armyairservice

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.

Fatal plane crash of Lt. Arthur Lee Foster (US Army Air Service), ~2.5 miles north of Brooks Field, San Antonio, Texas, on February 10, 1925. Foster was flying a Curtiss JN-6HG-1 Jenny (A.S. 44806). Also killed in the crash was Maj. Lee Otis Wright (US Army, Ordnance Dept.) (USMA 1912). See: Arthur Lee Foster (1887-1925) www.findagrave.com/memorial/8465984/arthur-lee-foster en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foster_Air_Force_Base Lee Otis Wright (1888-1925) www.arlingtoncemetery.net/lowright.htm www.findagrave.com/memorial/11578238/lee-otis-wright Army Ordnance - The Journal of the Army Ordnance Association, Pg. 740, Vol. V, No. 29, March-April 1925

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_aerial_circumnavigation

September 8, 1924, Lt. Lowell H. Smith (in front cockpit) and 1st Lt. Les Arnold (standing adjacent to the rear cockpit) with Douglas World Cruiser "Chicago" (Air Service Serial No. A.S. 1230) have just arrived at Mitchel Field, Long Island, NY, as Chief of the Air Service, Maj. Gen. Mason Patrick (back to camera) looks on.