dehavillanddh4b

Hi, I'm an admin for a group called De Havilland, and we'd love to have this added to the group!

Thomas-Morse (de Havilland) DH-4B 22-1196 of the USAAS from Langley Field static at Bolling Field ca. 1924. (Maybe this was the occasion when President Coolidge ("Silent Cal") was attributed with the quote, "Why can't we just buy them one nice aircraft and let them take turns flying it?" 90+years later, he's almost gotten his wish...)

Nice photo, but there are some problems with the Smithsonian's description and dating. There are no DH-4Bs in this photo; most of the aircraft shown are Douglas, not just the ones on the left. They all share the Douglas's distinctive vertical fin shape, quite different from the DH-4B's, and they are "single-bay" biplanes with one set of interwing struts per side; the DH-4B was a "twin-bay" biplane with two sets of interwing struts on each side. Also, the Douglas planes must be either M-3s or M-4s; the M-2 was only bought by Western Air Express, not by the Post Office. The Boeing 40 belonged to Boeing Air Transport, judging by the logo on the side. (Going by the tail number, it appears to be the one registered as NC285.) These details mean the photo must be a few years later than 1924, because at that time the Douglas and Boeing planes didn't exist. 1927 seems most likely: the Boeing 40 had entered service, but the U.S. Post Office hadn't yet stopped flying the mail itself.

Thank you, Colin! You are correct and we will redo the caption shortly.