Eckener’s reply, in part: “With regard to the drawings and informations that you would like to have from me for your further studies, I am afraid not being able to comply with your wish. It is under the present circumstances very difficult to get the permission for sending abroad drawings for any constructions, even if those serve for entirely peaceful purposes, and I do not know whether and when we should ever receive such permission for drawings and statements about our airships.”
The nine letters from Rosendahl relate to Plummer’s various inquiries on airship development, speaking engagements, and potential visits to the Lakehurst Air Station. Notable passages include:
September 18, 1935: “Authority for boarding the LZ-129 will have to be obtained from the German authorities. When the ship comes here we, of course, will merely act in the capacity of providing terminal facilities and will have no jurisdiction over such matters as granting authority to go on board. At the present time it is not at all certain when the LZ-129 will come to the United States.”
August 12, 1936: “I regret to advise you that I shall not be on the station on August 22 since I am leaving on the HINDENBURG on the 19th and will not return to Lakehurst again until late in September.”
December 13, 1937: “I regret to say that I am not at all sure that it will be practicable for me to resume speaking engagements as early as January 12…I have another engagement in Princeton on January 13, and consequently I do not feel at all able to take two so close together. However, some of our other officers do go out and make similar talks and it might be possible for me to arrange for one of them to take the engagement.”
January 19, 1938: “The airship situation is still so unsettled that I hesitate to make any definite commitments such as for speaking dates, etc. It is not at all impossible that there may be developments in the very near future and consequently until the situation is cleared up, I do not feel justified in promising to come to Bristol.”
Also included are TLSs from White House secretaries James Roosevelt and Marvin H. McIntyre, both promising to deliver Plummer’s airship views to Franklin D. Roosevelt, five letters from Captain Garland Fulton, one of the U.S. Navy's leading proponents of lighter-than-air flight, two TLSs from Francis Reichelderfer, the chief meteorologist at Lakehurst, and two letters from Captain Cornelius Van Santvoord (C. V. S.) Knox, the naval aviator of airships, assembly and repair officer at NAS Lakehurst. Additionally, the archive features three oversized matte-finish photographs of airships, including Sam Shere’s famed image of the LZ 129 Hindenburg exploding with flame at Lakehurst. In overall very good to fine condition, with damage to mounts of the three photos, not affecting the photos themselves. Accompanied by an abundance of Plummer’s personal effects, letters, and engineering documents.
