The museum library includes an extensive collection of aviation related books, photographs, Curtis-Wright engine manuals, and a massive aviation scrapbook collection. The library is available for research projects by appointment. The museum maintains a large collection of archival collection for research and makes available its resources. This library contains over 3,500 reference books.
For access please call (201)288-6344
History Highlights:
New Jersey:
On January 9, 1793, French balloonist Jean-Pierre Blanchard ascended from Philadelphia, flew across the Delaware River, and landed in Deptford, NJ. The Western Hemisphere’s first flight took 45 minutes and covered 15 miles.
1922 – The world’s largest airplane, the Barling Bomber, was constructed at Teterboro Airport by the Wittemann brothers.
1927 – Charles Lindbergh flew solo across the Atlantic in the Spirit of St Louis powered by NJ-built engine a Whirlwind. Two weeks later, Clarence Chamberlin in a Wright-Bianea built in Princeton, flew to Germany by a Whirlwind. A month later, Richard Byrd and a crew of three used a NJ-built Fokker Triplane to fly to France.
1932 – Amelia Earhart prepares for her solo transatlantic flight at Teterboro
1937 – German zeppelin Hindenburg explodes at Lakehurst Naval Air Station.
1942-1945 – World War II: General Motor’s Eastern Aircraft Division built 13,500 Grumman fighter planes at Linden and Trenton plants. The Curtiss-Wright Corp. built 281,164 engines and 146,468 electric propellers in plants in six North Jersey locations.
1968 – Walter M. Schirra of Oradell becomes the only astronaut to fly in all three 1960s spacecraft, Mercury, Gemini and Apollo.
1984 – Astronaut Kathryn Sullivan, a Paterson native, was the first American woman to walk in space.