“The greatest interest in the ballpoint pen came from American flyers who had been to Argentina during World War II. Apparently it was ideal for pilots because it would work well at high altitudes and, unlike fountain pens, did not have to be refilled frequently.”
Argentina? That’s where the Jewish-Hungarian Ladislas Biro and his brother, Georg fled World War II and set up a factory in 1943 to manufacture their ballpoint invention. They were still developing it in 1944 when they ran out of money. The Eberhard Faber Company paid them $500,000 for the rights to manufacture it in the U. S. But it still needed work.
Finally, in 1945, Gimbels sold 10,000 aluminum ballpoint pens in one day at $12.50 each. Today, of course, they’re made of plastic and so cheap that businesses give them away for advertising.
Via IdeaFinder & Ian McEwen’s novel The Innocent where I saw the flyer connection mentioned and got curious. Which you can do with the Internet.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 