blackcat

The black cat with arched back inside of a yellow circle was the insignia of the 163rd Aero Squadron, prior to being shipped to France in 1918. In October 1918 it was assigned to the 2nd Day Bombardment Group, flying DH-4s, and the insignia was altered such that the cat was then riding a bomb. This here, however, was the personal insignia of 1st Lt. Frank Estill, a flight instructor at Kelly Field, who was probably shipped back to Kelly Field after the 163rd AS was assigned to Wilbur Wright Field in Ohio, which then became their new post depot in 1917.

This is Capt. Howard H. Powell pulling the tail of the black cat painted on the port side of the Curtiss JN-4H "Texas Longhorn Jenny" of the Victory Loan Flying Circus, Mid-West Flight in Shreveport, Louisiana, May 6, 1919. M.S.E. Wood (with goggles on) is standing behind the cockpit. This was supposed to have been their originally scheduled last air show, which was to have been held at the Fairgrounds, but after this was rained out, they instead were ordered back to Chicago to perform two more air shows that they flew on May 9-10, 1919.

This shows the port side of the JN-4H "Texas Longhorn" Jenny, possibly on May 13, 1919 or soon thereafter. The Victory Loan Flying Circus, Mid-West Flight returned to Houston from Chicago on May 12, and then back to Ellington Field on the 13th. This ship, primarily flown by 1st Lieut. Frank B. Estill, after being set up, flown, broken down, loaded into baggage cars, and then the process repeated again 25 times over a month, and riding the rails for thousands of miles, from New Orleans to Duluth, MN and Grand Forks, Minnesota, then Shreveport to Chicago, then back to Houston, looks pretty worn out.