John Jay Ide

Background

John Jay was born on June 26, 1892 at Narragansett Pier, Rhode Island, United States. The son of George Elmore Ide, a rear admiral in the United States Navy, and Alexandra Louise Bruen.

Education

Ide attended private schools in New York City, graduating from the Browning School for Boys in 1909. He received a Certificate of Architecture at Columbia University in 1913 and did one year of postgraduate study at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris.

Career

Ide worked as an architect with Harrie T. Lindeberg in New York City, 1916-1917, and during the winter of 1920-1921. In 1917, Ide joined the Naval Reserve Flying Corps and later went on to head the Technical Data Section (Aircraft) in the Bureau of Construction and Repair. He spent the summer of 1920 in Europe on assignment from the Office of Naval Intelligence to assess aeronautical developments in England, France, Belgium, and Italy. Ide returned briefly to architecture following his release from the Navy in September 1920, but his interest in aviation proved irresistible.

When the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) - created by Congress in 1915 to coordinate, promote, and conduct scientific research into all phases of aeronautics - sought a replacement for their technical representative in Europe, Ide was selected for the expertise he had acquired. Attached in 1921 to the American embassy in Paris, Ide proved ideal for the post. He was a consummate diplomat, managing to appease the military attachés who had secured the recall of his predecessor while at the same time he replaced them as the primary source of information for technical developments in European aviation.

Ide traveled all over Europe, visiting aeronautical research facilities, touring aircraft and engine factories, made publications for NACA. "I consider these documents, " wrote aeronautical expert Edward P. Warner in 1923, "the most important of any descriptive material which ever came to my desk. " An acknowledged expert in his field, he delivered in 1935 the James Jackson Cabot lecture at Norwich University on "International Aeronautical Organizations and the Control of Air Navigation. "

Ide returned to the United States. Recalled to active duty with the navy in November 1940, Ide took charge of the Foreign Intelligence Branch in the Bureau of Aeronautics. From 1943 to 1945 he served on the staff of the commander of the United States Naval Forces in Europe as a technical air intelligence officer. His final military assignment, as captain, was Assistant Naval Attaché for Air at the embassy in London from August 1945 to November 1946.

Ide's interest in the international aspects of aviation continued during the postwar period. He served in 1947 as a delegate to the Anglo-American Air Conference, and he held the post of vice-president of the International Aeronautic Federation in 1948-1950. Ide was reappointed NACA technical representative in Europe in 1949. Although he resigned the following year, Ide remained a consultant to NACA until 1958. Ide devoted his last years to the history of architecture, publishing a number of articles on the subject.

He died in New York City.

Achievements

• John Jay Ide was an influencial aeronautical consultant, who served as a bridge between the American and European aeronautical communities for nearly twenty years. He purchased foreign equipment and publications for NACA, thus NACA technical reports, not otherwise available for foreign distribution, reached Europe through Ide. In turn, he kept NACA and other interested agencies apprised of the latest foreign advances. His reports circulated widely, and they were highly appreciated. In addition to gathering technological intelligence, Ide often represented the United States at conferences for the formulation of laws and regulations to govern international civil aviation.

Connections

John Jay married Dora Browning Donner, member of an affluent Philadelphia family, on February 12, 1940. Their church marriage took place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at Presbyterian Church.

They had no children.

Father:

George Elmore Ide

Mother:

Alexandra Louise Bruen

Spouse:

Dora Browning Donner

Great-great-grandfather:

John Jay

coworker:

Harrie T. Lindeberg

References

• Model Research the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics 1915-1958 Volume 2