1944 Aviation Cavalcade Albert Richard Pictorial Map U.S. Military Aviation
See pictures for condition. Has 2 small tears. One in top and one on right side (see pictures). Will ship rolled up in a hard poster tube with insurance.
Measures 17 inches by 22 inches.
1944 Albert Richard Pictorial Broadside Map Promoting U.S. Military Aviation.
Aviation Cavalcade is an exuberant pictorial maphighlighting American might near the end of WWII published to promote, of all things, a mens clothing company in Milwaukee!
The map depicts a huge range of American military aircraft real and imaginary dominating the skies over an oddly-rendered north polar projection of the world, with nary an Axis plane in site.
The map is just one of a series of promotional maps published over several years by Albert Richard Co.,a Milwaukee-based manufacturer of mens outerwear. The maps were touted in newspapers and magazines such as Boys Life, whose readers were invited to order a copygratis.
The first Albert Richard maps were celebrations of American football both the college and the professional game issued in 1938, 1939, 1940, and 1941, all drawn by F. E. Cheeseman. During the Second World War the firm issued patriotic maps drawn by Cheeseman, such as the Patriotic Panorama of the United States (1942) and the Aviation Cavalcade offered here. The football theme reappeared at least once, in 1950. This was the work of a new artist, G.E. Smith, who eschewed Cheesemans bold Art Deco style for a softer look.