Dohm, John Personal Papers Finding Guide SDASM.SC .10037

Alan Renga
San Diego Air and Space Museum Library and Archives
12/14/2015
2001 Pan American Plaza, Balboa Park
San Diego 92101
SERIES I: Newspaper and Magazine clippings SERIES II: Manuscripts SERIES III: Maps SERIES IV: Photographs SERIES V: Scrapbooks SERIES VI: Certificate


Language of Material: English
Contributing Institution: San Diego Air and Space Museum Library and Archives
Title: John Dohm Personal Papers
source: Dohm, John
Identifier/Call Number: SDASM.SC .10037
Physical Description: .2 Cubic Feet One archive box which contains 5 folders. 12.25” x 10.25” x 2.5”
Date (bulk): bulk
Abstract: John Dohm worked with TWA and Pan American Airlines as a Navigator. He also was an instructor in the Army Air Corps.

Scope and Contents

This collection is a combination of memorabilia from three different family members: John Dohm, his wife Rachel Zweng Dohm, and his father-in-law, Charles Zweng. One archive box (12.25”x10.25”x2.5”) contains 5 folders with magazine articles, manuscripts, flight maps, newspaper clippings, and photographs from 1940s to 1980s that had belonged to John Dohm.
One oversize box (20.75”x16.75”x3”) contains one photo album that had belonged to Rachel Zweng Dohm, two scrapbooks that had belonged to Charles Zweng, as well as one photographic portrait and one “shellback” certificate that both had belonged to John Dohm.

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open to researchers by appointment

Conditions Governing Use

Some copyright may be reserved. Consult with the library director for more information.

Preferred Citation

Please credit the San Diego Air and Space Museum's Library and Archives

Biographical / Historical

John Dohm was born on September 5, 1916 in Bloomington, Illinois; the son of Louis and Gertrude Killian Dohm. He graduated from Trinity High School in Bloomington, and attended Illinois State University.
He was an author, navigator for TWA, aviation consultant, editor, and Technical Director of Pan American Navigation Service. Dohm also served with Air Transport command during WWII as a navigator.
Dohm married Rachel Zweng, of Glendale, California in 1940 with a small ceremony of only friends and family. Shortly after their honeymoon, they lived at 853 West North Street, in Decatur, Illinois. Rachel’s father, Charles A. Zweng, was a recognized authority on air navigation and former instructor in the U.S. Army Air Corps. He was also the founder and director of the Pan American Navigation Service in North Hollywood, California.
John Dohm died in Cambridge, England on August 11, 1986 while attending a summer session at Cambridge University.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The materials in this collection were donated to the San Diego Air and Space Museum.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Trans World Airlines
Pan American World Airways, Inc.
World War, 1939-1945
Dohm, John

 

Box 1 of 2

 

Folder 1 – Newspaper Clippings & Press Releases

Physical Description: 1. S.C. Publisher Earns Award, article about Pan American Navigation Service Inc. with unknown author (no date). 2. John Dohm to Address Flying Club, article about John Dohm’s visit to the Icarian Flying Club with unknown author (no date). 3. How Time Flies, excerpt celebrating one of John Dohm’s flights (unknown author), November 17, 1982. 4. Flying Club to Hear Pole Pilot, article about one of John Dohm’s flights (unknown author), August 12, 1959. 5. How Time Flies, excerpt celebrating on of John Dohm’s flights (unknown author), November 17, 1982. 6. “Views in the Valley”, news column about John Dohm, by Charles Page, August 10, 1959. 7. Plane Built in Santa Monica Claims Record, article about the PacAero Learstar’s transpolar flight to Germany (no author or date). 8. Plane Built in Santa Monica Claims Record, article about the PacAero Learstar’s transpolar flight to Germany (no author or date). 9. Entertains New Mexico Guest, photograph of Rachel Zweng, August 3, 1934. 10. “Lear’s L-102 Autopilot Flies First Twin-Engine Plane on Transpolar Route”, news release from Lear Incorporated, November 12, 1957. 11. Green “Press” ribbon pin. 12. Three copies of “PacAero Learstar Sets Business Aircraft Record” from Charlotte De Armond for Pacific Airmotive Corporation.
 

Folder 2 – Magazine Articles

Physical Description: Check Flight” packet of articles about the PacAero Learstar, July 1958. 2. “Learstars” advertisement for the PacAero Learstar, January 1958. 3. First Learstar Makes Transpolar Flight, by Lloyd Walker, April 1958. 4. PacAero Learstar Sets Aircraft Record, from Aero Trading Post, April 1958. 5. “First business plane flies polar route with B.F. Goodrich De-Icers” advertisement for B.F. Goodrich De-Icers, April 21, 1958.
 

Folder 3 – Manuscripts

Physical Description: 1. Oliver Pestle and the Bloody Angels, by John Dohm (no date). 2. Twenty Years with the Wrong Adverb, by John Dohm with edits in pencil (no date). 3. Short story about an aircraft workers’ strike under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s administration with edits (no date). 4. “First Broadcast: Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street, February 11, 1940”, by John Dohm, 1941. 5. The Affair of the Mammounia, by John Dohm with edits in pencil (no date). 6. A Season in Morocco, by John Dohm (no date). 7. An Introduction to Henry George, by John Dohm with edits in pencil (no date). 8. A Season in Morocco, by John Dohm with edits in pencil and pen (no date). 9. Evening Song, by John Dohm with pencil edits and an address (no date). 10. A Daydream poem by unknown author (no date).
 

Folder 4 – Flight Map/Plans

Physical Description: 1. Flight plan and log from Frobisher to Dusseldorf, November 8, 1957. 2. Flight plan and log from “SMO” to “CYFB”, November 8, 1957. 3. Aircraft position chart for the North Atlantic used for trip from Frobisher Bay to Dusseldorf, November 8, 1957. 4. U.S. Air Force aeronautical planning chart used for trip from Santa Monica to Frobisher Bay, November 8, 1957.
 

Folder 5 – Photographs

Physical Description: Folder contains twenty photographs of a Learstar “D-COCA” plane, with a letter from Harry Graybill of Lear, Inc., c. 1956. 1. Letter to John Dohm from Harry G. Graybill describing the photographs, July 24, 1956 (signed in ink).
 

Box 2 of 2 (Oversized)

Physical Description: 1. One oversized photographic portrait of John Dohm. 2. One small photo album that belonged to Rachel Zweng Dohm.
 

Scrapbooks

Physical Description: Two large scrapbooks that belonged to Charles A. Zweng containing correspondence, newspaper clippings, and photographs.
 

Certificate

Physical Description: One “shell back” certificate issued to John Dohm, Nov. 21, 1942.