Speed.

HAWKS, Frank.

$1,500.00

Item Number: 138244

New York: Brewer, Warren & Putnam, 1931.

First edition of the legendary World War I aviator’s autobiography. Octavo, original cloth, illustrated, lacking the frontispiece. Presentation copy, lengthily inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “To Rolly Ueland, the only pal I ever had – always wishing you happy landings Frank Hawks alias Hawker.” The recipient, Rolf Ueland practiced law in Minneapolis from 1923 to 1969. His sister, Brenda Ueland, was a noted journalist, editor and bookseller. With an additional Christmas postcard addressed to the recipient in the original transmittal envelope laid in. In very good condition. Books signed and inscribed by Hawks are scarce.

Frank Monroe Hawks was a pilot in the United States Army Air Service during World War I and achieved fame as a pilot in the 1920s and 1930s as a record breaking aviator. Using a series of Texaco-sponsored aircraft, he set 214 point-to-point records in the United States and Europe and, throughout his career, he was continually in the news, and was often linked with other famous aviators, including Jimmy Doolittle, Amelia Earhart, Charles Lindbergh and Eddie Rickenbacker, all of whom were personal friends. More than any other contemporary aviation figure, with the possible exception of Alexander P. de Seversky, Hawks exploited his image as an "ace" pilot with countless promotional ventures.