Naval History and Heritage Command

Finding aid (Word)

Scope and Content Note

Captain Paolo E. Coletta, Professor of History at the United States Naval Academy, donated these papers to the Naval Historical Center (now the Naval History and Heritage Command) in 1985. They were used as reference for Captain Coletta's biography on Vice Admiral Bellinger. The originals are held at the National Personnel Records center in St. Louis, Missouri. The collection is arranged in five series. The first section consists of official correspondence from 1903 to 1962. This contains memorandums, travel requests, medical forms and other information regarding Admiral Bellinger's naval career. The second series contains personal correspondence. The third series contains Admiral Bellinger's orders, change of duty and temporary duty documents from 1911-1947. The fourth series consists of various awards, citations, and commendations. The documents are arranged in chronological order. The fifth series in this collection contains a series of memoirs written by Admiral Bellinger with the intention of publishing an autobiography as well as a history of the first 50 years of U.S. Naval Aviation entitled "Sailors in the Sky," which was published in National Geographic, August 1961, p. 276-296. The autobiographical account is in draft form, divided in sections by years.

Preferred Citation

This collection should be cited as Papers of Vice Admiral Patrick N.L. Bellinger, Archives Branch, Naval History and Heritage Command, Washington, D.C.

Subject Headings (LCSH)

United States. Navy--History--Sources.
United States. Navy--Aviation.
World War, 1939-1945.