Aviation and Space Exploration Autographs and Memorabilia Gift Ideas

EDWARD V. RICKENBACKER Black and white publicity photograph of Edward V. Rickenbacker wearing a suit and tie. Photograph Inscribed and Signed: "With my best wishes/To 'Eddie Sousa'/Captain Eddie Rickenbacker". B/w, 8x10. Captain Edward Vernon "Eddie" Rickenbacker (1890-1973) had joined North American Aviation, the parent company of Eastern in 1933 and became its General Manager in 1935, expanding its shipping and travel services. Rickenbacker purchased Eastern in March 1938 and became its President the following month. He remained in Chief Executive positions until his retirement in 1959. "Rick" had attained recognition as a race car driver before commanding the famed 94th "Hat-in-the-Ring" Squadron during WWI. He downed 26 enemy aircraft, becoming America's greatest Ace and received the Congressional Medal of Honor. After the war, Rickenbacker promoted commercial air travel and the advancement of air power for the U.S. military. During WWII, he was a special representative in the inspection of air bases in the Pacific. read more...

CHUCK YEAGER Yeager sends a note to a fan wishing her "Good Luck" on a 5x3 card Autograph note Signed: "Chuck Yeager". 5x3 card. "To Karin Gallagher/Good Luck!". A member of the National Aviation Hall of Fame, Air Force Captain Charles Elwood Yeager was the first to break the sound barrier. On October 14, 1947, Yeager's X-1 rocket-powered research plane, attached to a B-29 mother plane until reaching an altitude of 25,000 feet, streaked at over 662 mph to more than 40,000 feet over Rogers Dry Lake in southern California. The feat, which was not publicly announced until June of 1948, was not Yeager's last record-breaker; on December 12, 1953, he set a world record of 1,650 mph in an X-1A rocket plane. Over twenty years after retiring from the Air Force with the rank of Brigadier General (1975), Yeager duplicated his history-making feat on October 14, 1997 - exactly fifty years after first breaking the sound barrier. Fine condition. read more...

CHALLENGER STS-51L CREW: FRANCIS R. "DICK" SCOBEE, MICHAEL J. SMITH, RONALD E. "RON" McNAIR, ELLISON S. "EL" ONIZUKA, JUDITH A. "JUDY" RESNIK, GREG JARVIS and CHRISTA McAULIFFE The crew signed these First Day Covers, which were postmarked the day they died. Matted and framed in the Gallery of History style to 34x30. Comprises: (1) Commemorative Envelope Signed: "Dick Scobee 17 JUL 85" and "Ronald E. McNair", 6½x3½. The names of astronauts Scobee, McNair, Onizuka, Resnik and Smith have been typed on this cover, but only Scobee and McNair have signed it. Cover postmarked Kennedy Space Center, Florida, January 28, 1986. (2) Commemorative Envelope Signed: "Ellison Onizuka/Shuttle Astronaut" 6½x3½. Cover postmarked Kennedy Space Center, Florida, January 28, 1986. (3) Commemorative Envelope Signed: "Judith A. Resnik" 6½x3½. Cover postmarked Kennedy Space Center, Florida, January 28, 1986. read more...

WALTER HINTON: FIRST TRANSATLANTIC FLIGHT. Comprises: (1) TLS: "Walter Hinton", 1p, 7x9. Washington, D.C., 1929 November 14. To Herbert D. Condon, Logansport, Indiana. In full: "Enclosed you will find the signature you asked for and a little note written on a piece of the original fabric taken from the wings of the NC4, the first plane to fly across the Atlantic." Lightly creased. Overall, fine condition.(2) Typed Statement signed: "Walter Hinton", 1p, 4½x6½. In full: "This is a piece of the original fabric/taken from the wing of the seaplane NC4,/the first plane to fly completely across any/ocean having made the first trans Atlantic flight in May 1919". Soiled, lightly stained. Creased. "Pilot of NC4" is typed beneath Hinton's signature. In May 1919, Walter Hinton was the co-pilot of the U.S. Navy's NC-4, one of four Navy Curtiss flying boats built during WWI to provide patrol cover for American shipping in the Atlantic against German U-boats. The NC-4, with a crew of six, left Rockaway Beach, Queens, New York City on May 8, 1919 reaching Portugal on May 27, 1919 in the first crossing of the Atlantic by air. read more...

GENE CERNAN. Photograph Montage titled, inscribed and signed: "Gene Cernan". Color, 24x20 overall, affixed signature sheet, 15x2½, penned by Cernan, in full: "The flight of 'America and Challenger' to the Moon./To Stan Jacobson - with our sincere thanks for your helping/us share this great adventure - our Best Wishes - Gene - Ron - Jack". Printed at left: "Apollo XVII/Dec. 7-19, 1972". Eleven color photos mounted. The command module was America. The lunar module was Challenger. All three Apollo 17 astronaut names are printed but only Cernan signed. Eleven photographs, a bit faded from sunlight, show the crew, launch, Moon scenes and splashdown. STAN JACOBSON was Assistant Chief of the Publications Branch at NASA's Manned Space Center in Houston. After consulting with the astronauts involved, Jacobson and his staff designed the space mission patches. Photos have lightened a bit due to exposure to light. Mount is slightly creased and stained at lower left corner. Upper right border of mount surface nicked. read more...

JOHN GLENN and GHERMAN TITOV Collection containing pieces signed by the two space explorers Comprises: (1) JOHN GLENN. Photograph signed: "John Glenn". Color, 5¼x½. Pictured with the Mercury Friendship 7 capsule, in which he became the first American to make multiple orbits of the Earth. Fine condition. (2) GHERMAN TITOV. Photograph signed in Russian. Color, 4x5½. Signed above shoulder, signature light but legible. Signed photographs of the first U.S. and Soviet astronauts to make multiple orbits. Lieutenant Colonel JOHN H. GLENN, JR., who was selected as one of the seven Project Mercury astronauts in 1959, was launched into space on February 20, 1962. In a mission that lasted four hours and 54 minutes, Glenn made three complete orbits in his Friendship 7 capsule, and he became the first U.S. astronaut to manually pilot his ship when he had to compensate for a malfunctioning yaw reaction jet. On October 29, 1998, 36 years later, U.S. Senator John H. Glenn, Jr. read more...

OPTOMISTIC LETTER WRITTEN TWO YEARS BEFORE JAPANESE-AMERICAN ENGINEER AND ASTRONAUT ONIZUKA WAS A VICTIM IN AMERICA'S FIRST SPACE DISASTER   ELLISON ONIZUKA. Autograph Letter Signed: "Ellison Onizuka", 1p, 8x11. No place, 1984 February 24. To Venessa. In full: "Thank you for your interest in the Space Program. I've always wanted to be an astronaut since a very early age and am now convinced that I've made a good career decision. I also feel very fortunate to have been selected for this program. The astronaut job has been very challenging and certainly very worthwhile. I enjoy what I'm doing and am looking forward to flying on the shuttle. Good Luck with your project!" On January 28, 1986, the Hawaiian-born astronaut was one of the seven crew members killed when the space shuttle Challenger (STS-51-L) exploded 73 seconds after liftoff. Onizuka (1946-1986), selected as a NASA astronaut in January 1978, had previously flown on the Discovery (STS-51-C) during its first dedicated Department of Defense mission (January 24-27,1985). Lightly creased at upper blank portion. read more...

IGOR SIKORSKY Helicopter pioneer. Photograph signed: "I. Sikorsky/July 9/1943". Sepia, 8¼x10 overall, image 7x9 (one surface). Sikorsky, a pioneer in the advancement of the helicopter and naval aircraft, constructed and flew the first multi-motored airplane in 1913. He built the first amphibian American Clipper, which pioneered transoceanic commercial flights in 1931. In 1939, Sikorsky developed the first practical American helicopter. He is enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame. Lightly creased, not at signature. Light vertical surface scuff at right blank background. Overall, fine condition. read more...

AMELIA EARHART She signs the program and menu from a 1930 Aviation Nite dinner in Baltimore, a menu designed in the form of her aircraft. Program/Menu signed: "Amelia Earhart". Shaped like her airplane and numbered "46397", 10½-inches long, for "Aviation Nite/Traffic Club/of/Baltimore/Dinner Dance/March 4th, 1930/Lord Baltimore Hotel". A list of "Honored Guests" is affixed on verso. Amelia Earhart (1897-1937?), with Wilman Stutz and Louis Gordon, flew from Trepassy Bay, Newfoundland to Burry Port, Wales (June 17-18, 1928) to become the first woman to cross the Atlantic by air. Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic when she flew from Harbor Grace, Newfoundland to Londonderry, Ireland on May 20-21, 1932, exactly five years after Lindbergh accomplished a similar feat from New York to Paris. In 1937, Earhart was lost over the Pacific in an attempted around-the-world flight. Worn at center fold. Lightly soiled and creased. read more...