4 cu ft
Call No. SQ-FI-17-SU-RE-D
IRIS No. 126157-126225, 1016639
Major General. USAF, 1917-1954.
Born in Pine Valley, UT. BS, Utah Agricultural College, 1914; MS, MIT, 1928. Air Service Communications School, 1921; Air Corps Engineering School, 1927; Air Corps Tactical School, 1933. Commissioned Second Lieutenant, Aviation Section, Signal Officer Reserve Corps, November 1917. Career assignments include: various duties as company grade officer, 1917-1928; Chief, Aerodynamics Unit, Experimental Engineering Section, HQ Materiel Division, 1928-1930; Assistant Commandant, Air Corps Engineering School, 1930-1932; Assistant Chief, Engineering Section, HQ Materiel Division, 1941-1942; Commanding General, Army Air Forces Proving Ground Command, 1942-1945; Deputy to Chairman, US Strategic Bombing Survey, HQ USAAF, 1945-1946; Special Assistant to Secretary of Air Force, 1947-1948; successively Director of Installations, 1948-1949, and Chairman, Base Development Board, 1949-1950; Deputy Chief of Staff, Materiel, HQ USAF; Commandant, USAF Institute of Technology, 1950-1951; Chairman, Joint Air Defense Board, HQ USAF, 1951-1954. Retired August 1954. Died in Phoenix, AZ.
Personal and official papers relating to Gardner's military career. Includes personal correspondence (1954-1971) pertaining to his post-retirement activities and interest in various issues, especially those pertaining to space. Contains official correspondence (1918-1947) including materials on aircraft design developments, Air Corps Engineering School, navigation devices and techniques, creation of Air Corps Board, establishment of Air Proving Ground, and Gardner's command of AAF Proving Ground Command. Also includes comments on testing of various aircraft and weapons at Eglin Field (1942-1945), particularly B-29 armament. Also includes copies of official studies, memoranda and reports on various aspects of aircraft design and aerodynamics, manpower requirements in World War II, cold weather test facilities, and airborne troops. Contains other official correspondence (1947-1954) including materials on the B-50, base development, and housing shortages for Air Force personnel in the early 1950s. Also includes diaries as Assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force (1947-1950) and as Commandant, HQ USAF Institute of Technology (1950-1951). Includes articles by Garner on various technical subjects, as well as his collection of clippings and articles by others relating to navigation, atomic weapons, fluid mechanics and space physics. Includes some copies of his personnel and military flight records.
Related materials located in the USAF Museum, Wright-Patterson AFB,OH include Gardner's patent file.