Charles Gibbs-Smith was born in Teddington in 1909. Educated at Westminster School and Harvard University, and during the Second World War he became an instructor in aircraft recognition at the ministry of information.

After the war he joined the Victoria and Albert Museum as keeper responsible for the photographic collection. He wrote several books on aviation including Aviation - An Historical Survey From the Origins to the End of the War (1960) and The Rebirth of Aviation (1974).

In 1978 Gibbs-Smith was appointed as professor of aerospace history at the Smithsonian Institute.

Charles Gibbs-Smith died in 1981.