I learn something new every day

Harry Moskovitz was born in Feb 1894 in Philadelphia, both his parents were immigrants from Kiev Russia, and in 1906, age the age of eleven, he began to take drawing lessons at the Graphic Sketch Club, which is America's oldest artist's club. It still exists today and continues to offer the public affordable art lessons.

On July 18, 1918, during the Great War, Harry Moskovitz was drafted into the Army. He served as a private in Company D, 54th Pioneer Infantry. He did his basic training at Camp Wadsworth in South Carolina, and was sent overseas, where he fought in the Meuse-Argonne offensive. He then worked as an art instructor at the Army's Educational Center in Coblentz, Germany, for which he received a government citation. He was honorably discharged on July 10, 1919.

After his service, he remained in Europe to study art at the Hilde School in Germany. After six months he traveled to France, where he studied at the Beaune Art School in Paris.

In 1920 he returned to Philadelphia and resumed his art career.

 
In 1925 he designed the original advertisement for the three Pep Boys, a local auto-parts supply company. The Pep Boys ad became an iconic graphic image that continued to appear in print for over six decades. 

The Pep Boys Auto Guide to Car Care and Maintenance: Easy, Do-It-Yourself ...By E.J. Braswell

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/pep-boys-advertising-playing-cards-two-decks-circ-345-c-b764e7abbe

https://www.pulpartists.com/Moskovitz.html

it's both obscure, historic, rare, and something I had no idea I'd ever heard about after I posted it in 2012... the Kellett Autogyro, that went on the Adm Byrd South Pole Expedition!

Byrd returned to Boston from his first expedition during 1930, the first year of the Depression, with a determination to return to the Antarctic. Despite the fact that in 1933 he had little money of his own and only a few financial supporters, Byrd and his assistants tenaciously sought out and acquired all supplies and equipment needed to take on a second Antarctic expedition in the fall of that year.

One very special piece of equipment secured by Adm. Byrd was a Kellett K-3 Autogyro. Apparently only six K-3 Autogyros were built and with its new engine, the K-3 could takeoff in just 165 feet and with a skilled pilot aboard, could land in between five to 35 feet. 

And the most famous K-3 Autogyro was NR12615 which was purchased by the Pep Boys (Manny, Moe, and Jack) automotive chain in Philadelphia and named Pep Boys Snowman. 

During the summer of 1933, a 19-year-old merchant seaman from Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Charles Virgil Dickens, was also docked in Boston. The teenager loved adventure, second only to story-telling; therefore, he found it difficult to decide against applying for a post on Byrd's ship when he found that the crew must agree not to talk about the secret aircraft on board ship. In his later correspondence, the seaman referred to the aircraft as the first helicopter. (it was the autogyro)

The Pep Boys then loaned this aircraft to Admiral Byrd for his second Antarctic Expedition of 1933-1934…and it became the first rotary-wing machine to operate from the South Pole.

Once in Antarctica, the craft was used for short-range reconnaissance and was usually flown by W.S. McCormick but was also piloted by Byrd. The craft performed numerous useful flights but crashed on 28 September 1934 and was destroyed. The remains were left on site and are still there - covered in ice and snow.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/5934695886/in/photostream/

https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/84027/can-anyone-identify-this-autogyro

The Pep Boys Auto Guide to Car Care and Maintenance: Easy, Do-It-Yourself ... By E.J. Braswell

Later versions of the Kellett autogiro proved more successful, and the Army Air Corps purchased a small number of Kellett YG-1s, the first practical rotorcraft procured by the Army Air Corps, at the end of the 1930s. 

you can see a LOT of photos at the Boston Library Flikr page https://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/with/5934696682/

and there are 270 photos by Leslie Jones of the Adm Byrd expedition https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search?f%5Brelated_item_host_ssim%5D%5B%5D=Leslie+Jones+Collection&f%5Brelated_item_series_ssi%5D%5B%5D=Aviation%3A+Byrd+%5BAdmiral+Richard+E.%5D  and they include the Antarctic Snow Cruiser built by Pullman for the exploration of the polar ice

the Antarctic expedition is thoroughly written up at https://www.south-pole.com/p0000108.htm  and https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/159595164.pdf and https://www.jstor.org/stable/4250003

https://www.helis.com/stories/mysantar.php

https://mainescenery.proboards.com/thread/7562/byrds-kellett-autogiro-new-information

https://docplayer.net/48684611-Winter-2013-including-gyroplanes-helicopter-life-is-the-high-life.html

This is getting a fresh post because I just got a comment on my 2012 post about the Pep Boys Autogyro https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-pep-boys-snowman-autogyro.html  Thank you Colby!