Arthur A. Collins’ place in aerospace history was cemented early in life – but it could just as easily have been lost to the sands of time.
Mr. Collins’ legend began in June 1925 when, as a 15-year-old in Cedar Rapids with a passion for innovation, he established high-frequency radio communication with the Donald MacMillan scientific expedition’s ship, the Bowdoin, in Etah, Greenland – the only person in the United States able to pick up such a message at the time.
Thus began a career that would help define the evolution of radio communications, guidance systems and galactic exploration.
By 1931, Mr. Collins had set up a shop to manufacture radio transmitters, and by 1933, Collins Radio was incorporated.
The innovations thereafter came fast and furious. Admiral Robert A. Byrd’s expedition to the South Pole carried Collins radio telegraph equipment. By the 1940s, Collins Radio was building fixed-base communications equipment, police radios, and aircraft radios, including equipment featuring Collins’ revolutionary Autotune system that was used extensively in U.S. and British military aircraft during World War II.
After the war, Collins Radio moved into commercial and private aircraft equipment production, and entered the space communications field in the early 1950s, eventually supplying radio communication equipment to NASA for the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space missions, along with ground systems and links to Mission Control. All American communications from space at the time, as well as data and TV signals, were transmitted using Collins equipment.
And the company’s pioneering ventures continued into the 1960s, when Collins entered the computer market and established a large communications center in Cedar Rapids. Eventually, Collins’ work helped form the technical backbone of the system now known as the internet and provided key equipment and research into the development of GPS technology.
It’s now unquestioned that Mr. Collins’ work helped define technological breakthroughs for several decades, with more than 20 patents to his name in the U.S. and another 43 patents in 13 foreign countries. But his legacy of brilliance was tempered by a notorious reluctance to promote and document his work. He even declined an interview request from the legendary Walter Cronkite, renowned for his extensive coverage of the U.S. space program, who was seeking to give Mr. Collins the recognition he richly deserved.
It wasn’t until much later that an organized effort was mounted to ensure that the Collins legacy, both for the communications industry and for Cedar Rapids, was adequately chronicled for current and future generations – including the production of a series of historic documentaries.
Formation, purpose of Arthur A. Collins Legacy Association (AACLA)
Enter the Arthur A. Collins Legacy Association.
The AACLA was formed on Jan. 1, 2014, by retirees from the company, then known as Rockwell Collins, who wanted to preserve its history.
The group traces its roots to a Museum Club formed in the 1980s by then-employees to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Collins Radio.
The AACLA aims to educate youth and others about the importance of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) activities, and the achievements of Mr. Collins and the company he founded, in the aerospace industry.
Its main activities include a website for research, school outreach, tours of the Collins Aerospace Museum (located in Building 120 on the Collins Aerospace campus, and still open for public tours by appointment) and the production of documentaries.
A few key figures were instrumental in the group’s founding, including Mike Wilson, a local philanthropist who worked directly with Mr. Collins and served as Collins Radio’s first director of quality. Mr. Wilson died Sept. 9 at age 99.
Another longtime former employee, Rod Blocksome, contributed significantly, and continues to serve as the group’s secretary. Michael Collins, Arthur Collins’ oldest son, serves as the AACLA vice president.
And Mike Dupree, who worked for 44 years in the company’s contracts and finance divisions, currently serves as president of the AACLA, which is governed by an 11-member volunteer board.
Mr. Dupree said the AACLA hopes to revive the group’s museum tours and school outreach activities, which were curtailed dramatically by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We provide the museum historians, or the docents, that do the museum tours,” Mr. Dupree said. “And we help students as they approach us, but that’s kind of been dampened. We’re going to be getting more involved in reaching out to the schools, and we’re working with the company to get the museum in a better place, so we don’t have to go through security badging all the time.”
Despite the challenges, Mr. Dupree said, a group of 93 third-graders recently toured the museum.
The company has gone through various incarnations – first as Collins Radio, then the Collins division of Rockwell International, Rockwell Collins and now as Collins Aerospace, a wholly owned company of RTX – the company has always retained the Collins name in some form. And that stability, over the past 90 years, has been crucial, Mr. Dupree said.
“Clearly, this is important to Cedar Rapids and to Eastern Iowa,” he said. “But to be honest, it’s really important to the world, because Collins has been involved in so many world-changing events.”
Mr. Collins’ acknowledged aversion to self-promotion makes the AACLA’s work even more important, Mr. Dupree said.
“The history wasn’t documented very well back then,” Mr. Dupree said. “I think it’s fair to say that Arthur was focused on technology. Getting it recorded from a historical standpoint wasn’t in the forefront of his mind. So this group, recognizing all the things that Collins has been involved in and even initiated in a lot of cases, understands that this really needs to be documented as part of history for a number of reasons. The general history is important, but even more important is letting youth and others know of the importance of STEM activities and what can be accomplished if they put their efforts into STEM.”
But it’s the production of a series of documentaries, under the umbrella “The Collins Story,” that has served perhaps the largest role in bringing the Collins legacy to broad-based, multimedia life.
AACLA documentaries
The AACLA has produced five documentaries so far as part of “The Collins Story”:
- “A Culture of Innovation” in 2013;
- “Moon Talk” in December 2018;
- “Live From The Moon” in July 2019;
- “Steps To The Moon” in May 2021; and
- “World War II Production – Defending Liberty” in May 2023.
A sixth, “The Internet Connection,” is currently in production and is expected to be released in 2025.
Mr. Dupree said the documentaries are instrumental in documenting the history of Collins and making it accessible to the public – and to be as fact-based as possible in the process.
“A lot of people had little snapshots of things, and some misnomers about things,” Mr. Dupree said. “Certain quotes will get made, and then they’re not quite accurate. So we were correcting some of that history. Even having worked there for 44 years, I would say I didn’t understand the depth and the frequency of the major events that Collins was involved in.
“We rely on the engineers a lot for research, to make sure that we’re recording this as accurately as our research can support,” he added. “Depending on who’s involved in these things over the course of history, people have different perspectives. There’s an extreme effort to make these very accurate. There are different opinions or views of how a certain historical event happens. But you know, all of those things can be true at the same time.”
After the first documentary was produced, the AACLA partnered with Annette Juergens Busbee and her company, Busbee Communications, in 2016 to organize and streamline the production of upcoming documentaries.
“Rod Blocksome had approached me and said that the group wanted to do some video interviews to capture some retired Collins engineers who had been involved in some of these milestone projects, like the space program and GPS, plus a number of other major programs that came out of Collins, and asked if I would I be available to help with these interviews,” Ms. Busbee said. “And I said yes.”
Since then, Ms. Busbee has served as writer and executive producer for each new documentary in the series – and, Mr. Dupree said, has become a sort of unofficial AACLA member in the process.
“She’s invaluable,” he said simply.
The research for the documentaries was extensive, both in Collins archives and through in-person interviews with dozens of current and former Collins employees, many of whom worked with Mr. Collins directly. Those interviews included a number of trips, including to Dallas, to gather the stories from the critical players.
“We started recording oral histories,” Ms. Busbee said. “And we became aware of some of the stories about the space program that the engineers were sharing, and we were coming up on the 50th anniversary of Apollo 8, which happened in December 1968. And thanks to all the archive material that the museum and the (AACLA) had collected over the years – 35-millimeter films, publications, engineering documents and equipment, all of all of these archival collections that they had – we felt that we might have something here for a new documentary to the story.”
When the “Moon Talk” documentary was released in 2018, Ms. Busbee said it wasn’t certain that the general public would be interested.
“We wondered if anyone would care about this story,” she said. “We received some good publicity about it locally, and the Collins Road Theater donated the theater so we could have a premiere – again, not sure if anybody would be interested. I arrived early, and when I arrived, there was a line outside the door to get into the theater to see it. We had no idea of the role that Collins played right here in Cedar Rapids.”
Mr. Dupree said the documentaries have been well-received not only by the public, but by new employees at Collins Aerospace, giving the next generation a sense of the company’s legacy.
“These newer employees have no idea,” Ms. Busbee said. “I think it gives them a little deeper appreciation for where they are working.”
Ms. Busbee has worked directly with several members of the AACLA to bring each new installment to life, but other local companies have also contributed to the effort, including Eric Freese, who has edited the documentaries for Wired Production Group; local composer Gerard Estella, who wrote original music for the soundtracks; and former KCRG-TV9 anchor Nicole Carros, who will serve as narrator for the upcoming internet documentary.
“We’ve drawn on a lot of local talent,” Ms. Busbee said.
The documentaries themselves have earned a host of accolades. Among the highlights:
- “Steps To The Moon” won a Telly Award, honoring excellence in video and television across all screens; an Award of Excellence from the Iowa Motion Picture Association; and a Silver Eddy Award from the Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival.
- “Moon Talk” was named a winner in the Rocket Science category at the Space Faring Civilization Film Festival in Canberra, Australia.
- And “Live From The Moon” received an Award of Excellence from the Iowa Motion Picture Association and a Gold Eddy Award from the Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival.
While the documentaries have all been released on DVD, they’ve also been uploaded to YouTube to be viewed at no cost.
Each documentary has been financed largely through private contributions and corporate support, with some help from Collins Aerospace – no government funding or grants are involved.
As Mr. Dupree noted, the documentaries aren’t intended to be revenue generators.
“It would be helpful to have a steady funding source,” he said, “but we don’t want to make people pay for this. We just need the history to get out there. These documentaries are priceless, as far as I’m concerned.”
Beyond the internet documentary, there are no current plans for future documentaries, but Mr. Dupree emphasized there’s no shortage of material for additional installments on the Collins legacy.
“The Battle of the Atlantic could be one,” he said. “The GPS thing could be another. Then there’s Collins Central, a radio station that was here and had contracts with commercial and governmental outfits, linking soldiers in Vietnam and doing radio patches to their homes so they could make contact with their families. There’s so many things to be told here. It’ll never all be told.”
Reflections on the AACLA and the documentaries
Both Mr. Dupree and Ms. Busbee expressed gratitude for the opportunity to document the history of Collins and the impact of the company’s technology.
“This is a timely thing for me, because of Mike Wilson’s passing,” Mr. Dupree said. “But I think honor is probably the right word for it. Having the opportunity to be a part of this, what these guys know and what they’re documenting – it’s an incredible experience.”
Ms. Busbee, who herself worked at Collins for a time, said the production of the documentaries has been an eye-opening experience.
“Discovering the impact of the technology that came out of Collins Radio, and how Arthur, just being the brilliant mind that he was, set this all into motion, and being able to be a part of it – it’s gratifying to see how well the stories have been received by the public, and that they appreciate the stories,” she said. “We get a lot of ‘my uncle worked at Rockwell Collins’ or ‘my grandpa worked at Rockwell Collins.’ Nearly everybody in Cedar Rapids has a connection.
“I appreciate that this is extraordinary history,” she added. “It happened right here in the community where I live, and to be able to help, to be a part of this team, to share it – I’m deeply honored by the opportunity.”
