California Historical Society Collection, 1860-1960

Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce Collection 1890-1960

Technician balancing Hughes Aircraft Company's "Digitair", the first airborne digital computer, ca.1950

(USC DC Image)

Technician balancing Hughes Aircraft Company's "Digitair", the first airborne digital computer, ca.1950

Loading details...

You do not have the permission to view Original image

Photograph of Hughes Aircraft Company's "Digitair", the first airborne digital computer, ca.1950. A man in a lab coat and santitation hat looks through a magnifying lens set on his glasses as he tinkers with a spherical computer.; Photoprint reads "Up in the Air this Brain is on Firm Ground. In a dust-free assembly area of El Segundo, California plant this technician balances memory drum of Hughes Aircraft Company's Digitair, first airborne digital computer to go into actual production, as it rotates on jets of air. Computer will see service in Air Force all-weather jet interceptors, fly them automatically through entire supersonic combat from take-off to touchdown, freeing the pilot for tactical decisions".

Asset Metadata

Title Technician balancing Hughes Aircraft Company's "Digitair", the first airborne digital computer, ca.1950

Subject Aeronautics (lcsh), Aircraft industry (lcsh), Computers (lcsh), Hughes Aircraft Company (subject), industrial sites (adlf), Industry -- Aeronautics -- General (file heading)

Tags OAI-PMH Harvest

Place California (states), El Segundo (city or populated place), Los Angeles (counties), USA (countries)

Temporal Subject 1950

Type images

Format 1 photograph : photoprint, b&w ; 26 x 21 cm. (aacr2), photographic prints (aat), photographs (aat)

Source California Historical Society (contributing entity), California Historical Society Collection, 1860-1960 (collection), Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce Collection, 1890-1960 (subcollection)

Date Created 1950

Publisher University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Repository Email specol@lib.usc.edu

Repository Name USC Libraries Special Collections

Repository Location Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189

Rights Public Domain. Please credit both “University of Southern California. Libraries” and “California Historical Society” as the source. Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Library.

Copyright Public Domain. Please credit both “University of Southern California. Libraries” and “California Historical Society” as the source. Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Library.

Access Conditions Send requests to address or e-mail given

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/chs-m10977

Identifier 40598 (accession number), CHS-40598 (call number), CHS-40598 (filename), chs-m825 (legacy collection record id), chs-c65-18898 (legacy record id), chs-m10977 (legacy record id), USC-2-1-1-11128 (legacy record id), USC (project), R 55092 (unidentified no.)

IIIF ID [Document.IIIFV3ID]

DM Record ID 18898

Unique identifier UC135918

Legacy Identifier CHS-40598.tiff

Type Image

Internet Media Type image/tiff

Resolution 16.3 in × 20.7 in at 300dpi
41.6 cm × 52.7 cm at 300dpi

Inherited Values

Title Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce Collection 1890-1960

Description The more than 3,600 unique photographs of this collection document the Chamber's promotional efforts during the city's early years. In addition to stock photographs, there are pictures of the elaborate booths and displays that the Chamber prepared for use at state fairs and international trade shows. The photographic collection contains images showing the growth of important municipal enterprises, such as ground transportation systems, aviation, and shipping. In addition there are about 1,000 lantern slides in this collection -- not yet fully digitized.

Date Created 1860/1960

Linked assets

Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce Collection 1890-1960

Conceptually similar

Woman with Hughes Aircraft Company's manufactured silicon semiconductors, ca.1950

An aerial view of Hughes Aircraft Manufacturing Plant, ca.1950

Unfinished planes at Kinner Aircraft Company's plant, ca.1930

Technicians of the Lockheed Corporation's Missile Systems Division, ca.1950

An exterior view of Axelson Aircraft Engine Company, ca.1930

Timm Aircraft Company manufacturing plant, ca.1930

RW-30 digital airborne computer, completely transistorized, showing subminiaturized packaging techniques and silicon circuitry, ca.1955

View of the Hughes Aircraft Plant in Playa del Rey, June 1941

Large banner hanging on the side of the Douglas Aircraft Company plant in Long Beach during World War Two, 1943

Vultee Aircraft Company's plant, showing a production line of U.S. Army Air Corps Valiant Basic Trainers (BT-13's), ca.1940-1945

Lockheed aircrafts assembly line, ca.1950

Technicians at work at the Lockheed Corporation's Missile Systems Division, ca.1950

Interior of the Northrop Corporation's Plant, showing the "missile mission" simulator, ca.1950

Assembling of a DC-3/C-47 aircraft, ca.1940

Busy unidentified aircraft assembly line, ca.1940

Men attending to a large propeller on an aircraft assembly line, ca.1940

Aircraft assembly line, after 1950

Aerial view of the Douglas Skyrocket research aircraft over Muroc Dry Lake, November, 1949

An unidentified aircraft assembly manufacturing factory assembly line, showing F-80 airplanes, ca.1945-1950

Technician testing a connection in the internal wiring of a Burroughs 205 Electronic Digital Computer, 1950-1960

Similar tones

View images with similar tones