National Air and Space Museum Archives Division,Fairchild Industries, Inc. Collection
Fairchild Finding Aid.pdf
http://www.nasm.si.edu/research/arch/findaids/findaid_index.cfm?list=web_002.txt

Fairchild Industries, Inc. Collection
Acc. 1989-0060, 1990-0047

[Box 62]
Folder 8    Armalite AR-10 rifle, data, press release, magazine
Folder 9    Armalite AR-15 rifle, photographs

[Box 63]
Folder 1    Armalite 1960––data on company, booklet (2 copies)
Folder 3    Report on 1954 Operations of Armalite, booklet
Folder 4    The Armalite Pack-in Stock, booklet
Folder 5    Armalite outline of proposed activity for 1957, booklet
Folder 6    AR-5 Rifle, booklet
Folder 7    Armalite advertisements, press releases
Folder 8    Armalite AR-10 rifle, booklet

[Box 352]
Folder 4    F-27, FH-227, C-119F and C-119G, C-123B and C-123J, and C-82 pamphlets, aircraft
               history pamphlets, Armalite Rifle Manual, a Fairchild Guard Manual and Fairchild
               Stratos air and space craft component identification cards

[Box 363]
Folder 2    Armalite AR-10 Light Weight Basic Infantry Weapon, presentation packet, ca. 1950’s

[Box 416]
Folder 6    Armalite AR-12, photographs
Folder 7    Armalite AR-15, Automatic Rifle Operation Instructions
Folder 8    Fairchild Armalite Division 1957 Report and 1958 prospectus

[Box 479]
Folder 5    Richard Schley Boutelle file on Armalite AR-10, correspondence
Folder 6    Richard Schley Boutelle file on the Armalite AR-10, correspondence, articles and
                photographs
Folder 7    Armalite AR-10 Infantry Rifle, brochures

[Box 532]
Folder 17  Armalite Division, AR-7 and AR-10 fact sheet and photographs

[Box 574]
Folder 9    AR-15 rifle, Instructions for the Operation of the Colt Armalite AR-15 Automatic Rifle
                Caliber .223” by Colt Armalite, brochure, articles and photographs.

"Folder 6 Richard Schley Boutelle file on the Armalite AR-10, correspondence, articles and
photographs"

Can one of this be the one of Richard Boutelle with the Ar-10?

Mechanix Illustrated,Apr, 1957

Popular Mechanics Mar 1957


Can this one be one of the Ar-10 photos,it comes from ArmaLite (the same one was used in Guns magazine),it as the number 103
in its lower left corner,if it is in the same collection we have found the motherload.

OK, so let's not duplicate efforts here and offend the archivists at the NASM.  Which of us will take point and request access to all documents related to the AR-10 rifle, the Armalite division or firearms manufacturing utilizing aircraft materials between, say, 1952 and 1962?
We only need one of us to get copies of the materials then make copies available for anyone else who wants them.

If no one else has already started the process, I'm willing.
Of course, if we have someone in the DC area with free weekdays, in-person searching of the collection could be the way to go.  (It's about 3 hrs from here––I could probably find a day or two to get down there in the spring.)

The collections are being moved from where they were at the Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration, and Storage Facility in Suitland, MD to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center out near Dulles Airport in VA.  They are not currently accessible and probably won't be until sometime in the spring (the NASM Archives website doesn't have a specific date for when the move is to be completed and the collections will be available again).  I'm perfectly willing to make a field trip out there once they are.  There were other things in the Fairchild collection I'd be interested at looking at that aren't Armalite related as it is.

It looks like one of the boxes may hold the operating instructions for the original AR-15s. That, along with the photos could be a major find. Short of gaining access to an original rifle, it may hold the kind of information the "prototype" crowd has been on the hunt for.

Smithsonian Videohistory Collection

"Collection Division 1: Stoner

In Sessions One through Five, Ezell interviewed Eugene Morrison Stoner, inventor of the U.S. Army's standard issue rifle, the M16/A-2, on his approach to weapon design between 1955 and 1988. Stoner's emphasis on lightweight, rapid-firing rifles conflicted with the Army's traditional interest in long-range, highly accurate small arms. Over time Stoner has extended his innovations to ammunition and ordnance design. Session Six consisted of visual documentation of Stoner's company, ARES Incorporated.

Stoner was born in Gasport, Indiana, in 1922. After graduating from high school in Long Beach, California, he installed armament equipment for Vega Aircraft Company. During World War II he enlisted in the Aviation Ordnance section of the U.S. Marine Corps. In late 1945 he began working in the machine shop for Whittaker, an aircraft equipment company, and ultimately became a Design Engineer. In the mid-1950s Stoner was hired as the Chief of Engineering for the Armalite Division of the Fairchild Engine and Aircraft Corporation where he developed the prototypes for the M16 automatic rifle. Since then he has developed over one hundred patents in the ordnance field for four companies, including ARES Incorporated, which he co-founded in 1971. Having retired from ARES in 1989, Stoner continues to consult with company engineers on design and fabrication innovations.

Video Sessions

Session One (April 19, 1988), at ARES, Inc., Port Clinton, Ohio, featured Eugene Stoner describing his career in small arms design, c. 1950-1975, including:

   his engineering training, and association with ArmaLite;
   AR10 and AR15 automatic rifles as prototypes of M16;
   resistance to the M16 by the Ordnance Corps and the Army;
   concept behind and components of Stoner 63 weapon system;
   concept behind and components of ARES Light Machine Gun;
   engineering requirements and trends in small arms design;
   individual creativity in weapon design.

Visual documentation included:

   AR10, AR15, M16/A-1, M16/A-2 automatic rifles;
   Stoner 63 weapon system;
   ARES Light Machine Gun.

Original Masters: 8 Beta videotapes
Dubbing Masters: 3 U-Matic videotapes
Reference Copies: 2 VHS videotapes
Transcript: 57 pages
2 hours, 40 minutes

Session Two (April 20, 1988), ARES, Inc., featured Stoner discussing the formation and designs of ARES, c. 1972-1988, including:

   research on rates of fire for small arms;
   ARES's origins in 1972;
   development of an externally powered machine gun;
   development and components of Light Machine Gun;
   Stoner's and the U.S. government's approach to weapon development;
   shortcomings in training of American engineers;
   telescoped ammunition;
   Advanced Individual Weapon System (AIWS);
   comparison of traditional weapon testing and combat conditions.

Visual documentation included:

   ARES Light Machine Gun and components;
   small arms telescoped ammunition;
   diagram of AIWS prototype.

Original Masters: 5 Beta videotapes
Dubbing Masters: 2 U-Matic videotapes
Reference Copies: 1 VHS videotapes
Transcript: 40 pages
1 hour, 40 minutes

Session Three (April 20, 1988), on the proving grounds of ARES, featured Stoner and Ezell firing, and discussing, Stoner's Light Machine Gun and the M16/A-2 automatic rifle, including:

   LMG's and M16's recoil and rate of fire;
   ARES' facilities for testing weaponry.

Visual documentation included:

   LMG and M16/A-2 in operation.

Original Masters: 1 Beta videotape
Dubbing Masters: 1 U-Matic videotapes
Reference Copies: 1 VHS videotape
Transcript: 5 pages
20 minutes

Session Four (April 20, 1988), at ARES, Inc., featured Ezell narrating visual documentation of Stoner's recent weapon design work, including:

   diagrams and photographs of 35-mm, 75-mm and 90-mm cannons;
   20- to 105-mm telescoped ammunition.

Original Masters: 1 Beta videotape
Dubbing Masters: 1 U-Matic videotape
Reference Copies: 1 VHS videotape
Transcript: 3 pages
20 minutes

Session Five (April 21, 1988), on the factory floor at ARES, featured Stoner discussing the various medium and heavy cannon ARES has developed, c. 1975-1988, including:

   35- and 75-mm automatic cannons;
   differences in small arms and cannon design;
   innovations in Stoner's ordnance and ammunition designs;
   interaction of physical laws, military clientele, and the budget.

Visual documentation included:

   35- and 75-mm cannons and components;
   telescoped cannon ammunition.

Original Masters: 3 Beta videotapes
Dubbing Masters: 1 U-Matic videotape
Reference Copies: 1 VHS videotape
Transcript: 21 pages
1 hour

Session Six (April 21, 1988), on the factory floor and grounds of ARES, consisted of unnarrated visual documentation, including:

   155-mm cannon;
   grounds and landscape seen from ARES observation tower;
   numeric-controlled machine tools in operation.

Original Masters: 2 Beta videotapes
Dubbing Masters: 1 U-Matic videotape
Reference Copies: 1 VHS videotape
Transcript: 3 pages
40 minutes "
http://siarchives.si.edu/research/videohistory_catalog9532.html

Fairchild Aircraft Corporation
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?q=Fairchild+Aircraft+Corporation&sp=1

The Library of Congress American Memory photos

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/pnp/
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/pnp/yan/
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/pnp/yan/
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/pnp/yan/1a39000/1a39000/

Damn. Moving a little further from me instead of closer–– I disapprove!

This retro gig is an exercise in patience, but why does it seem we have to wait for EVERYTHING?
OK, spring will be here soon...well, sooner or later, at least.

Fairchild Aircraft executive Richard S. Boutelle