Karl Ort's Aviation Catalog Of Personal Equipment

York, PA: Karl Ort. Fair. 1939. Catalog. B&W Illustrations; This is an oversized paperback catalogue . The catalogue is in Fair to Good condition and was issued without a dust jacket. The catalogue covers are intact, but separated at the spine and detatched from the body of the text. The text pages are clean and bright. There are unused order blanks at the beginning and at the end of the catalogue. The first page is a potted biography of Karl Ort reprinted from Aero Digest. The catalogue contains all sorts of gadgets, geegaws, and practical items relating to aviation and aeronautics. Items include: billfolds, rings, tie tacks, Flight suits, helmets (communication & radio) , googles, face masks, books and manuals, and much more. "For half-a-century Karl S. Ort operated a successful York County business selling aviation merchandise, aircraft parts and war surplus materials. Nevertheless, Karl Ort became York’s aviation pioneer years before that business. He was a WWI trained pilot that barnstormed up and down the eastern seaboard. Karl Ort was born in York on December 19, 1896 and he was the thirteenth pilot licensed in Pennsylvania. The barnstorming led to a string of flying related concerns, prior to the founding of his mail order aviation business. That establishment commenced in January of 1930 when Karl Ort attended an auction held at the Philadelphia Navy Yard; where he was the winning bidder on large quantities of government surplus aviation equipment. The cover of the 1935 KARL ORT Mail Order Catalog contained the slogan “You Can Bank on Karl Ort for Value. ” Karl operated his business in the city of York, near his boyhood home, until a 1947 fire destroyed his warehouse in the 600 block of West Poplar Street. "(Central York High School blog post) .