Lot 577 Collection of Canadian Airmail Pilot Letters, 1931-1933, consisting of of twenty-three letters (fifteen are manuscript and eight are typewritten) from pilots who were responsible for first airmail flights from 1925 to 1938. Most have letterheads. They are all addressed to a California collector who wanted to have some flight covers signed, and the pilots often add some details of the flights in their letters. The letters are from the following pilots:
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- Richard H. Bibby;
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- B.W. Broatch;
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- Maurice Burbridge;
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- W. Fleming;
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- Idris G. Glyn-Roberts (x2);
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- Herbert Hollick-Kenyon;
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- Earl M. Hand (x2);
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- David A. Harding;
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- G.R. Hicks;
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- W.H. Irvine;
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- Thomas A. Lawrence;
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- C.G. Lumsden;
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- A. Daniel McLean (x2);
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- Archie M. McMullen;
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- H.C.W. Smith;
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- C. Peter Troup;
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- John Henry Tudhope;
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- Howard Watt;
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- W. Windrum;
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- J.A. Young.
There is also a note and a letter from someone at Canadian Airways giving addresses of pilots. The letters are dated from different Canadian cities and one from Egypt. The first flights for these pilots are listed in section 26 of Airmails of Canada and Newfoundland. Some of these pilots were among the best Canadian early pilots. Three won the McKee Trophy: John Henry Tudhope (1930); Maurice Burbridge (1932) and A. Daniel MacLean (1941); Two were inducted in the Aviation Hall of Fame: Maurice Burbridge and Herbert Hollick-Kenyon (both in 1974). Hollick-Kenyon was involved in the MacAlpine search expedition, the Lincoln Ellsworth Antarctic Expedition and the search for Russian pilots in the Arctic (with Archie McMullen) in 1937. All are sleeved and have old dealer annotations. Estimate C$100, sold for C$300.00 plus 17% buyer’s premium.