1925 Wide World Photo Titterington Inductor Compass Lindbergh Navigator 7x6.5 For Sale

1925 Wide World Photo Titterington Earth Inductor Compass Lindbergh Navigator 7x6.5
Inventor Died in 1928 Lightning Strike Plane CrashDESCRIPTIONOriginal 1925 Wide World Photos wire press photograph documenting the public demonstration of the Pioneer Earth Inductor Compass, the instrument that would guide Charles Lindbergh across the Atlantic two years later.The photo shows the compass system\'s control panel, generator unit, and indicator dial set up on a workbench for testing, with three men examining the apparatus. The typed wire caption, pasted to the verso, identifies them by name: Morris M. Titterington, the compass\'s inventor, circled in pencil by a period photo editor; C.B. Parmer; and W.J. Hoffman, identified as senior inspector for the U.S. Army Air Service. The caption explains the compass\'s purpose plainly — magnetic ship\'s compasses were unreliable on faster-moving aircraft, and Titterington\'s earth inductor design was built to fix that problem.Titterington co-founded the Pioneer Instrument Company in Brooklyn in 1919 with Brice Herbert Goldsborough and designed the earth inductor compass in 1924. He filed the patent on this specific compass design on May 21, 1925 — weeks after this demonstration photo was taken. The same compass type flew on the U.S. Army Air Service\'s 1924 Douglas World Cruiser round-the-world flight, and in 1927 it became the primary navigation instrument Charles Lindbergh relied on aboard the Spirit of St. Louis. Over roughly 2,000 miles of open ocean on the transatlantic leg, Lindbergh\'s cumulative navigation error at landfall was only about 10 miles — a testament to the instrument shown being calibrated in this photo.Titterington didn\'t live to see the compass\'s later legacy play out much further. On July 11, 1928, three years after this photo was taken, he was killed when his Travel Air aircraft was struck by lightning over the Pennsylvania mountains. His passenger, Bernice Gamble Andrews — a former Hollywood actress who had performed under the name Patricia Perry — died with him.Wire number 321028 typed on the caption slip, \"WATCH YOUR CREDIT / PHOTO FROM WIDE WORLD PHOTOS\" boilerplate stamp, APR 1 1925 receipt stamp in purple ink, and a period pencil archive number on theverso.CONDITIONOriginal period wire photograph, silver gelatin print, warm ivory tone consistent with age. Typed caption slip pasted to verso, fully legible, with period toning/browning to the paper. Purple ink \"APR 1 1925\" receipt stamp and handwritten pencil archive number on verso, both clear. Small area of partial secondary ink stamp on verso, only partially legible. Titterington\'s name circled in pencil on the caption by a period photo editor — an authentic period mark, not damage. General handling wear and edge/corner softening consistent with a 100-year-old wire service print; no tears, no significant creasing, no writing on the image itself. Measures 7x6.5