Rarity of Autographs of Pioneer/Early Aviators
I would be very interested in opinions as to why it is quite difficult to find the autographs/signatures of some of the Early Aviators. Names such as Charles Rolls, Alfred Rawlinson, Cecil Grace, George Cockburn, Alec Ogilvie, A. Mortimer Singer and Lancelot Gibbs are extremely rare and very difficult to find.
The signatures of Test Pilots such as Geoffrey De Havilland (Jr), Gerry Sayer, George Bulman and Joseph "Mutt" Sumnmers are rarely if ever seen.
Paul McGinness was the founding father of QANTAS but I have never seen a genuine example of his signature.
The First Military Pilots Course in Oz consisted of Instructors Henry Petre and Eric Harrison, and students David Manwell, Dr George Merz, Thomas White and Richard Williams. The signatures of Petre, Harrison, Manwell and Merz are rarely seen.
Hundreds of thousands of people turned out to watch the Schneider Trophy races. Yet the signatures of the Pilots are extremely rare and seldom encountered. How many copies of "Wings" by Biard or "Schneider Trophy" by Orlebar would have been signed by the author?
I would be interested to hear your opinion as to why this is so. Please pm me if you know of someone who has these for sale. Thanks for your help.
Last edited by ian.whalley; 1st Jul 2015 at 22:19.