The Birthplace of Aerial Power
London: The Grahame White Company Limited, 1919. Quarto, stamped and decorated papered boards with blue cloth on spine, 162 pp., profusely illustrated. Boards are worn and thumbed, rear inner hinge split but the binding remains tight, otherwise a very good copy. Claude Graham-White was an English pilot who played a leading role in the early development of British aviation. In early 1910, he obtained the first English aviator's certificate of proficiency. He entered multiple flying races in Europe and in the United States that same year won the Gordon Bennett Cup. In 1911, he set up the first official English delivery of mail by air. At the outbreak of World War I, he served in the Royal Naval Air Service.
In 1911, he established the Grahame-White Aviation Company at Hendon near London. His company trained many British pilots at Hendon Aerodrome. The firm mostly operated around the design and the building of aircraft, among which was the successful Type XV. In August 1915 he was commissioned to superintend the construction of government planes.
During the First World War, Grahame-White produced the French Morane-Saulnier aircraft types under licence for the British military. In 1920, the company ceased aircraft manufacturing operations and changed its name to the Grahame-White Company Ltd. and began the manufacturing of cyclecars. They would manufacture cyclecars until 1924 when operations ended. New York Public Library 1730; not in Noffsinger and not in Myron Smith. Item #2572
Price (AUD): $1,250.00