Rare Signed Photograph of a Seaplane by Aviation Pioneer Glenn Curtiss, Probably His Famous 1914 Curtiss H Class Seaplane, ‘America’

Glenn Hammond Curtiss was an aviation and motorcycling pioneer, and a founder of the U.S. aircraft industry. As early as 1904, he began to manufacture engines for airships. The Curtiss Model H was a family of classes of early long-range flying boats, the first two of which were developed directly on commission in the United States in response to the £10,000 prize challenge issued in 1913 by the London newspaper, the Daily Mail, for the first non-stop aerial crossing of the Atlantic. As the first aircraft having transatlantic range and cargo-carrying capacity, it became the pioneer development leading to early international commercial air travel, and by extension, to the modern world of commercial aviation.

A 5 by 7 inch sepia photograph of a seaplane in the water with several men in the foreground, boldly signed by Curtiss “G.H. Curtiss” at the upper right. Curtiss pioneered the seaplane which was quickly adopted by the U.S. Navy.