Letters of Cyrus Foss Chamberlain A Member of the Lafayette Flying Corps
Minneapolis: privately printed, 1918. Octavo, original blue papered boards with gilt lettering, Japon vellum backstrip, 118 pp., frontispiece and six plates. Backstrip and endpapers have been expertly and sympathetically renewed, with the original spine label laid down. An excellent copy. An epistolary account of Sergeant Chamberlain's training and experiences as a Lafayette Corps pilot during the Great War from June 13th, 1917 until his death one year later.
Cyrus Foss Chamberlain was a native of Minneapolis, and son of the Chairman of the First and Security National Bank of that city. In June 1917, Cyrus Foss Chamberlain joined the French Lafayette Flying Corps. He undertook training before being posted to Escadrille Spad 98. In the spring 1918, during one of the German offensives, Chamberlain's squadron carried out air superiority missions over the front lines. On June 13th, 1918, he dove from 12,000 feet on some German aircraft with Escadrille Spad 98. However, it was a trap set by the Germans and before long fighters attacked Chamberlain's group. On this engagement, Sergeant Cyrus Foss Chamberlain was killed by machine gun fire from an enemy aircraft. Myron Smith 299; Noffsinger (revised edition) 473. Item #2812
Price (AUD): $1,000.00