1953 Flight Test Engineering Manual AFTR 6273 — Edwards AFB — Douglas Flight Test Director's Personal Copy
ITEM OVERVIEW
Original May 1951 (Corrected and Revised January 1953) edition of Air Force Technical Report No. 6273: Flight Test Engineering Manual, by Major Russel M. Herrington and Captain Paul E. Shoemacher. Issued by the Air Force Flight Test Center, Air Research and Development Command, Edwards Air Force Base, California.
This was the foundational data-reduction handbook of the early jet age — the working reference used by flight test engineers during the era of the X-plane programs at Edwards. This is the scarce original 1950s comb-bound printing, NOT the common 1960s revised handbook or the modern reprint. Striking original orange cover with a delta-wing aircraft graphic bearing tail number 6682 — matching the Convair XF-92A (serial 46-682), America's first delta-wing jet.
PROVENANCE — A ONE-OF-A-KIND ASSOCIATION COPY
Signed "J.P. Hann" twice: in pencil on the title page and in ink on the official recipient's distribution form. This was the personal working copy of John P. Hann, who went on to serve as Director of Flight & Laboratory Testing for the Douglas Aircraft Company (McDonnell Douglas) at the Long Beach, California facility. No other known copy carries this direct, documented link to Southern California flight test leadership — the Edwards "bible" owned by an engineer who spent his career living it.
Hann's professional archive (Congressional correspondence, Society of Experimental Test Pilots material, DC-10 rollout program, and more) is offered in a separate listing — see my other items. Combined deal available on both.
CONDITION REPORT
• Binding: original plastic comb binding intact and functional
• Pages: appears complete; heavy page block with numerous charts, graphs, and computational tables; light toning consistent with age
• Markings: signed by J.P. Hann on title page (pencil) and recipient sheet (ink) as noted; honest handling wear to covers consistent with a working engineer's reference copy
• Please review all photos, which form part of the description
From a Los Angeles collection. Carefully packed and shipped with tracking, or local pickup Playa del Rey / LAX area.
