(Airships, Dirigibles, RNAS Pulham.) Air Commodore Edward Ma...

Hammer

£230

(Airships, Dirigibles, RNAS Pulham.) Air Commodore Edward Maitland: 'The Log of the H.M.A. R34: Journey to America and Back', London, Hodder & Stoughton, [1921], 1st edition, signed & inscribed by the author to Air Vice Marshal Sir Charles Laverock Lambe (1875-1953) on FFEP "To C.L. Lambe from Edward Maitland January 1921", frontispiece depicting R34 + 23 illustrations on 13 plates + folding map of the R34's flight as called for, original cloth gilt. Uncommon account by Air-Commodore E. M. Maitland's of the first transatlantic flight by rigid airship, a monumental journey to America and back aboard R34. Air Commodore Edward Maitland Maitland (1880-1921) was an early military aviator who served in the Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers, the Royal Flying Corps, the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Air Force, and held commands at RNAS Pulham. On 24 August 1921 Maitland was killed when the R38 airship on which he was a passenger suffered structural failure and broke up in mid air over the Humber. A very scarce signed and inscribed copy published in early 1921, only a few months prior to the fatal crash of the R38 in which Maitland and 43 other British and American crew were tragically killed. A memorial was erected at Hull, and in 2021, a centenary memorial service was held at Hull Minster.