CLARENCE D. CHAMBERLIN - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 04/06/1931 - HFSID 47231

CLARENCE D. CHAMBERLIN


The American pioneer of aviation who was considered one of the seven greatest flyers in the worldsigns a typed letter in regarding Sterns Department Store to pay him to support their Sky Cadets, in black ink


Typed Letter Signed: "Clarence D. Chamberlin" in black ink. One page. 8½x11. Place: Jersey City, N.J. Date: April 6, 1931. Addressed to: Stern Brothers department store, New York City. In full: "I wish to acknowledge receipt of your letter of April 4. Your plans for the 'Sky Cadets' are very interesting and a great deal of good should result from it. However, in view of the commercial angle of the project I do not feel that I should lend my help without compensation since I have a similar service to offer to stimulate interest in the model plane department and general advertising. I shall be glad to hear further from you on the matter. Thanking you for your letter." After WWI, Clarence Chamberlin (1893-1976) purchased the first Bellanca airplane ever sold and barnstormed throughout the East. In 1925, he joined the Wright Aeronautical Corporation as a company pilot and soon convinced it to build an advanced monoplane designed by Guiseppe Bellanca to demonstrate the abilities of the new Whirlwind engine. Later, Chamberlin and veteran pilot Bert Acosta took the plane aloft over Long Island and set a world's endurance record of over 51 hours. After christening the plane Miss Columbia, Chamberlin and its new owner, Charles A. Levine, took off from Roosevelt Field on June 4, 1927, only two weeks after Charles Lindbergh's solo crossing. Chamberlin thus became the first pilot to carry a passenger across the Atlantic. In 1932, Chamberlin set an altitude record, flying above 19,000 feet. After his very active aviation exploits in 1927, he was considered one of the seven greatest flyers in the world; however, his days of breaking records were in the past and he got involved in the business of designing and selling planes. During the 1930s he traveled around the United States in his 26-passenger Curtiss Condor CO plane giving rides to people as a hobby. During the next few decades he remained busy with a diverse array of projects. In addition to taking time to write a semi-autobiographical book entitled in Record Flights, he continued to fly, sell and tinker with airplanes after World War II and eventually retired. He is honored in the Aviation Hall of Fame at Dayton, Ohio and in the Iowa Aviation Hall of Fame. Lightly creased, touching the "C" in Clarence. Slightly stained at lower edge. 1/8-inch rust stain at lower left blank edge. Otherwise, fine condition.