THE UNITED STATES BUYS AN "AEROPLACE."

Wonderful, original magazine article rescued for a March 1929 issue of "Holland's, The Magazine of the South.

Includes two full pages and one half page.  

Article is by Carl H. Claudy.

Loaded with information, details and 14 small, but very interesting photographs. 

The article begins:

"That thing fly? Nonsense!" 

"Fool idea -- didn't Professor Simon Newcombe prove that a heavier-than-air machine couldn't fly?"

"Government must be crazy, offering a prize for anyone who would fly in an aeroplane! Balloons -- yes!

The Civil War proved them for some military use, but the aeroplane? Silly!"

Such comments could be heard anywhere in the crowd of ten thousand people who fringed the great parade ground at Ft. Myers, Virginia, in the late summer days of 1908. In the northwest corner of the field stood a sixty-foot tower of wood, braced with wires. Hauled to the top of its four-sided pyramid was a twelve-hundred-pound weight of iron. From its foot, a sixty-foot monorail extended down the field to the south. From the weight, over a pulley, down to the ground, around another pulley, to the end of the rail and back again, ran a three-forth inch Manila rope. It ended in a hook, attached to a bar of wood, which was part of the first aeroplane -- please note the spelling -- which was to make the first public flight ever made by a heavier-than-air machine...

It's a great article, at a crucial time in our aviation history. 

2 full pages measure 9 3/4" x 14 3/8". The half-page measures 4 3/4" x 13 3/4". The paper is thin, with several minor wrinkles from pages being handled while bound into the magazine. Otherwise, they are all in good condition. Reverse side of pages have parts of unrelated articles. 

I'll place the pages inside a plastic sleeve and add a piece of white foam board for protection while mailing by USPS First Class in a bubble envelope.

I'll mail the same day, or next day after payment is made.