airracer

This is a very odd photo
As far as I am aware M-SCOM was never painted this way.
Stig

This is a photo of the recovery of the body of Mexican aviator Francisco Sarabia from the wreckage of the Gee Bee R-6H (XB-AXM, formerly NX14307), he named "El Conquistador del Cielo," after he and the aircraft crashed into the Potomac River, on June 7, 1939. The recovered aircraft was eventually restored and is currently placed on display at the Museo Francisco Sarabia, in Ciudad Lerdo, Mexico.

See:
www.findagrave.com/memorial/30682768/francisco-sarabia_ti...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granville_Gee_Bee_R-6
www.aviationmuseum.eu/Blogvorm/museo-francisco-sarabia/

Thanks
Yes I am familliar with that accident.
Perhaps the main photo text should be in line with the tags to the right??
Stig

Thank you for this I've added it to the plane's wikipedia page

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granville_Gee_Bee_R-6#1939_Return_f...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Maughan

Richard Norton: Thanks for providing more information about this person.

Russell Maughan is standing beside a Curtiss R-6 Racer (US Army Air Service Serial No. AS 68564, McCook Field number P-278). The particular aircraft in the photo would win (with Lt. Maughan at the controls) the Pulitzer Trophy during the 1922 National Air Races held at Selfridge Field, Michigan. The following year, Lt. Maughan would set a new international speed record of 236.5 mph flying the very same aircraft. This R-6 would be destroyed in a fatal air crash at the National Air Races at Wilbur Wright Field (present day Wright Patterson AFB) on October 4, 1924, killing pilot Capt. Burt E. Skeel. Reports state the wings broke away from the aircraft while Skeel was flying at a height of approximately 2,000-ft, sending the aircraft into a dive into the ground at a speed in excess of 285 mph.

TVL1970: Thanks for identifying the type of airplane depicted in this photograph.

See www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/curtiss-r-6-racer/ which has a copy of the same photo, attributed to the U.S. Air Force and identified as a Curtiss R-6 Racer. See also en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss_CR

This is Curtiss R-6, Air Service serial number A.S. 68583 (McCook Field project number P-279). This particular aircraft (marked as Race No. 44), piloted by Lt. Lester Maitland (who also appears in the LoC's Bain collection), would finish second in the 1922 National Air Race. First place would be won by Russell Maughan, piloting the other Curtiss R-6 (A.S. 68584; marked Race No. 43). See photo below: www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/51240958834/ The aircraft in the background, on the left side of the frame, A.S. 22563, is a Standard J-1 biplane belonging to the Army Air Service.