October 9th, 1943 –81 years ago. Collins Employee, Pvt. Denver Baxter, was Killed In Action.
October 10th, 1933 –91 years ago. The newly organized (in Iowa) Collins Radio Co. held its first Board of directors meeting in the 2920 1st Avenue headquarters.
The Collins Story YouTube Channel
by: Larry Tjaden
posted: March 25, 2024
Five AACLA documentaries are now available for watching on our YouTube Channel: "The Collins Story".
Enjoy … and give us a "LIKE"!
• "WW II Production, Defending Liberty", a story about Collins' manufacturing contribution during the war and our coveted five-star Army-Navy E-Award Flag. —13:34 min
• "A Culture of Innovation" chronicling Arthur Collins' boyhood mastery of amateur radio and the founding of his multinational corporation. —23:38 min
• Our Award Winning Videos:
- "Steps To The Moon" —1:12:23 min
- "Moon Talk" —35:27 min
- "Live From The Moon" —54:41 min
The Collins Aerospace Museum is always looking for interesting artifacts to add to its collection.
Is your basement presently harboring a mysterious piece of electronics, perhaps an engineering model of an early product? Did a family member ask you to store a black box saying, "Keep this - someday it may be of interest to a Museum?" If so, contact our Interim Museum Curator, Rod Blocksome with a description of your treasure. Send an email here.
History behind our Museum’s 30W
by: Larry Tjaden
posted: December 4, 2016
In 1965, CQ Magazine published an article, set in Summer 1932, about a ham radio operator visiting Arthur Collins’ Radio Factory to, potentially, purchase a new 30W transmitter.
You probably guessed, the story is describing the provenance of our Museum’s oldest artifact - possibly one of Arthur’s first 30W sales.
read the article.
Collecting Stories
Behind the Scene at Rockwell Collins
by: Larry Tjaden
posted: July 5, 2012
We have begun an effort to capture all of those interesting company-related stories that you’ve been telling each other - but haven’t written down yet.
Terry Lamb has stepped up and entered the first one. Thanks Terry!
Click the link at the bottom of this story to find the stories page. If you wish, you can get started on your story by selecting "0n-line" or "Down-load a Form".
If you choose on-line, you will be able to review and re-edit your input.
Remember, your story will be reviewed by our editor before it will appear in the collection. Read Stories
Cornelis (Coen) van der Linden
by: Larry
posted: September 18, 2024
19xx-2024
Members of the Arthur A. Collins Legacy Association are saddened by the passing of our Association's Treasurer, Coen van der Linden.
Coen was a Treasurer par excellence in that he solved the complexities of Government forms for a 501(c)(3) organization.
Coen was an Aeronautical engineer with a Masters degree from the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and worked at Collins Aerospace since 1997 as a flight control expert and flight test engineer. Later, he was a test director on the KC-135. The KC-135 System Integration Laboratory has been officially renamed "Coen SIL".
Two scholarships are being established at Kirkwood Community College. Both for an outstanding student in Aeronautical Engineering and one for the Aircraft Mechanics Program.
He will be greatly missed.
Mike Wilson
by: Larry
posted: September 10, 2024
1924-2024
The Museum Volunteers, Docents and members of the Arthur A. Collins Legacy Association are saddened by the passing of Myron (Mike) Wilson.
Mike will certainly be missed by all of us in the AACLA and by so many in the Cedar Rapids area. He loved this community very much!
Mike was instrumental in creating the Arthur A. Collins Legacy Association and served as a Director for the last ten years.
We're sure he is happy to be reunited with Esther.
These Annual Reports contain a wealth of historic information about our company - perfect for fellow historians to pursue...
Arthur's "Report to Shareholders" provides the reader with accomplishments from each preceding year that, sometimes, we didn't have previous knowledge of.
I just uploaded fifteen issues of the publication, Rockwell International CONTACT.
Take a look HERE.
If you happen to have an issue not included here - drop me a line.
Note: we have not indexed this publication yet...
Missing Publication Issues
Interested in Helping?
by: Larry Tjaden
posted: November 4, 2022
Here are lists of missing issues for:
Collins Column - We have every issue published.
Collins Signal - We got 'em all.
Collins Pulse Rockwell Pride - There must be a bunch missing...
Rockwell News Rockwell Vision - We think we have all five.
Collins Personnel Services - We have all but October 1976.
Rockwell Collins Millennium - We have the complete set.
Rockwell Collins Horizons - We got 'em all.
Magazine Search Feature
Search All Magazines...
by: Larry Tjaden
posted: June 28, 2022
We have added a tool for searching our Magazine collection.
Now you can search ALL issues, of MOST* magazines, from one page! Go there and give it a try.
Included are: Eight publications, consisting of 476 Issues, containing around 7,025 pages. There are over 77,841 Indexing Entries to search from.
* The Rockwell News is paginated differently than the others … sorry 'bout that.
150B Transmitter
Back in the Museum
by: Larry
posted: April 10, 2019
Retiree and Friend of the Museum, Larry Pinkston, has completed a special project to restore a Collins 150B Transmitter.
We have reason to believe that this unit was Arthur Collins’ prototype for the 150A/B product line.
We have created a BLOG-like page to follow his progress.
History of the Dallas Division
by: Larry Tjaden
posted: March 5, 2016
Compiled by retiree, John Estill, this document presents a brief history of our Dallas Division’s beginning in 1951 - under the Collins Radio Co. and continuing to today’s operations as Collins Aerospace.
It is a large file so give it a moment to load…
click to read
Bond Traveled in Style
by: Larry Tjaden
posted: May 13, 2015
This image submitted by retiree, Gene Dooley - a frame captured from the United Artists’ movie Goldfinger.
we're thinking the VHF Comm antenna is a 37R-2.
The aircraft is a Lockheed JetStar L-329.
In the Fall 1959 issue of Collins Signal a $1 million contract was noted with Lockheed to outfit their new JetStar - the "first business jet aircraft".
More 'product cameos' at the TheCollinsStory.Org site.
Collins History
1971 Film, Narrated by Rod Sterling
by: Larry Tjaden
posted: April 7, 2015
Recently posted by the Texas Archive of the Moving Image (TAMI), this 20-minute film contributed by Don Stokes, is an interesting reminder of the breadth of diversification the Collins Radio Co. and Collins under Rockwell International had achieved by 1971.
Rockwell Collins employees of today will be interested in the number of products our fore-bearers built this company upon.
Don Stokes is a Dallas area film producer and member of the Dallas Film Society.
A 22-minute overview of the first ten years of Collins Radio. Introduces Art Collins, the radio landscape of the late 1920’s and early 1930’s, then reviews five pre-war Collins transmitters.
Produced by WA9MZU (now K6GLH) in 1998 for the Collins Collectors Association Convention in Dallas as part of J.B. Jenkins’, W5EU, presentation on the early history of Collins Radio.
We have been working with the FUEL company for several months to cook-up a new AACLA web site.
John Allen, and his team, have contributed a lot of expertise to create a more up-to-date web experience for our readers…
The site has a little about the AACLA and a little about the Collins Aerospace Museum.
Lately, we have been providing a growing number of tours - especially for employee groups.
We thought it was time to publish a photo walk-through of the Museum's newest rooms.
September 22 will mark 30 years since our last Anniversary celebration - and the dedication of the capsule located by the Duck Pond.
more/less
…an excerpt from Rockwell News, September 1993
"Each of the employees honored at the Open House contributed an item representing their time at Collins to be encased in a time capsule, which was dedicated at the event.
The capsule will include items from each department within CCA and CACD and be buried on Sept. 22 - 60 years from the founding date of Collins Radio Company - in the grove of trees near the duck pond.
It will be opened in the year 2033 on the company's 100th anniversary."
Read more on the contents of the capsule on Page 4 of the October 1993 issue of Rockwell News.
- TRIVIA QUIZ -
by: Larry
posted: January 2, 2023
We're thinking you might enjoy a short Trivia Quiz...
Our first one features our founder, Arthur Collins, with questions pertaining to his life before, and after founding, the Collins Radio Company.
It’s time to fire up the Way Back Machine and take another trip down memory lane… Back when the Inventory Disposal Store had cool stuff for sale.
How many store locations do you remember?
Larry Pinkston, and myself, have begun the restoration of the Museum’s StarShip Avionics System.
We have gotten past the initial power application tests - with just enough smoke to remind passers-by that Engineers are at work.
At this writing, about half of the instruments are working - but are only displaying static screens.
In a few months we hope to have a new artifact to show during Museum tours - maybe like the photo above.
Tail Fin Art
by: Larry Tjaden
posted: March 8, 2018
The folks at Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA are using select dignitaries to decorate their fleet. This Boeing 787 DreamLiner notes our founder as an “American Radio Communications Pioneer”.
I placed a short article over at the The Collins Story site.
New Artifact
"Mint Condition" 30FX
by: Larry Tjaden
posted: January 25, 2018
This 1934 30FX Transmitter was owned and operated by J.B. Jenkins (W5EU), retired Collins Radio Engineer from the Richardson, TX facility.
J.B. passed away on September 20, 2017 and specified that this part of his collection be gifted to the Collins Aerospace Museum by his son-in-law Mark Reel.
Arthur’s company started pretty small. Is any of your loved-ones listed here?
view the list.
Young Arthur’s Ham Shack
by: Larry Tjaden
posted: August 29, 2015
Ever wonder who Arthur was QSOing with back in 1925 as a young amateur radio operator?
How about them QSLs on his ham shack wall?
Take a look at this page where we make our best attempt to identify the owners of the Call Signs.
Collins Farms Company Bulletin
A Clue to Arthur’s Success
by: Larry Tjaden
posted: June 11, 2015
We have just uploaded a copy of the 1930 Collins Farms Company Bulletin. Excerpts from this document have appeared in Ben Stearns’ book: Arthur Collins Radio Wizard and in our anniversary publication: The First 50 Years.
Here is your chance to read the entire document.
Merle Collins, and his farming company, were waaaay ahead of their time!