Wright, Lindbergh, Earhart & Lear: The Age of Flight

Documenting the history of aviation at Raab

May 20th is a historic day in the history of flight. On May 20, 1927, Charles Lindbergh boarded the Spirit of St. Louis at Roosevelt Field in Long Island, New York, and flew 33 hours nonstop, landing in Paris and completing the first solo, nonstop, transatlantic flight. On May 20, 1932, Amelia Earhart flew solo from Newfoundland, Canada, to Londonderry, Ireland, becoming the first woman to match that feat. 

In honor of these achievements, we’re taking a look at some of the remarkable documents from The Raab Collection that shed light on the dawn of flight. 

Charles Lindbergh

Two years before Charles Lindbergh set off on his historic flight, he honed his skills as a pilot at Lambert Field in Missouri. In this autograph signed letter, Lindbergh writes to Martin Engstrom, a friend from whom he purchased a motorcycle, about the bike and also mentions his current job (airmail pilot). Acquired from descendants and never before offered for sale, this is the earliest of Lindbergh’s correspondence to have reached the market. 

Lindbergh’s popularity soared after his first successful solo transatlantic flight. The following year, he was asked to fly his old air mail route, and a special envelope was prepared for him to carry along for the ride. Displaying a special U.S. postage stamp showing the Spirit of St. Louis and bearing the signatures of Lindbergh, as well as other early aviators, Harlan Gurney, Philip R. Love, Thomas P. Nelson, and L.H. Smith, is this remarkable memento of Lindbergh’s rise to fame.

Amelia Earhart

In 1928, Amelia Earhart flew across the Atlantic as part of a three-person crew that included Wilmer Stultz and Lou Gordon, known collectively as the Friendship Fliers. A colorful air mail postcard, postmarked July 9, 1928 and signed by her, commemorates the success of that expedition.   

The year following Earhart’s solo transatlantic flight, the USPS issued another air mail cover celebrating Earhart’s latest achievement: a record-breaking, coast-to-coast flight from California to New Jersey in 17 hours, 7 ½ minutes. This air mail cover, postmarked from Rye, NY, on July 29, 1933, is boldly signed by the aviator. 

Orville Wright

Before Lindbergh and Earhart, there were the Wright Brothers. Together with his brother Wilbur, Orville Wright is credited as inventing the world’s first motor airplane, which he was the first to fly in 1903. In 1922, as seen in this signed letter offered by The Raab Collection, Orville wrote of his doubts that other technologies, like “sky sailing,” would best what he and his brother had already accomplished.

In the 1930s, a monument was erected to honor the Wright Brothers, initially called the Kill Devil Hill Monument but later renamed the Wright Brothers National Memorial at Kitty Hawk. This envelope with a large cachet showing the monument, canceled at Kitty Hawk in 1937, and signed by Orville Wright, attests to that piece of the aviators’ history.   

William Lear

Fast-forward to 1963, when Learjet, a company founded by Bill Lear, started test flights on the Learjet 23, the first mass-produced business jet. An archive of historical documents documenting the jet’s development and marketing is offered by Raab for the first time, having been acquired directly from the Lear heirs. 

In addition to the eponymous jet, Lear invented the first autopilot small enough and light enough to be considered for general-aviation use. For this and other innovations, Lear received the Robert J. Collier Trophy, awarded annually “to the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America.” Few have ever reached the market; this was acquired directly from Lear’s descendants. 

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