Fonds LAW - Bill Law fonds

Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

Bill Law fonds

General material designation

    Parallel title

    Other title information

    Title statements of responsibility

    Title notes

    Level of description

    Fonds

    Reference code

    CA ON00420 LAW

    Edition area

    Edition statement

    Edition statement of responsibility

    Class of material specific details area

    Statement of scale (cartographic)

    Statement of projection (cartographic)

    Statement of coordinates (cartographic)

    Statement of scale (architectural)

    Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

    Dates of creation area

    Date(s)

    • 1930, 1951-1972, 1992 (Creation)
      Creator
      Law, Bill

    Physical description area

    Physical description

    1.28 m of textual records and technical drawings

    Publisher's series area

    Title proper of publisher's series

    Parallel titles of publisher's series

    Other title information of publisher's series

    Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series

    Numbering within publisher's series

    Note on publisher's series

    Archival description area

    Name of creator

    (unknown)

    Biographical history

    William Law is an Aviation Engineer who first acquired his private pilot’s license in 1947. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Queen’s University in 1950. He began his career at Spartan Air Service also in 1950. He was eventually promoted to Manager, Research and Engineering Division, where he was responsible for modifying aircraft for Spartan’s aerial surveys. In 1957 he moved to de Havilland Aircraft of Canada as Special Projects and Senior Research Engineer. His three areas of focus at de Havilland were: the measurement and analysis of aircraft noise; the design and testing of wind tunnel and ditching models; and, the design of high flotation undercarriages and the operation of aircraft from unprepared terrain. Law moved to the Ontario Ministry of Transport in 1972 where he was Chief, Civil Aeronautics Research and Special Projects. He was responsible for research and investigation in support of planning and development of the civil air transportation system in Ontario. It seems as though Law retired in 1976, but continued to work as a consultant for the Ministry through his company Bill Law Consulting Services. He was employed by the Ministry of Transportation as Principal Aviation Engineer, providing expertise for the Minister’s evaluation of major federal aviation initiatives that would have an impact on the province.

    Custodial history

    Donated to the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum in 1992.

    Scope and content

    The fonds consists of Law’s files on the design of oversize tires for operations from unprepared terrain. Law investigated the use of these tires on J-3, Beaver, Otter, Twin Otter, Caribou and Buffalo aircraft. The files include correspondence, reports, technical drawings, and notes on the investigations and research Law undertook while at De Havilland, especially when he was working with Weldy Phipps on the further application of his design of oversize tires. The fonds is arranged into three series: LAW-1 Curriculum vitae and miscellaneous documents; LAW-2 deHavilland (and some Phipps) files; and, LAW-3 Weldy Phipps Studies (Oversize Tires).

    Notes area

    Physical condition

    The records are in relatively good condition. Technical drawings are folded into the files and may be fragile. They should be unfolded with care. Most drawings are blueline prints and have yellowed or faded. Some documents are thermal copies that have darkened over time. Further preventative preservation work (rehousing) is needed.

    Immediate source of acquisition

    Arrangement

    The original arrangement of the donor has been maintained with the exception of the creation of series LAW-1. The documents and drawings in this series were added to the boxes in 1992 at the time of donation or were loose outside the numbered files. In the original file list provided by the donor, series LAW-2 and LAW-3 were called Section A and Section B. There is a large gap in the numbering of the files which skip from file 41 to file 100. It is assumed that Law did not donate his files 42 to 99 because they were related to other matters.

    Language of material

      Script of material

        Location of originals

        Availability of other formats

        Restrictions on access

        Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

        Finding aids

        The original file list provided by donor is available upon request.

        Associated materials

        Related materials

        Accruals

        General note

        Related Materials: The CASM Archives also preserves a collection of aerial photography from Spartan Air Service.

        Alternative identifier(s)

        Standard number

        Standard number

        Access points

        Place access points

        Genre access points

        Control area

        Description record identifier

        Institution identifier

        Rules or conventions

        Status

        Level of detail

        Dates of creation, revision and deletion

        Written and entered by Adele Torrance, 2018. French editing by Céline Mongeau, Larocque Linguistic Services, 2018-10.

        Language of description

          Script of description

            Sources

            Accession area