1939 Bell Aircraft LAWRENCE BELL Signed Doc. X-1 RARE

Pricing & History

Sold for
Start Free Trial or Sign In to see what it's worth.
Sold Date
Source eBay

1939 Lawrence Bell Signed Document Dated: Feb. 6, 1939 Contents: This is an early underwriters agreement between the brokerage firm of G.M.P. Murphy and Bell Aircraft for a public stock offering. This offering was used to raise capital during Bell's huge expansion in the run-up to WW2. Document is hand-signed by aviation legend Lawrence "Larry" Bell. Document is 8 pages long, and is also embossed with Bell Aircraft's corporate seal. Larry died in 1956 and his signature is impossible to find! Condition: Excellent. Superb Bell signature, very large and clean. Selling a collection of unique paper, letterheads, engravings, fine paper, watermarks, and signed items. Please view our other items if interested. Shipping is $2.50 to the USA and includes delivery confirmation. I do combine shipping, most other paper items can be combined for no extra shipping cost! INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING: Shipping to Canada is $3.00. All other international locations will be slightly more. I do not ship to Italy, Spain or Russia. All international orders over $75 will be required to purchase registered mail. All items are genuine, we do not sell reproductions of any kind. 100% satisfaction guaranteed, return if not fully happy! Lawrence Dale "Larry" Bell (April 5, 1894 – October 20, 1956) was an American industrialist and founder of Bell Aircraft Corporation . Bell was born in Mentone, Indiana and lived t until 1907, when his family moved to Santa Monica, California . He joined his older brother Grover and stunt pilot Lincoln Beachey as a mechanic in 1912. Grover Bell was killed in a plane crash the following year, and Lawrence vowed to quit aviation for good; however, he went to work for the Glenn L. Martin Company after friends convinced him to return to the industry. He became Martin's shop foreman at age 20, and later the company's general manager. He left Martin in 1928 to join Consolidated Aircraft in Buffalo, New York , eventually becoming vice president and general manager. When Consolidated relocated to San Diego , Bell stayed in Buffalo and founded his own company, Bell Aircraft Corporation, on July 10, 1935. Bell Aircraft built the P-39 "Airacobra" and P-63 "Kingcobra" fighter aircraft during World War II . Their P-59 "Airacomet" was the first jet powered fighter built for the U.S. Army Air Force , but it was not successful, and did not see combat. Postwar, they produced the Bell X-1 , the first aircraft to break the sound barrier in level flight. The company began developing helicopters in 1941, with the Bell 30 taking its maiden flight in 1943. This early model evolved into the Bell 47 , one of the most recognizable aircraft in history. For his role in the X-1's first supersonic flight, he shared the 1947 Collier Trophy with pilot Chuck Yeager and John Stack , a research scientist with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (now NASA ). He was awarded the Society of Automotive Engineers ' Daniel Guggenheim Medal in 1944, and was posthumously inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame (1977), the Army Aviation Hall of Fame (1986), and the International Aerospace Hall of Fame (2004). The Bell Aircraft Corporation was an aircraft manufacturer of the United States , a builder of several types of fighter aircraft for World War II but most famous for the Bell X-1 , the first supersonic aircraft, and for the development and production of many important civilian and military helicopters . Bell also developed the Reaction Control System for the Mercury Spacecraft and the Bell Rocket Belt . The company was purchased in 1960 by Textron , and lives on today as Bell Helicopter . History Larry Bell had been an early employee and then later, general manager of the Glenn L. Martin Company , followed by a stint as a manager for Consolidated Aircraft in Buffalo, New York . When Consolidated moved to San Diego, California in 1935, Bell stayed behind and formed the Bell Aircraft Corporation on 10 July 1935... read more

Items in the Price Guide are obtained exclusively from licensors and partners solely for our members’ research needs.

Flag item for content or copyright

If this item contains incorrect or inappropriate information please contact us here to flag it for review.

If you are the originator/copyright holder of this photo/item and would prefer it be excluded from our community, contact us here for removal.