Tau Omega () was an American

professional fraternity Professional fraternities, in the North American fraternity system, are organizations whose primary purpose is to promote the interests of a particular profession and whose membership is restricted to students in that particular field of profes ...

for

aeronautical engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...

. It was established at the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

Norman, Oklahoma Norman () is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, 3rd most populous city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, with a population of 128,026 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the most populous city and the county seat of Clevel ...

in 1927. Tau Omega was the first professional fraternity for

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' include fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air aircraft such as h ...

. In 1953, it merged with Gamma Alpha Rho to form

Sigma Gamma Tau Sigma Gamma Tau () is the American honor society in aerospace engineering. The society formed from the merger of Tau Omega and Gamma Alpha Rho in 1953. It has chartered more than fifty chapters in the United States. History Sigma Gamma Tau wa ...

, a national aeronautical engineering society.

History

Tau Omega was established as a professional fraternity in December 1927 by students who were interested in flying instruction at the

. Its founders were Warren E. Daniel, Orville Gulker, James E. "Jimmie" Haizlip, J. Court Hayes, and Earl O. Weining. Tau Omega was the first professional fraternity for aeronautics. Haizlip was its first president. Its purpose was promoting an interest in

amongst college men. Membership was open to students studying aviation. By January 1928, students at three other universities had petitioned to form a chapter of Tau Omega. In February 1928, the fraternity was chartered as a "National Honorary Aeronautical Engineering Fraternity". In 1932, ''Beta chapter'' was established at the University of Wichita. The fraternity expanded to include nine chapters and more than 1,000 alumni. On February 28, 1953, it merged with Gamma Alpha Rho, a similar organization, to form

Symbols and traditions

The fraternity's insignia was a key shaped like a

Maltese cross The Maltese cross is a cross symbol, consisting of four " V" or arrowhead shaped concave quadrilaterals converging at a central vertex at right angles, two tips pointing outward symmetrically. It is a heraldic cross variant which develope ...

, with a superimposed airplane engine and propeller. On the horizontal arms of the cross were the Greek letters and . One the vertical arms of the cross were a

covered wagon A covered wagon, also called a prairie wagon, whitetop, or prairie schooner, is a horse-drawn or ox-drawn wagon used for passengers or freight hauling. It has a canvas, tarpaulin, or waterproof sheet which is stretched over removable wooden ...

and lamp of learning on the cross, symbolizing the pioneering spirit and knowledge required for the field of aeronautics. Tau Omega's motto was ''Quid Pro Quo''. Its magazine was ''The Contact''. Its pledges were required to wear goggles and a white flying helmet the day before being initiated as members. Its initiation traditions included a daybreak airplane ride.

Activities

As early in as 1927, Tau Omega started the first

flying school Flight training is a course of study used when learning to pilot an aircraft. The overall purpose of primary and intermediate flight training is the acquisition and honing of basic airmanship skills. Flight training can be conducted under a str ...

in Norman, Oklahoma; the school was not connected to the University of Oklahoma which started its own flying school in 1940. Tau Omega members built and tested airplanes. In March 1928, members of the ''Alpha chapter'' rebuilt an airplane that belonged to the Oklahoma Air Transport Company. In December 1929, the fraternity began constructing a glider with hopes of setting a new endurance record. The glider was featured at an aerial display at the University of Oklahoma in March 1930. In April 1931, the fraternity began designing and building a monoplane to be completed in December. In October 1931, the fraternity built a

wind tunnel A wind tunnel is "an apparatus for producing a controlled stream of air for conducting aerodynamic experiments". The experiment is conducted in the test section of the wind tunnel and a complete tunnel configuration includes air ducting to and f ...

to be used by University of Oklahoma students for testing miniature airplane models. Members also studied engines, including a Curtis D-12 airplane engine that was loaned to the fraternity by the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

in May 1933.

Chapters

Following are the chapters of Tau Omega.

Notable members

Bennett Griffin Bennett Hill Griffin (September 22, 1895 – April 26, 1978) was an American aviator. Griffin was born in Mississippi in 1895, but was raised in Oklahoma arriving around 1900. In 1932, Griffin along with Jimmie Mattern attempted to brea ...

, aviator * Herbert A. Lyon,

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

Major General in charge of the Space and Missile Test Center at

Vandenberg Air Force Base Vandenberg may refer to: * Vandenberg (surname), including a list of people with the name * USNS ''General Hoyt S. Vandenberg'' (T-AGM-10), transport ship in the United States Navy, sank as an artificial reef in Key West, Florida * Vandenberg S ...

Clarence Syvertson Clarence A. "Sy" Syvertson (1926 – September 13, 2010) was the Center Director of the Ames Research Center of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, located at Moffett Field, California. Biography Early life, education, and mi ...

, director of the

Ames Research Center The Ames Research Center (ARC), also known as NASA Ames, is a major NASA research center at Moffett Federal Airfield in California's Silicon Valley. It was founded in 1939 as the second National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) laborat ...

of the

National Aeronautics and Space Administration The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the United States's civil space program, aeronautics research and space research. Established in 1958, it su ...

* John Young, astronaut and lunar explorer

References

{{Reflist Engineering honor societies Student organizations established in 1927 1927 establishments in Oklahoma Merged fraternities and sororities Professional fraternities and sororities in the United States Student societies in the United States Aviation organizations based in the United States 1953 disestablishments in the United States