1944 Albert Richard Pictorial Broadside Map Promoting U.S. Military Aviation

This is a 1944 World War II era F. E. Cheeseman and Albert Richard pictorial propaganda map celebrating U.S. military aviation.

A Closer Look

The striking image radiates from a central image of a globe centered on the North Pole. The globe is overlayed with 9 air routes, illustrating distances between New York and various global cities. Information concerning historic flights is included: the first Transatlantic flight, Amelia Earhart's first solo flight across the Pacific, and the first aerial circumnavigation. Other wartime information is overlaid, such as the location of the 15 U.S. Air Force Commands, General Chennault's Flying Tigers in Southeast Asia, and the now famous Doolittle Raid. A table of air routes (specifically those depicted on the world map), with current and projected flight times, is included at the upper left.

Planes, Planes, and More Planes!

The map's most arresting elements are the two dozen aircraft dramatically illustrated. Each aircraft is labeled and accompanied by a laudatory caption. Among these are the B-17 'Flying Fortress,' the Chance-Vought F4U 'Corsair,' the Republic P-47 'Thunderbolt,' the Lockheed P-38 'Lightning,' and the North American P-51 'Mustang.' Each of these aircraft played a critical role in the Allied WWII war effort and demonstrated key technological improvements.

This History of Aviation and Projections for the Future - Flying Cars?!

Several text boxes create a sort of border around the aircraft and include information about the history of powered flight, U.S. military decorations, medals, citations, insignia, a 'dictionary of aviation terms', and an explanation of U.S. Army and U.S. Navy aircraft designations. Two boxes along the right contain predictions concerning the future of aviation, stating that 'giant skyliners will whisk you from New York to Miami before lunch' and that 'detachable wings will make your 'air car' an auto in the city - a plane in the country'. A sea change is predicted: the 'skyway of tomorrow' with flying freight trains. The insignia of the United Nations is illustrated along the bottom border.

Publication History and Census

This map was drawn by F. E. Cheeseman and published by Albert Richard Sportswear in 1944. We believe that each location that sold Albert Richard products was given these broadsides with the business's name printed on it, as Myers Bros., Inc. of Springfield, Illinois, is printed on this example. Today, this map is extremely rare.