Photo Album - The Foundation
- Air Mail Pioneers
- MacCracken and the Aeronautics Branch
- Safety Certification Begins
- Building the Airways
- Airway Communications
- Aeronautics Branch Aircraft
- Vidal and the Bureau of Air Commerce
Vidal and the Bureau of Air Commerce
The third head of the Aeronautics Branch, Eugene L. Vidal, is flanked by President Franklin D. Roosevelt (left) and Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace (right). The photograph was taken in 1933 at the President's favored spa in Warm Springs, Ga.
During Vidal's tenure, the Aeronautics Branch was renamed the Bureau of Air Commerce on July 1, 1934. The new name more accurately reflected the status of the organization within the Department of Commerce. The Bureau remained aviation's safety regulator until the creation of the Civil Aeronautics Authority in 1938.
