65

Papers of early dirigible pilot Horace B. Wild.

Various places, circa 1906-1940
31 items, condition varies with a few items worn.

Horace Barnebee Wild (1879-1940) was an early dirigible pilot and engineer, known for participating in the 1907 Bennett International Aeronautic Club Race (the first held in America). He was a founder of the Early Birds, a group of pioneers who preserved the early history of aviation. He lived in Chicago through at least 1915, and spent his final years in Manhattan. He sometimes went by Horace B. Eagle or Horace Bird Wild professionally. Highlights of this lot include:

Illustrated membership certificate for the "International Gordon Bennett Race under the Auspices of the Aero Club of America," with portraits of Glenn Curtiss and others, made out to Captain Horace B. Wild. Chicago, 1912.

Horace B. Wild. "My Air-Ship Experiences." Illustrated pamphlet, [14] (of 16?) pages, 7¾ x 5½ inches, quite worn with cello tape repairs. We do not find this pamphlet in OCLC, auction records, or Google searches, although it is mentioned in passing in a Sioux City Journal article on Wild dated 10 September 1907.  No place: Otis[?] R. Wilson, circa 1907.

Pair of business cards, one using his nom-de-air "Horace B. Eagle, Aerial Navigator," circa 1906; and the other as a consulting engineer, "Early Birds, Flying Since 1905," circa 1930s.

8 photographs, generally worn, most notably an 8 x 10-inch mounted shot of an early airship in flight; a panorama composite of the "International Aviation Meet, Grant Park, Chicago" by Max Pigot,  7¾ x 23 inches, rolled, 1911; an 8 x 10 glossy group portrait identified elsewhere as the Early Birds of Aviation circa 1937; a tintype portrait of Wild from the Edison Institute, circa 1920s?; and 3 other uncaptioned aviation images.

Wild's typescript of "the Runaway Balloon Narrative" recounting a 1902 near-disaster, [6], 18 pages.

Wild's typescript poem, "There's Somebody Worse Off Than You," written "in the fall of 1912 while convalescing from a very serious airplane accident."

6 letters and documents relating to Wild's career during the war years, including a recommendation for him as captain in the Balloon Corps, and a signed agreement with Hebb Motors Company to develop aircraft, 1917-1919.

Printed membership list of "The Early Birds" issued by Aero Digest, circa 1940.

9 letters and documents from the last years of Wild's life and beyond, including a newspaper clipping of his obituary, a letter from fellow balloonist August Post to Wild's son requesting a donation of artifacts to the Edison Institute at the Henry Ford Museum, and a letter from New York Public Library soliciting a gift of Wild's papers. 

Guest book apparently from Wild's home, 7 bound pages with approximately 80 signatures including Arctic explorer Richard W. Konter, concluding with some Early Birds visiting shortly before his 23 July 1940 death such as Augustus Post and Fluer de Lys Loesch. Aviator Wilma "Billie" Miller signed "Happy landing dear E.B. Capt. Wild." [New York], undated through 1940.

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