Robert B. Meyer

Robert B. Meyer Jr. was an aviation historian and museum curator whose writing centered on the engineering side of early flight. He served at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, where he was the first Curator of Propulsion in the Aeronautics Department from 1959 to 1980.

A native of Locust Valley, New York, he graduated from Yale University and served in the Army Air Corps during World War II. His books include The First Airplane Diesel Engine: Packard Model DR-980 of 1928 and Langley’s Aero Engine of 1903, both written in the careful, documentary style that makes complex machinery understandable to general readers.

Meyer is especially remembered for helping record and interpret the history of aircraft propulsion at a time when many pioneering engines and records were still being gathered into museum collections. His work remains valuable for readers interested in how aviation advanced through design, experimentation, and practical engineering.