eaker

From www.joebaugher.com/usaf_fighters/p12.html: "Although the Model 83/89 had both been submitted to the Navy, the Model 89 was loaned to and tested by Army pilots at Bolling Field, which was located just on the other side of the airstrip from Anacostia. Like their Navy counterparts, the Army pilots were impressed. As a result of the Army pilots' reports on the Model 89, Boeing received a contract for ten P-12s (S/N's 29-353/362) on November 7, 1928. These airplanes bore the company designation of Model 102. This order by the Army was quite unusual, because they had not even tested a prototype, simply having "borrowed" the Navy's plane for the tests. The first nine P-12s were similar to the F4B-1 naval version with the exception of the deletion of the arrester hook and other purely naval equipment. The first P-12 completed (29-353) was handed over to Air Corps Captain Ira C. Eaker on February 26, 1929 for use in a good-will high-speed flight to Central America."

Inscription reads, "To Charlie with every good wish. Ira."

Ira Eaker, second from right, and NAA timekeeper Joe Nikrent to Eaker's left (right side of frame). See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ira_C._Eaker en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Nikrent