Obituary of Charles Harvard Gibbs-Smith

Charles Gibbs-Smith (1901–81) was an aeronautical historian and during WWII was Director of the Photographic Division of the Ministry of Information. He joined the Victoria & Albert Museum in 1932 as an Assistant Keeper responsible for the photographic collections. In 1947 he became Keeper of the Department of Public Relations, arranging exhibitions and writing on a wide variety of topics.

From The Times, 7 December 1981

Noted aeronautical historian
Mr Charles Gibbs-Smith, the aeronautical historian and Keeper Emeritus of the Victoria and Albert Museum, died on 3 December at the age of 72.

Born in Teddington on March 22, 1909, of a medical family, Charles Harvard Gibbs-Smith attended Westminster School and then went to the family university, Harvard, where he took an MA in 1932. After graduating he joined the Victoria & Albert Museum as an Assistant Keeper. He was responsible for the photographic collections and in 1939 arranged the important Photographic Centenary Exhibition.

During the Second World War he was seconded to the Ministry of Information, becoming Director of the Photographic Division in 1945.

He became an instructor in aircraft recognition in the Royal Observer Corps and this led to his life-long interest in aviation and particularly in the history of the subject.

Returning to the Victoria & Albert Museum, he became Keeper of the Department of Public Relations in 1947, arranging exhibitions and writing on a wide variety of topics from the Bayeux Tapestry to the Great Exhibiton of 1851. His work on the Danish Exhibition in 1948 led the Danish Government to appoint him to the Order of the Dannebrog.

As a relaxation he embarked on his researches in aeronautical history and wrote a number of books for the Science Museum. He became the recognised authority on the early development of flying in Europe and America and in 1962 the Royal Aeronautical Society recognised his work with the award of an Honorary Companionship. His staunch championing of the pre-eminence of the Wright Brothers led to controversy with other writers, but his works set new standards of historical accuracy and insight in a field much cumbered with hearsay and myth.

After retiring from the Victoria & Albert Museum, he cemented his relations with the Science Museum by accepting a Research Fellowship there in 1976. His international reputation then led the Smithsonian Institution to appoint him as the first Lindbergh Professor of Aerospace History at the National Air & Space Museum in Washington in 1978. He returned to the Science Museum after a year in the United States, but sadly his health declined and he never really recovered his vigour.

His enthusiasm was unbounded for any subject which attracted his interest and he stoutly defended his beliefs in parapsychology, flying saucers and ghosts among more sceptical colleagues. He was always generous in his relationships with all members of the staff of the Museums and indeed with all his wide range of friends who will miss him deeply.

Reproduced with kind permission of The Times
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