Manuscript Group 430 PAUL KNEPPER COLLECTION 1941-1942, 1990
1.8 cubic feet
Paul Knepper, of Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, began working with airplanes at an early
age, earning his pilot's license at the age of 16. Before graduating from high
school, Knepper helped barnstorming pilots, 1928-1930; later completed an apprenticeship
as a mechanic at Hometown Airport and Hazelton Airport, 1930-1935; and worked
as a pilot, mechanic, and field manager at Schuykill Airport, 1935-1936. Knepper
worked at Douglas Aircraft Corporation in California from 1936 to 1938 when he
accepted a position as Assistant Instructor at Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics.
He was appointed Head Instructor several months later and while at the Institute
he drew the plans for his new plane, the KA-1 Crusader. In 1941 he established
a factory in Lehighton, Pennsylvania to market his plane commercially but with
the advent of World War II, commercial aviation ceased and factory workers found
jobs in war industries. Knepper became supervisor of the NYA and National Defense
Training School at the Airport, and joined the Civil Air Patrol for anti-submarine
missions off Suffolk County, Long Island, New York. The effort to produce the
KA-1 commercially was never revived.
Fifty years after the war, a group of pilots and mechanics who helped to build
the plane in 1940 secured approval from Knepper's widow to restore the KA-1 Crusader.
They began work in the fall of 1989 and completed the plane one year later. The
aircraft and papers describing its history were donated to the State Museum in
memory of Paul Knepper. All records relate to the construction and restoration
of aircrafts built by Paul Knepper.
The collection includes:
Blueprints and Negatives (1941, 1942)
Cassette
Newsclippings (1941)
Photographs and Plans (1990) of the Knepper Aircraft KA-1
Video tapes (two)
As of October 2009, this collection remains unprocessed.
General Files, 1941, 1942, 1990. (1 carton, 1 box) {#430m.1}