Diaries, flight logs, correspondence, printed matter, photographs, business papers, maps, VHS tapes and memorabilia of the American aviator relating to commercial aviation in the United States and China before World War II. Includes other family papers and collected material on aviation history.

An American aviator, Ernest M. Allison was active in the early days of American aviation, where he was one of the first to fly routes with the US Air Mail service from 1918 to 1927. Allison moved to China in 1929 to serve the China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC), where he flew mail routes, helped establish and expand the airfield at Shanghai, and oversaw the expansion of CNAC into a commercial passenger line under Pan-American Airways, eventually serving as a vice president of CNAC. He flew important missions, including delivering supplies, flying Soong May-Ling (Madame Chiang Kai-Shek) into Shanghai, and flying Chiang Kai-Shek and Soong May-Ling back to Xi'an after the Xi'an Incident of 1936. Allison was well acquainted with important figures in aviation such as Charles Lindbergh, Claire Lee Channault, Clement M. Keys, William Langhorne Bond, and Harold M. Bixby. Allison returned to the United States after the Communist victory in China and worked in aviation in various capacities, including for Boeing in Seattle.

38 manuscript boxes, 4 card file boxes, 3 oversize boxes, 1 cubic foot box, 1 AV tray, 1 oversize folder, digital media (24.23 Linear Feet)

For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Boxes 9, 47, and OCM2 may not be used without permission of the Archivist. The remainder of the collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.