Born: United States of America
Primarily active in: United States of America

NASA's first director of the of their Office of Public Information, Walter T. Bonney joined the NACA in 1949 as an assistant to Executive Secretary John Francis Victory.  He also worked closely at times with NACA Director Hugh L. Dryden and two chairmen of the Advisory Committee, Jerome C. Hunsaker of MIT and James H. Doolittle.  When NASA was created in October 1968, Bonney was named OPI director by T. Keith Glennan, the first NASA administrator.

In November 1960, Bonney became Director of  Public Relations for Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, Calif, retiring from that post in 1971 to move to Frederick.

Bonney had been writing a history of NACA, having completed his research and numerous interviews with aviation figures including Carles Lindbergh, Vannevar Bush, and other involved in NACA's history.  He authored the book, 'The Heritage of Kitty Hawk,' published by W.W. Norton in 1962.

Obituary (pg.6) : VERTIFLITE May/June 1975