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I encourage buyers to right-click on the photos and conduct Google searches to find matching images of this letterhead.
This letter has the signature of a very important pioneer in aerospace on rare US Air Force letterhead. This letterhead was used between April 1, 1961 and May 15, 1964.
Please read the historical background for the letterhead. It is given for the buyer to understand the narrow time frame that this letterhead was used. I continue to search for another example of the letterhead and will post a photo if I find an example.
This is my personal letter from Dee O\'Hara, the nurse for the Mercury astronauts. After a fourth grade classmate, Cathy, visited her brother who was at Patrick Air Force Base (PAFB), Cathy brought back pictures. Our class wrote letters to Dee O\'Hara.
Rare Letterhead: Air Force Missile Test Center with Atlantic Missile Range Logo:
In May, 1958 the Florida Missile Test Range was renamed the Atlantic Missile Range which is shown on the letter\'s logo.The letterhead is unique to the Air Force Missile Test Center. (It was renamed the Eastern Test Range on May 15, 1964.)
The US Air Force renamed the \"Air Research and Development Command\" on April 1, 1961 to \"Air Force Systems Command\" which means this letterhead was used between April 1, 1961 and May 15, 1964.
After days of research, I was able to find other examples of the logo, but not another image of the letterhead. Examples of the \"Atlantic Missile Range, Cape Canaveral\" logo:
- 1. The closest use of the logo on stationary is a photo of a News Release with the logo on the upper left side. (see photo)
- 2. The Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum website in the archived copies of \"The MISSILEER\". The Missileer was \"An Air Force Systems Command Newspaper\" for military and civilian personnel assigned to Patrick Air Force Base and the Cape Canaveral launch facilities. The first issue of the Missileer to use this logo was published September 29, 1961. (see photo)
- 3. A 1962 Press Kit. (see photo)
- 4. A folder that contained Press Kit Items. (see photo)
- 5. A vintage map of the Atlantic Missile Range from 1963. (see photo)
- 6. Air Force Missile Test Center Air Force Systems Command Booklet (see photo)
- 7. 1962 USAF Missiles and Men Booklet (see photo)
Dolores B. \"Dee\" O\'Hara\'s Background:
In 1956, Dee O\'Hara graduated from the Providence Hospital School of Nursing in Portland, Oregon. After graduation, from 1956 - 1957 she completed coursework in Operating Room Technique at the University of Oregon. Dee worked as a surgical nurse at the University of Oregon Medical School. Then, because of back problems, she moved on to work with three diagnosticians in Portland, Oregon, and learned how to do lab work and X-rays. A roommate convinced her to join the US Air Force.
In May 1959, after completing her officers\' training, Dee O\'Hara was commissioned as a second lieutenant and assigned to Patrick Air Force Base (PAFB). In November 1959, she was assigned by the Air Force to be the flight nurse for the Mercury astronauts. (It should be noted that NASA did not want a nurse for the astronauts, but Colonel George Knauf, Center Commander of PAFB wanted the astronauts to have a nurse.) Dee O\'Hara was the nurse for all of the astronauts in the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs. After Skylab, she was also invited to participate in the Apollo-Soyuz Test Program (ASTP) and the first shuttle flight in 1981.
Dee O\'Hara did not resign from the US Air Force until 1964. (That explains why US Air Force, not NASA, stationary was used for my letter.) Dee moved to Houston to set up the Flight Medicine Clinic at the Manned Spacecraft Center. She was the Occupational Health Nurse until 1967. Between 1967 and 1971, she was Manager of the Preventive Medicine Office. Between 1971 and 1974, O\'Hara was the manager of the Medical Operations Division in the Flight Medicine Branch. In 1974, O\'Hara made a lateral transfer to the Ames Research Center where she managed the Human Research Facility until her retirement in 1997.
I have searched the National Archives and the Cape Canaveral Space Museum resources in addition to online image searches, but cannot find another copy of the letterhead. This letter may be one of a kind by surviving the past sixty-four years.If you have questions, or would like additional photos, please message me. All sales are final.
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